Prize Recipient

Arpa Hudait
University of Utah

"For thesis topic, "Structure and thermodynamics of ice interfaces in atmospheric and biologically relevant systems."

Arpa Hudait received his B.Sc. (2006) and M.Sc (2009) in chemistry from the University of Calcutta and Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati respectively. He then started graduate school in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah in 2012. In his Ph.D. research under the supervision of Prof. Valeria Molinero, using atomistic and coarse grained molecular simulations to investigate how thermodynamics of the ice interfaces determines the structure of atmospheric ices, distinct behavior of ions and organics at the ice/air interface, and molecular mechanism of ice recognition by ice-binding proteins. Arpa finished his Ph.D. in December 2018. He then joined the research group of Prof. Gregory Voth at the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral research scholar. In his current research, Arpa is working to develop coarse-grained models to investigate how immature HIV virion undergoes budding. In March 2018, Arpa was awarded the American Chemical Society Graduate Student Award in Theoretical Chemistry.

2019 Selection Committee Members: Robert Gordon (Chair), David Chandler (Vice Chair), Scott Anderson, David Nesbitt