NEW YORK (TIP): Surita R. Bhatia, PhD, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor, Department of Chemistry, at Stony Brook University has been named a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the organization’s highest grade of membership, as well as a fellow of the Society of Rheology.

“Surita’s commitment to excellence in science and engineering is apparent through the recognition she has received from such prestigious organizations as the AIChE and the Society of Rheology, as well as in her work every day,” said Nicole S. Sampson, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. “My deepest congratulations to Surita on these well-deserved honors!”

Recognition as an AIChE fellow reaffirms the high esteem with which colleagues and peers view distinctive professional achievements and accomplishments. Candidates for AIChE fellow are nominated by their peers, must have significant chemical engineering experience (generally 25 years), have demonstrated significant service to the profession, and have been a member of AIChE for at least 10 years.

Dr. Bhatia was recognized by the Society for Rheology for her contributions to the understanding of structure-properties relations through the application of USANS/USAXS spectroscopic techniques along with rheology to a wide spectrum of complex fluids including colloidal glasses, micellar polymer gels, polysaccharide hydrogels and soft biomaterials; and for her contributions to the understanding of dynamically arrested states and re-entrant behavior in colloidal systems.