Vivek Sharma, Ph. D.
Professor and Interim Department Head
Department of Chemical Engineering
Contact
- Building & Room:
- 252 EIB
- Address:
- 929 W. Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60608
- Office Phone:
- 312.996.5711
Email:
Related Sites:
About
FOOD & HEALTH: “Low Salt, Sugar, Fat & Plant-based” Lipids, Proteins, & Polysaccharides. Plant-based Meat & Dairy Alternatives.
AESTHETICS & BEAUTY: “Low or no VOCs & Plant-based” Surfactants, Pigments, & Polymers. Inks, Paints & Coatings. Cosmetics.
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY: “Reduce non-biodegradable ingredients” Molecular & Macromolecular Engineering of Formulations.
Teaching interests & course offerings
Selected Publications
- M-A. Fardin*, M. Hautefeuille, and V. Sharma, “Radical scaling: Beyond feet and fingers”, Soft Matter, 22, 212-22 (2026). Complemented by Scaling Video lectures: https://www.youtube.com/@naturesnumbers
- N. N. Nikolova, S. K. Baier, and V. Sharma*, “Rheological Matchup of Real and Plant-based Mayo: Gel Strength, Strain Overshoot, and Yielding, plus the Extended Cox-Merz Rule”, Soft Matter, 22 (6), 1402–1415 (2026).
- Hassan, K. Al Zahabi#, N.N. Nikolova, M. W. Boehm, S. K. Baier, and V. Sharma, “Rheology of animal and plant milks featuring dripping-onto-substrate rheometry”, Phys. Fluids, 37, 043112 (2025).C&E News feature: https://cen.acs.org/food/food-science/milk-flow-rheology/104/web/2026/03
- R. B. Reboucas, N. N. Nikolova, V. Sharma, “Modeling drop deformations and rheology of dilute to dense emulsions”, Curr. Opn. Colloid Interface Sci., invited review, 77, 101904 (2025).
- L. Hassan, M. Reynoso#, C. Xu, K. Al Zahabi#, R. Maldonado#, R. A Nicholson, M. W Boehm, S. K Baier, and V. Sharma, “The bubbly life and death of animal and plant milk foams”, Soft Matter, 20, 8215-8229 (2024)
- A. Kubinski, F. Albreiki, J. Dinic, P. Rathore, and V. Sharma, “Extensional rheology of elastoviscous aqueous PEO/PEG or DMS Boger fluids and weakly elastic alternatives for investigating viscoelastic flows and instabilities”, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech., 333, 105319 (2024)
- M.A. Fardin*, M. Hautefeuille and V. Sharma, “Dynamic Duos: the building blocks of dimensional mechanics”, Soft Matter, 20, 5475-5508 (2024)
- C. Xu, Y. Zhang, and V. Sharma*, “Spatiotemporal mapping of nanotopography and thickness transtions of ultrathin foam films”, Soft Matter,20, 3719-3727 (2024)
- Link to the complete list
Service to Community
Member, AIChE Awards committee, (2026-)
Member-at-large (elected), APS DPOLY (2023-2025)
Chair, SOR Centennial Committee, Society of Rheology (2022-2024)
Member, SOR Centennial Committee, Society of Rheology (2024-)
Member, Education Committee, APS DPOLY (2022-2023)
Member, ACS Colloids Summer Symposium Organizing Committee (2022-)
Publicity committee, APS DPOLY (2022-2025)
Chair, Membership Committee, GSOFT (2016-2020); Helped in GSOFT-DSOFT transition!
Membership Committee, Society of Rheology (2017-2022)
Social Media Chair, Society of Rheology (2017-2022)
Programming Committee, Area 1J: Fluids, AIChE (2017-2025)
Education Committee, DPOLY (2018)
Notable Honors
2015, Distinguished Young Rheologist Award, TA Instruments
2017, COE Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
2017, HOPE (Honoring Our Professor’s Excellence) Award, University of Illinois at Chicago
2019, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award (3M NFTA), 3M
2023, John H. Dillon Medal, American Physics Society
Education
Post-doctoral Research, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. 2008-2012
Ph. D., Polymer Science &Engineering with Minor in Physics, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003-2008
M. S. in Chemical Engineering with Minor in Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. 2004-2006
M.S. in Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH. 2001-2003
B.Tech. in Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. 1997-2001
Professional Memberships
Member: American Physical Society (DPOLY, DFD & GSOFT), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Chemical Society (ACS), Society of Rheology (SOR), Adhesion Society, Society of Plastic Engineers.
Selected Presentations
Invited
- [Plenary] “Forces, fluxes and flows in foam and emulsion films”, Fluids, AIChE Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN Nov 2026.
- “Radical scaling, dimensional mechanics, stretched polymer physics and rheology”, Society of Engineering Science, West Lafayette, IN Oct 2026
- “Industry inspired quests in stretched polymer physics and rheology” ACS Fall Meeting, Chicago, IL 2026
- “Surface forces and stratification in micellar foam films”, 37th Internacional Conference in Science and Technology of Complex Fluids, San Luis Potosi Mexico June 2026
- “Surface forces and stratification in micellar foam films”, Chemical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, OH. 2026.
- “Engineering Plant-based Food Emulsions and Foams”, Gordon Research Conference on Colloidal, Macromolecular and Polyelectrolyte Solutions, Ventura, CA. Feb 2026.