Manish Kumar

Manish Kumar is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) at The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on biomimetic and bioinspired membranes for water treatment, desalination, and advanced separations. He leads the Membrane Lab, which bridges molecular-scale engineering and industrial-scale applications.

Education:

• Postdoc, Harvard Medical School (Cell Biology, 2011)
• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Environmental Engineering, 2010)
• M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Environmental Engineering, 2000)
• B.Tech., National Institute of Technology Trichy (Chemical Engineering, 1998)

Research Interests: The lab develops membranes mimicking biological systems, with a focus on membrane proteins and lipids. Key areas include desalination, industrial wastewater treatment, and electron microscopy of membrane structures. Projects address challenges like fouling in reverse osmosis systems and decentralized renewable-energy-driven desalination.

Recent Article Trends: Recent work emphasizes artificial channels for water/ion transport, advanced desalination materials, and scalable bioinspired systems. Studies highlight innovations like lanthanide-selective nanopores and carbon molecular sieve membranes.

Awards:

• NSF Graduate Fellowship (2020)
• Nature Materials cover feature (2020)
• ACS ES&T Engineering Excellence in Review Awards (2024)

Advising & Grants: Advised over a dozen graduate students, including Tyler, Megan, and Charan Samineni (now at Harvard Medical School). Notable grants include collaborations with DuPont and Penn State on polyamide RO membranes. Research is funded by NSF, NASA, and industry partnerships.

Labs/Teams: The Membrane Lab at UT Austin focuses on molecular-to-industrial scale transitions. Collaborations span academia (Arizona State, Harvard) and industry (DuPont).