Rama Bansil facts for kids

Rama Bansil is a Professor of Physics at Boston University. She has held this important job since 1997. Even though she studied physics, her work covers many different science areas.

Her skills include working with materials made from living things (biopolymer engineering). She also studies regular polymers, how light works (photonics), and super tiny materials (nanoscience). Her work also involves tiny living materials (nanobiotechnology), how living things work (biophysics), and how chemicals work in living things (biochemistry).

Her Journey in Science

Dr. Bansil earned her highest degree, a Doctorate in Physics, from the University of Rochester in 1975. Before that, she studied at Delhi University, where she received her M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees.

After finishing her studies, she worked as a research assistant at Harvard and M.I.T. in 1975 and 1976. Then, she started teaching at Boston University in 1976. Since 1997, she has been a Professor of Physics there. She is also connected to many different science groups at the university. These include the Center for Polymer Studies and the Photonics Center. She also works with the Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry Program. Other groups are the Center of Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology, and Materials Science and Engineering. She even works with the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Boston University's School of Medicine.

From 2007 to 2009, Dr. Bansil took a break from Boston University. During this time, she worked as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. This organization helps fund important science research.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Rama Bansil was one of only a few women who entered science in the early 1960s. She quickly showed how talented she was. She won awards for her science studies as an undergraduate. She also won a special fellowship to Harvard University in 1974–1975 for advanced research. Later, she received another special fellowship at Radcliffe College from 1993 to 1994.

Dr. Bansil has been very successful in getting money for her research. She has received more than a dozen grants from the National Science Foundation and other groups. This funding totals almost three million dollars.

In 2001, she was chosen as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. This is a very high honor for physicists.

Her Research Work

Throughout her science career, Dr. Bansil has written or helped write almost 100 science papers. These papers share her discoveries with other scientists.

Recently, her work has focused on the tiny structure of gels. Gels are like jelly or gelatin. She studies how gels form, how things move through them, and how they change over time. She also looks at how chemical reactions happen inside gels.

Before 2000, her research focused on how living things work (biophysics) and how chemicals behave (chemical physics). She also studied polymer physics, which includes how gels form and how materials separate into different parts. Since 2000, she has been interested in the biophysics of mucin. Mucin is a main part of mucus. She also studies how block copolymers change and move.

In her most recent work, Dr. Bansil made an important discovery. She worked with a former student, Jonathan Celli, and nine other researchers. They figured out how the H. pylori bacterium can get through the stomach's protective lining. This bacterium can cause stomach ulcers and even cancer. Their findings could help prevent and treat H. pylori infections.

According to Scienceblog, this team made a discovery that changed a long-held idea. It was about how bacteria move through soft, jelly-like materials.