Dean Mary C. Boyce, Columbia Engineering, and The Department of Chemical Engineering proudly announce the appointment of Sanat Kumar as Bykhovsky Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Sanat Kumar is a chemical engineer whose research focuses on the organization of nanoparticles in a range of matrices with the goal of making transformative improvements in a variety of applications, ranging from the creation of membranes for the efficient separation of gases and ions to the creation of biomimetic materials to serve a variety of strategic fields, such as transportation, buildings, and energy storage. His research interests also include the understanding and the improved design of polymer dielectrics, which are another means for creating advanced energy storage devices. He joined Columbia Engineering in 2006 and chaired its Department of Chemical Engineering from 2010 to 2016. Earlier, he was professor of materials science and chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Kumar graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology with a degree in chemical engineering and received his master's and doctoral degrees, also in chemical engineering, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michael Bykhovsky

The Bykhovsky Professorship of Chemical Engineering was established by Michael Bykhovsky in 2010 to support a teacher or researcher at SEAS who is distinguished in a field of study that is of strategic importance to the mission of the School. Mr. Bykhovsky earned his BS in applied physics from Columbia and his MS in physics from UCLA, and he later pursued a PhD in physics at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1996, Mr. Bykhovsky founded Applied Financial Technology, a mortgage analytics company that provided software and databases for mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, bonds, and all other interest rate-sensitive instruments. He sold the company in 2007 to Fidelity National Information Services. Mr. Bykhovsky presently serves as an independent consultant to various organizations and is principal at Caniluma, LLC.