Vikas Berry
Vikas Berry is an Indian-American scientist, engineer, and academic. He is a professor and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago. He conducts research and develops technologies in the areas of bionanotechnology and two-dimensional materials. He holds the Dr. Satish C. Saxena professorship at the University of Illinois Chicago, and held the William H. Honstead endowed professorship at Kansas State University from 2011 to 2014.
Background and Education
Berry grew up in New Delhi, India and graduated from TAPS-Delhi in 1995. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi in 1999. Then, after working with Cadila Pharmaceuticals, he continued his education with a master's degree from the University of Kansas in 2003, and a doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006 under the direction of Ravi Saraf.Research
Berry has developed several bionanotechnologies, including COVID detectors, cancer detectors, ALS sensors, microbial fuel cells, biocompatible papers, and DNA-transistors. He has also developed nano-devices such as ultrafast detectors, photodetectors, sodium-ion batteries, 3D printing gels, Raman enhancers, IR-sensor, molecular machines, and graphene liquid cells for TEM. Berry has also contributed to 2D material science and technology, including nanotomy, 2D synthesis and growth, non-destructive graphene functionalization, boron nitride chemistries, gold nanostructures, microwave-induced reduction and nanocrystallization, wrinkles in 2D nanomaterials, and 2D CompositesBerry's research has been featured in several national publications, including The Economist, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Engineer, Zee News, New Electronics, Nature, and other outlets. He has co-founded Grapherry, a company building technologies to scale up graphene production; and Viroscope, a company that develops solutions for virus surveillance and monitoring.