Shobhana Narasimhan
Fellowship
Anna Boyksen Fellow
Appointment
2020
Institution
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
Department
Theoretical Sciences Unit
Hosts
Prof. Johannes Barth, Dr. Eva Sandmann
Focus Group
Building Bridges to Promote Gender Inclusivity in Science
Short CV
Shobhana Narasimhan is a Professor of Theoretical Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. She was formerly the Chair of the Theoretical Sciences Unit there, and also Dean of Academic Affairs. She obtained her PhD in Theoretical Physics from Harvard University, USA, and her Masters from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. She did postdoctoral research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, and the Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, Germany. She has been on several national and international committees to promote women in science, including the Working Group on Women in Physics of IUPAP, and the Standing Committee on Women in Science of the Government of India. She has held visiting positions at many institutions, including the University of Cambridge and the Universite de Paris-Diderot.
Selected Awards
- Marshak Lectureship of the Americal Physical Society, 2021
- Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, 2021
- International Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2020
- Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India, 2011
- Kalpana Chawla Award, Govt. of Karnataka, 2010
- Materials Research Society of India Medal, 2001
- International Union or Materials Research Societies Young Research Award, 1998
- Institute Silver Medal, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 1985
Research Interests
Shobhana Narasimhan's scientific interests are in the area of computational nanoscience. She uses the techniques of density functional theory to design novel nanomaterials, with applications in fields such as nanocatalysis and spintronics. She also has an active interest in issues related to women in science, especially in the context of developing countries. She has carried out research in this topic, and since 2013 has been conducting career development workshops for women in physics at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, and the ICTP-EAIFR in Kigali, Rwanda. She has also been teaching solid state physics and density functional theory worldwide, with a special focus on Africa.
Selected Publications
- S. Narasimhan, “Participation of women in science in the developed and developing worlds: inverted U of feminization of the scientific workforce, gender equity and retention”, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2021-0101
- M. Bouatou, S. Mondal, C. Chacon, F. Joucken, Y. Girard, V. Repain, A. Bellec, S. Rousset, S. Narasimhan,R. Sporken, Y. Dappe, and J. Lagoute, “Direct observation of the reduction of a molecule on nitrogenpairs in doped graphene”, Nano Letters 20, 6908 - 6913 (2020).
- D. Sengupta, S. Goswami, R, Banerjee, M.J. Guberman-Pfeffer, A. Patra, A. Dutta, R. Pramanick,S. Narasimhan, N. Pradhan, V. Batista, T. Venkatesan, and S. Goswami, “Size-selective Pt siderophores based on redox active azo-aromatic ligands”, Chemical Science 11, 9226 - 9236 (2020)/
- C. Fourmental, S. Mondal, R. Banerjee, A. Bellec, Y. Garreau, A. Coati, C. Chacon,Y. Girard, J. Lagoute, S. Rousset, M.-L. Boillot, T. Mallah, C. Enachescu, C. Barreteau, Y. Dappe, A.Smogunov, S. Narasimhan and V. Repain, “Importance of Epitaxial Strain at a Spin-Crossover Molecule–Metal Interface”, J Phys Chem Lett 10 4103 (2019).
- P. Zalake, S. Ghosh, S. Narasimhan and K. G. Thomas, “Descriptor-Based Rational Design of Two-Dimensional Self Assembled Nano-architectures Stabilized by Hydrogen Bonds” Chemistry of Materials 29, 7170 (2017) (cover feature).
- B.C. Wood, S.Y. Bhide, D. Dutta, V. Kandagal, A. Pathak, S. Punnathanam, K.G. Ayappa, and S.Narasimhan, “Methane and Carbon dioxide adsorption on edge-functionalized graphene: a comparativeDFT study”, Journal of Chemical Physics 137, 054702 (2012).
- N. Mammen, S. Narasimhan and S. de Gironcoli, “Tuning the Morphology of Au Clusters by SubstrateDoping”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 133 2801 (2011).
- S. Mehendale, Y. Girard, V. Repain, C. Chacon, J. Lagoute, S. Rousset, M. Marathe and S.Narasimhan, “Ordered Surface Alloy of bulk-immiscible Components stabilized by magnetism: FeAu on Ru(0001)”,Physical Review Letters 105, 056101 (2010) (editors’ choice).
- S. Narasimhan and D. Vanderbilt, “Elastic-Stress Domains and the Herringbone Reconstruction onAu(111)”, Physical Review Letters 69, 1564 (1992).