Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Postdoctoral Associate

E17-566A

Email: plolur@mit.edu

Phalgun Lolur was born on July 9, 1989 in Adoni, India. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India in 2010. After a brief stint at Honeywell Technology Solutions Laboratory in Spring and Summer of 2010, he decided to go to grad school and work on his master’s degree in Chemical Engineering in Fall 2010 at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri.

He obtained his master’s degree in 2013 under the joint supervision of Dr. Richard Dawes and Dr. Daniel Forciniti. His master’s thesis was on “Robust methods for construction of global potential energy surfaces”. While working on his master’s program, he became increasingly interested in understanding the fundamental chemistry and application of quantum mechanics to construct potential energy surfaces. Consequently, he started his Ph. D. in theoretical chemistry, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Dawes in 2011.

His doctoral dissertation was on “Construction of multi-state potential energy surfaces for spectroscopy and dynamics”. His research focused on using multi-reference and explicitly correlated methods for computing accurate multi-state global potential energy surfaces of complex molecular systems, pertaining to combustion, atmospheric and interstellar chemistry. He also likes to design and develop software for educational purposes occasionally.

After finishing his Ph. D. in Fall 2015, he is currently working as a post-doctoral associate in Dr. Green’s group. His research focuses on computing accurate kinetic parameters for systems relevant to fuel and combustion chemistry. He is also working on calculating and predicting solubilities of compounds in various solvents.

Apart from research, he likes to train in martial arts, go on hikes, swing dance and play a few sports depending on the time of the year and free time (ha!). He is also quite passionate about the latest tech gadgets, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Calvin and Hobbes, anime, comics, soccer, traveling, food, music and philosophy, among other things.