Bhattacharyya named to endowed professorship

Debangsu Bhattacharyya

Debangsu Bhattacharyya, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, has been named the GE Plastics Material Engineering Professor, effective January 1, 2019.

Bhattacharyya has conducted extensive research in the areas of advanced modeling and simulation of energy-generating systems, smart-grid, condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, uncertainty quantification, sensor placement, biomimetic control and advanced manufacturing.

In 2015, Bhattacharyya won an R&D 100 Award, known as the “Oscars of Innovation,” for the development of a virtual reality-based software that provides the energy industry with an unprecedented high-tech look inside the operation of power plants. In 2016, he won a second R&D 100 Award for creating a toolset that aids in the development of carbon capture. He was selected as the Statler College’s Outstanding Researcher and Researcher of the Year in 2016 and New Outstanding Researcher of the Year in 2012.

“I am humbled and honored to be selected as the GE Plastics Professor. This endowed position will help me to be engaged at the College and University levels as well as at the national/international level for continued progress and contribution in the existing areas of my research and for development of new areas and collaboration both within and outside WVU,” said Bhattacharyya. “The new position brings both challenges and opportunities that I look forward to embracing.

“Throughout my career, I have been privileged to work with outstanding research colleagues and graduate students, who bring me joy, inspiration and food for thought every day,” Bhattacharyya added. “The support, care and help that I have received in the Department and in the Statler College are unprecedented.”

Bhattacharyya earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from Clarkson University in 2008 and his bachelor’s degree in the discipline from the National Institute of Technology in Durgapur India in 1993. He joined the faculty at WVU in 2012.

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