Nitant Gupta, a third-year graduate student in Yakobson’s Group, has received the 2018 Franz and Frances Brotzen Fellowship Award from the MSNE Department. To honor Franz R. Brotzen, the Stanley C. Moore Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and a former dean of engineering, this fellowship was established by David Lee Davidson and his wife, Patricia, and to support an endowed fellowship for graduate students researching in the area of materials science.

Nitant’s research focuses on the growth of 2D nanomaterials with special interest in grain boundary morphology, crystal shape evolution and also effects of substrate topography. He uses computational methods like molecular dynamics, phase-field simulations and interface tracking, to explore the fundamental aspects governing these phenomena. He also works on the nanomechanics of carbon-based materials such as graphene and carbon fibers.