Earth Sciences Division Staff: Sumit Mukhopadhyay

Biographical Summary

Sumit Mukhopadhyay is a member of the scientific staff in the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Sumit received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1995. After a stint of about three years at Purdue University as Research Associate, he joined LBNL in 1998 as a scientist. In 2004, Sumit was made a career member of the scientific staff. Sumit has over 60 scientific publications, about 25 of which are in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to numerous laboratory and research reports.

Sumit’s area of expertise is numerical model development and applications for coupled subsurface flow and transport processes.  He has worked in coupled fluid and heat transport processes associated with radioactive waste disposal in the unsaturated zone, numerical modeling study of reductive bioimmobilzation of Cr(VI) in groundwater, reactive transport modeling of plume mobility using a reactive facies approach, reactive transport of natural isotopic tracers in geothermal reservoirs, and subsurface sequestration of supercritical carbon dioxide. Sumit has developed methodologies for estimating the transport properties of unsaturated fractured rock from flowing fluid temperature logging (FFTL) using multiphase inverse modeling. Sumit’s research interest also includes investigation of feedback effects of reactive transport on flow in the unsaturated zone and analysis of multiphase transport processes in air-gap membrane distillation for purification of seawater.

Education

• Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, May 1995 University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
• B.Ch.E. Chemical Engineering, July 1987: First Class (Honors) Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India

Professional Experience

• Since 2004:  Career Scientific Staff, Lawrence     Berkley National Laboratory
• 1998-2004:  Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National     Laboratory
• 1995-1997:  Postdoctoral Research Associate, Purdue     University
• 1990-1995:  Teaching and Research Assistant,     University of Southern California
• 1988-1989:  Assistant Director, Oil & Natural     Gas Commission, India.

Honors and Awards

• 2008:  Certificate of Accomplishment, OCRWM Lead Laboratory for Repository Systems
• 2007:  Outstanding Performance Award, Lawrence     Berkeley National Laboratory
• 2004:  Commitment to Excellence Award, US Department of Energy
• 2004:  Star Award, Bechtel SAIC
• 2003:  Significant Contribution Spot Award, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• 2000:  Membership in Sigma Xi Scientific Honor Society for Significant Contributions
• 1999:  Biography published in Marquee’s Who’s     Who in Science and Technology, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World
• 1995:  Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, University of Southern California
• 1994:  John J. Watumul Scholarship, University of Southern California
• 1981-1987:  National Scholarship, Govt. of India

Professional Activities

• June 2010:  Organizer and Session Chair, Flow-Induced Alterations in Porous Medium Properties and Its Implications     on Transport, Third International Conference on Porous Media and Its     Applications in Science, Engineering, and Industry, Montecatini Terme,     Italy, June 20-25, 2010.
• September, 2008:  Session Chair, Characterization and Property Measurements II, 2008 IHLRWMC, American Nuclear Society, Las     Vegas, NV, September 7-11,2008.
• April 2001:  Session Chair, Coupled Processes II, 9^th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference, American Nuclear Society, Las Vegas, NV, April, 2001

Reviewer:

• Water Resources Research
• Advances in Water Resources
• Chemical Engineering Science
• SPE Journal
• Transport in Porous Media
• Journal of Porous Media
• Journal of Contaminant     Hydrology
• Journal of Hydraulic     Engineering
•  Journal of Hydrology
• Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics
• Vadose Zone Journal

Member:

• American Society of Chemical Engineers
• American Chemical Society
• American Geophysical Union
• Materials Research Society
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics