Himanshu Mishra

Faculty

Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering | Principal Investigator of Interfacial Lab

Location:

B4/R4276

Social Profile:

Biography

Himanshu Mishra is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at KAUST, where he also serves as a member of the Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA) and the Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC). Prior to KAUST, Mishra was an Elings Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California Santa Barbara; and he earned his PhD (Applied Physics & Materials Science) and MS (Mechanical Engineering) at CalTech and Purdue University, respectively.

Research Interests

Mishra’s Interfacial research group develops and applies experimental methods to investigate wetting, surface forces, chemical reactions, and heat and mass transfer at aqueous interfaces. Fundamental insights are then translated into sustainable technologies such as for global food–water–climate security such as SandX and CarboSoil.

Selected Publications

  • Nature-Inspired Superhydrophobic Sand Mulches Increase Agricultural Productivity and Water-Use Efficiency in Arid Regions, Gallo Jr., A., Odokonyero, Mousa, M. A., A., Reihmer, J., Morton, M. J. L., Al-Mashharawi, S., R. Marasco, Daffonchio, D., McCabe, M. F., Tester, M., Mishra, H.*, ACS Agricultural Science & Technology, 2022, 2, 2, 276–288 (DOI:10.1021/acsagscitech.1c00148) (Journal Cover & ACS Weekly PressPac: March 16, 2022).
  • Effects of Superhydrophobic Sand Mulching on Evapotranspiration and Phenotypic Responses in Tomato (Solanium lycopersicum) Plants Under Normal and Reduced Irrigation, Odokonyero, K., Gallo Jr., A., Mishra, H.*, Plant-Environment Interactions, 2022, Vol. 3, Issue 2, 74–88 (DOI: 10.1002/pei3.10074) (Cover).
  • Zwitterions layer but do not screen electrified interfaces in dilute solutions, Ridwan, M. G., Shrestha, B. R., Maharjan, N., Mishra, H.*, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2022 (DOI:10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c10388) (Cover).
  • Nature-inspired Wax-coated Jute Bags for Reducing Post-Harvest Storage Losses, Odokonyero, K., Gallo Jr., A., Mishra, H.*, Scientific Reports, 2021, 11, 15354.
  • Biomimetic Coating-free Superomniphobicity, Das, R., Ahmad, A., Nauruzbayeva, Mishra, H.*, Scientific Reports, 2020, 10, Article number: 7934 (Top 100 Scientific Reports chemistry papers in 2020).
  • Superhydrophobicity and size reduction enabled Halobates (Insecta: Heteroptera, Gerridae) to colonize the open ocean, Mahadik, G. A., Hernandez Sanchez, J. F., Arunachalam, S., Gallo Jr., A., Farinha, A. S., Thoroddsen, S. T., Mishra, H.*, Duarte, C. M., Scientific Reports, 2020, 10, Article number: 7785.
  • Nuclear Quantum Effects in Hydrophobic Nanoconfinement, Shrestha, B. R., Pillai, S., Santana, A., Donaldson, Jr., S. H., Pascal, T. A., Mishra, H.*, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2019, 10, 5530-5535 (Cover).

Education

  • PhD, California Institute of Technology, Department of Applied Physics & Materials Science, Pasadena, USA, 2013
  • MS, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana, USA, 2007
  • BS, Mechanical Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, India, 2005

Professional Profile

  • 2020-Present: Associate Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
  • 2014-2020: Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering​​​​, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
  • 2014: The Elings Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • American Chemical Society (ACS)

Awards

  • 2021-2022: Recipient of the "Golden Jubilee Visiting Fellowship Endowment", Institute of Chemical Technology, India
  • Best Poster Prize, 45th International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering, Rhodes, Greece (September 23-26, 2019) (Zain Ahmad, MS student) (Out of 404 entries; cash prize: 400 Euros)
  • 2017: Elsevier Best Poster Award, 7th International Colloids Conference, Sitges-Barcelona, Spain (Presenter: H. Mishra)
  • 2017: First Place, Doctoral Level Students Poster Contest, 5th Water Arabia Conference and Exhibition, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia (2017) (Presenter: Adair Gallo Jr., Ph.D. student)
  • 2016: Best Presentation Award, International Conference on Science and Technology of Emerging Materials (STEMa, 2016), Thailand (Presenter: H. Mishra)
  • 2014: The Elings Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

KAUST Affiliations

Research Interests Keywords

biomimetics superhydrophobic sand mulch biochar food–water security soil physics & chemistry