Dr. Sharmila Mitra Mukhopadhyay is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Wright State University and Director of the Center for Nanoscale Multifunctional Materials. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Indian Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from Cornell University. As a Wright State faculty member, she has received several awards, including the Excellence in Research Award (2004), the Outstanding Faculty Award (2011), and the Trustees' Award for Faculty Excellence (2011), which is the highest award given by the university to a faculty member. She is listed in multiple Who’s Who publications such as "Who's Who in the World", "Who's Who in America," and is an elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society.

Dr. Mukhopadhyay's academic focus has been at the crossroads of nanotechnology and nano-biosciences, and encompasses the following areas: design of safe and sustainable nanomaterials for energy, environment, and biomedical applications; fundamental investigation of surface and interface phenomena; and promotion of multidisciplinary engineering education. Current significant research involves the creation of novel bio-mimetic hierarchical structures that utilize the benefits of nanomaterials while minimizing their environmental risks. These materials have, to date, resulted in the generation of new catalysts, energy storage materials, antibacterial surfaces, biosensors, and bone/muscle tissue scaffolds. Her work has been featured in over a dozen media releases, such as the Homeland Security News Wire, AzoNano, PhysOrg, Dayton Daily News, Ceramic Bulletin and Dayton Business Journal. She has published over a hundred papers, books, chapters and reports. Additionally, she has obtained and directed over forty-five research grants from a wide variety of federal and state sponsors, such as NSF, DOE, AFOSR, AFRL, NASA, EPA, and OBOR, as well as industrial sponsors, such as P&G. Dr. Mukhopadhyay has also organized several national and international symposia, and serves on editorial boards of journals, on review panels of funding agencies, and on executive committees of several professional societies.

State Department Profile

Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
Commercial & Business Affairs
Intellectual Property Enforcement 

Dr. Mukhopadhyay serves as a senior scientific advisor in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. She is leveraging her science and engineering expertise to create linkages between cutting-edge technical innovations and governmental entities focused on economic development. This includes assisting the State Department in advancing US leadership role in the rapidly expanding area of nanotechnology, which impacts both emerging and traditional industrial sectors such as biotech and pharma, transportation, communication, infrastructure, energy, environment, and consumer products. She is building a working group within the Department of State that will engage the high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship hubs within academia and industry in areas of intellectual property, international technology sharing and bilateral/multilateral regulatory framework. Another effort is to highlight emerging technologies as a focus area within the Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) of the US Government.