My general research area is scientific computing, particularly in the areas of fundamental modeling of granular flows and multi-scale modeling of biochemical systems. My focus of research is powder technology with a concentration on process modeling and engineered particle processing. I also intend to establish a strong research program in the area of multi-scale modeling with a focus on nano-pharmaceuticals and their application to biological systems. The following are some examples of my research interests.

(1) Fundamental modeling (DEM) of granular flows : nature and industry

A good understanding of the physics of granular material is essential not only to design efficient handling and processing of material in various chemical industries but also in predicting landslides, avalanches, and soil erosion for change in sea-level. Granular material is idealized as a collection of frictional and inelastic spherical particles. Discrete element method (DEM), is widely used for computer simulation of mechanical behavior of granular material. We are currently using lab scale experiments and DEM modeling to predict both dynamics of natural systems and important industrial applications like granular drying, blending, granulation, and pharmaceutical coating.
(2) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Development of CFD based multi-component multiphase models for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

(3) Molecular Modeling of Nanosystems

My interest is to develop high performance molecular modeling algorithms to gain a fundamental understanding of nanoscale transport and thermodynamics.
(4) Multiscale modeling of transport in biological systems

Development of the software tools and mathematical approaches to integrate models from micro-scales to macro-scales in a seamless fashion is essential if we intend to build quantitatively predictive models of complex biological behaviors such as transdermal or pulmonary activity, embryonic development and cancer.