Education

- B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2013)
- M.S., Chemical Engineering Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2015)
- Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2019)

Courses

- CH 201 Engineering Mathematics
- CH 247 Introduction to Molecular Simulations
- CH 251 Machine Learning for Materials and Molecules

Research

- Multiscale simulations of applications in nanotechnology, water desalination, energy storage, and catalysis, using molecular dynamics, kinetic Monte Carlo, and density functional theory
- Development of kinetic and mechanistic models for the chemical vapor deposition growth of two-dimensional (2D) materials
- Predicting the shapes of nanopores and defects in 2D materials
- Electrocatalysis for sustainable energy conversion at 2D materials interfaces
- Development of force field models for materials by combining ab initio simulation and experimental data
- Understanding wetting, friction, and other interfacial phenomena at nanomaterial surfaces
 

Awards & Honors

- Carbon Nanomaterials Graduate Student Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2018)
- MIT Graduate Student Council Travel Award (2018)
- Rosemary J. Wojtowicz Award, MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice (2015)
- Institute Silver Medal, IIT Delhi (2013)

Publications

Publications:

1. Govind Rajan, A., Warner, J. H., Blankschtein, D., Strano, M. S. Generalized Mechanistic Model for the Chemical Vapor Deposition of 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers. ACS Nano, 2016, 10 (4), pp 4330-4344

2. Govind Rajan, A., Sresht, V., Padua, A. A. H., Strano, M. S., Blankschtein, D. Dominance of Dispersion Interactions and Entropy Over Electrostatics in Determining the Wettability and Friction of Two-Dimensional MoS2 Surfaces. ACS Nano, 2016, 10 (10), pp 9145-9155

3. Govind Rajan, A., Strano, M. S., Blankschtein, D. Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics and Lattice Dynamics Based Force Field to Model Hexagonal Boron Nitride in Mechanical and Interfacial Applications. J. Chem. Phys. Lett., 2018, 9, pp 1584-1591

4. Govind Rajan, A., Silmore, K., Swett, J., Blankschtein, D., Strano, M. S. Addressing the Isomer Cataloging Problem for Nanopores in Two-Dimensional Materials. Nat. Mater., 2019, 18, pp 129-135

5. Govind Rajan, A., Martirez, J. M. P., Carter, E. A. Facet-Independent Oxygen Evolution Activity of Pure -NiOOH: Different Chemistries Leading to Similar Overpotentials. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2020, 142 (7), pp 3600-3612