Dr. Anindya Ghosh, professor of chemistry, is being honored as the 2020 Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors award winner for the UA Little Rock College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences. 

“It would be an understatement to state Dr. Ghosh has an impressive track record as a researcher,” said Peter Szwedo, a doctoral chemistry student. “The ideas, knowledge, and vision he brought to UA Little Rock has built a flagship chemistry research lab within our department, which has placed UA Little Rock on the map.”

The primary focus of his current research is the development of novel catalysts and synthetic pathways that are strongly related to sustainable development. Using readily available reagents or renewable polymers, Ghosh and his co-researchers are developing catalysts that are highly useful in remediation of organic and biological pollutants. 

“His research efforts speak for themselves as a major contributor to developing new and novel methods that are being used in the Green Chemistry approaches to develop safer and cleaner chemical synthetic methods,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gaffney, professor emeritus of chemistry. “Dr. Ghosh’s research contributions are also leading the way to developing safer, more economic, and less environmentally impacting synthetic methods at the heart of the Green Chemistry movement, which is needed if we are to develop sustainable chemistry in the future.”

Ghosh’s recent research in the area of green chemistry, catalysis, and novel material research has resulted in six peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter in 2019 alone. He brings his research directly into the classroom and actively uses green chemistry experiments in his courses.  

Ghosh enjoys giving back by mentoring young students in scientific research. He regularly hosts middle and high school students in his laboratory who are conducting research projects related to his research areas. As a major adviser, Ghosh has supervised four master’s degree students and five doctoral students. Currently, he runs a research group of five graduate students and eight undergraduate students. He has mentored 30 undergraduate students for research and has served on the thesis and dissertation committees of 17 master’s degree students and 40 doctoral students.

While at UA Little Rock, Ghosh authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, has 21 patents with three more pending, and has been awarded more than $2 million in grant funding. Ghosh was part of the scientific advisory committee which wrote a successful National Science Foundation EPSCoR ASSET III proposal of $24 million for the state of Arkansas. He has been co-leading a team of 20 researchers from 10 different universities in Arkansas for this proposal to develop novel materials for pollution remediation using cellulose as the starting material. 

He is also a part of a team of researchers that recently secured $5.1 in funding from the Department of Defense. In a collaborative effort between UA Little Rock and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Ghosh’s role as a co-principal investigator is to develop novel, injectable, stimuli-sensitive polymeric materials for use in bone scaffolds.

Ghosh has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Calcutta in India, a master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.