Abhishek Soni

Core Objective
Seeking an opportunitiy for 1 year internship at BII, A*STAR as a part of my 5 th year MS Thesis
project under the supervision of Dr. Chandra Verma.

Academic Background

Degree Year Institute/ School Grade/Percentage
Indian Institute of Science
Int. BS–MS Dual Aug '12- Present CGPA = 8.9/10.0
Education and Research
degree (upto Sem VII)
(IISER), Pune.
Kamla Nehru
12th (CBSE) Institute of Child
2011 95.0%
Education,
Sultanpur,U.P
Maharishi Vidya
Mandir,
10th (CBSE) 2009 91.4%
Sultanpur, U.P.

*Majors in Chemistry along with the minors in Physics and Biology(Semester V onwards).
*CGPA in Chemistry related courses (Majors) is approx 9.7/10.

Research Interests

Computational Chemistry - Molecular Modelling and Simulations - Polymers, Ionic Liquids, Structural
and Physical Biology – Sustainable Energy Development – Proton Exchnge Fuel Cell Membranes,
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS).



Research Experience

Absorption/Regeneration of Carbon dioxide in Ionic Liquids Sep – Present '15


Guide : Dr. Arun Venkatnathan, Associate Professor, Chemistry, IISER Pune
A Molecular Dynamics (MD) study to analyze the “A bsorption and Regeneration mechanism of
Carbon dioxide in Anion Functionalized Pyridinium Ionic Liquids through Multiple-Site
Cooperative Interactions”. It will be an efficient approach towards the sustainable development
in the field of Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS).
MD Simulations of Fuel cell membranes doped with Ionic liquid May- Present '15

Guide : Dr. Arun Venkatnathan, Associate Professor in Chemistry, IISER Pune
A computational approach to i nvestigate the increase in the c onductivity of fuel cells by doping
the polybenzimidazole proton exchange fuel cell membrane with the ionic liquid,
diethymethylammonium trifluoromethanesulphonate ([dema][TfO]) at high temperatures. Furthur
investigation about the proton transport mechanism in such complex systems is still in progress
with my group members.

Computer Simulation techniques and its applications in Chemistry Jan-April 15
Guide : Dr. Arun Venkatnathan, Associate Professor in Chemistry, IISER Pune
Project work was focussed mainly on understanding of the basic concepts of Molecular Dynamics
(MD) and Monte Carlo Algorithms along with the proper building of chemical models, choosing
right force field parameters to run MD simulation of bulk water models and analyze their dynamic
and structural properties.

Attempts towards the Enantioselective Synthesis of Fused Heterocycles through Quinine and
Quinidiene derived catalyst Apr – Sep '14

Guide : Dr. Ramakrishna G. Bhat, Associate Professor of Chemistry, IISER Pune
Investigation of the different kinds of sterioselective aza -Michael addition products and its application in
the drug synthesis. Research work consisted of Functional Group Protections and Interconversions along
with the synthesis of catalysts, chalcones, chiral epoxy - piperidines and azirido - piperidine derivatives.


Synthesis and Characterization of FtO coated CdS Quantum Dot Solar Cells May –June 13
Guide : Dr. Shouvik Datta, Associate Professor of P hysics, IISER Pune.
Synthesized cost effective FtO coated Quantum Dot solar cells with proper methodologies and
analyzed its I-V characteristics. Both literature (reading tasks to understand the basic concepts)
and experimental works were done.


Research Skills
? Trained in molecular dynamics softwares (GROMACS), Visualization softwares (VMD, Molden,
GView), Xmgrace and GAUSSIAN 0 9 (Quantum calculations on small molecules) .
? Platforms – Linux and Windows.
? Proficient in MS Office, Origin and CambridgeSoft ChemDraw.
Programming Language – FORTRAN90.
?
Learnt various instrumentation techniques such as IR, NMR, Absorption spectroscopy,
?
XRD, HPLC, Column and Gas chromatography.

Relevant Courses Taken

Theory Courses::

Molecular Modelling and Simulations, Computational Physics, Quantum Physics, Quantum
Chemistry, Biophysics-I, Physical Organic Chemistry, Organic Synthesis-I, Group Theory and
Symmetry, Group Theory in Physics, Solid State Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Bioinorganic chemistry,
Transition Metal Chemistry, Main Group Chemistry, Separation Principles and Techniques,
Fundamentals of Spectroscopy, Advanced Molecular Spectroscopy, Thermodynamics, Mathematical
Methods, Cell Biology, Multi-Variable and Single Variable Calculus, Numerical Methods, Linear
Algebra, Probability, Introductory Biology Courses (Sem I-IV).
Lab Courses::

1) Physical, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry Labs (Semesters II-VI) along with Biology and Physics
labs.

2) Lab/Theory Training project on Computer Simulation techniques and its applications in Chemistry
(Sem VI).

3) Interdisciplinary Computational Physics Course which insists on developing the computer
codes on topics such as Ising Model of magnetic phase transitions, Molecular Dynamics Simulation,
Monte Carlo Simulations, Differentiations, Integration methods, Time Dependent and Independent
Schrondinger's Equation and Variational Methods in Quantum Mechanics

Award and Honours

1. An INSPIRE fellowship, Dept.of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India
(Aug-2012-2017).

2. Topped my district Sultanpur, U.P. with a score of 95 % in XII Class (CBSE) and granted a
certificate for being among the top 0.1 % of successful candidates.

3. First prize in Poster making Competition and Essay Competition held at IISER Pune.

Extra - Curriculars
? Volunteered “DISHA” and 'Spread The Smile” programme, IISER Pune Students initiatives
for educating underpriviliged children.
? One of the co-ordinator of the main stage events in KARAVAAN' 14-An IISER Pune fest.

Participant in Chemistry Question Making Session of MIMAMSA '14, an inter-college science
?
quiz conducted by IISER Pune.
Participant in Warli Painting of the size of a football ground which currently holds a place in
?
Limca Book of World Records.
Granted a certificate for active participation in National Conference on Ionic Liquids for
?
clean energy and environment held on 16-17th Dec, 2015 at CSIR-NCL, Pune, India.

References

Dr. Arun Venkatnathan, A ssociate Professor,
?
Department of Chemistry, Academic Block Complex,
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),
Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan,
Pune, Maharashtra-411008, India.
Phone: +91-20-25908085
Email : arun@iiserpune.ac.in

Dr. Anirban Hazra, A ssistant Professor,
?
Department of Chemistry, Academic Block Complex,
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER),