Mahesh Mahanthappa is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota, with a graduate affiliate faculty appointment in Chemistry. The Mahanthappa group leverages scalable chemical synthesis and materials characterization methods to identify new methods for manipulating block copolymer and lyotropic liquid crystal self-assembly into materials with unusual bulk properties. Specific targets of interest include the development of (bio)degradable polymers and surfactants for commodity applications, electrochemically stable single-ion conductors for battery applications, and selective molecular filtrations membranes.
As an undergraduate, Mahesh received his B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics with distinction at the University of Colorado in 1997. As a Hertz Fellow at Stanford University, Mahesh studied the detail mechanisms of transition metal-mediated olefin polymerization under the supervision of Professor Robert M. Waymouth. Upon completion of his Ph.D. in 2003, Mahesh moved to a postdoctoral position at the University of Minnesota to work with Professors Frank S. Bates and Marc A. Hillmyer in block copolymer physics and mechanical properties. Professor Mahanthappa joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Chemistry in 2006 and was promoted to the rank of associate professor in 2012. In 2015, he moved to the University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2019.
Mahesh received an NSF CAREER Award (2008-13), a 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, the Emil H. Steiger Distinguished Teaching Award and the James Taylor Teaching Award at UW-Madison. In 2013, he received the American Physical Society Dillon Medal in Polymer Physics. He is a Fellow of the Kavli Foundation and the American Physical Society. Mahesh is from Boulder, Colorado.
