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The American Physical Society (APS) has elected Professor Siddhartha Das, a member of the University of Maryland mechanical engineering faculty, as a Fellow of the Society. The fellowship program recognizes exceptional achievements in physics research, pioneering applications of physics, contributions to physics education, and leadership in service to the Society.
Specifically, Professor Das received this recognition from the APS Division of Polymer Physics (DPOLY). The APS cited his fundamental discoveries of the properties of polyelectrolyte brushes, brush-supported water molecules and counterions, and liquid transport in nanochannels grafted with polyelectrolyte brushes. It noted Das’s innovative use of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning in making these discoveries.
First established in 1921, the APS Fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one's professional peers. Each year, no more than one half of one percent of the Society’s membership (excluding student members) are elected by the APS to the status of Fellow.
“This is one of the most important accolades that I have received in my career to date,” Das said. “The APS Fellowship is an honor reserved for some of the top physicists in the world and is often received by world-renowned researchers—many of them professors and scientists whom I follow closely and admire—much later in their careers. Thus, receiving this recognition so early in my career is pretty incredible.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my university, my department, my mentors, my incredible students, my nominators and supporters, and my family. I hope this recognition will propel me to work even harder,” Das said.
A member of the UMD faculty since 2014, Das has received widespread acclaim for his pioneering use of molecular dynamics simulations to study phenomena in soft materials occurring at a scale too small to be observed directly.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Engineering Technology (U.K.), and the Linnean Society of London.
Das’s publications include more than 200 papers, appearing in journals such as Nature Materials, Science Advances, PNAS, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, Matter, Nature Communications, Macromolecules, and Soft Matter. In 2023, he joined the editorial board of Physics of Fluids, and continues to serve in that role today.
"Siddhartha is a highly productive member of our faculty conducting ground-breaking research in micro-nanoscale fluid mechanics,” said F. Patrick McCluskey, professor and interim chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “I am delighted that the quality and impact of his research applying molecular dynamics and machine learning to the study of polyelectrolyte brushes has been recognized by the American Physical Society. I join the rest of the department in congratulating him on this very prestigious honor."
For more information on APS Fellowship, a list of current Fellows, and Fellowship nomination guidelines, visit the APS website.
October 15, 2025
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