Kota Research Group has moved to NC State - https://people.engr.ncsu.edu/akota2

 

We leverage our expertise in surface and interfacial science to conduct both fundamental and applied research in the areas of bio-inspired surfaces, super-repellent surfaces, chemically patterned surfaces and stimuli-responsive surfaces. Our research is highly interdisciplinary and it addresses some of the key issues in the areas of membrane separations, phase change heat transfer, icephobicity, droplet fluid mechanics, microrobots, hemocompatibility and microfluidic sensors. Checkout the Kota Research Group YouTube Channel.

Selected Publications

Recent Group News

Aug 2019 Kota Research Group moved to the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University.


May 2019 Daniel Sutherland successfully defended his Masters thesis. Congratulations!


May 2019 Hamed Vahabi successfully defended his Doctoral dissertation. Congratulations!


Nov 2018 Prof. Kota received the George T. Abell Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Award from CSU. Congratulations!


Oct 2018 Matthew Cackovic successfully defended his Masters thesis. Congratulations!


Jun 2018 Sanli Movafaghi successfully defended her Doctoral dissertation. Congratulations!


Jun 2018 Sanli Movafaghi won the outstanding graduate poster award at ACS Fluoropolymer workshop. Congratulations!


Summer 2018 Kota research group conducted outreach workshops called “Fun with Surfaces” for underrepresented high school students from the Denver public school district (primarily African American & Hispanic) and TriUte Native American tribes.


May 2018 Hamed Vahabi won the Paul Wilbur Scholarship. Congratulations!


Apr 2018 Prof. Kota received the NSF CAREER Award to investigate sustainable super-repellent surfaces. Congratulations!


Mar 2018 Hamed Vahabi won the ACS Poly travel award. Congratulations!


Mar 2018 Sravanthi Vallabhuneni successfully defended her Masters thesis. Congratulations!


Jan 2018 Matthew Cackovic won the LSAMP best graduate poster award. Congratulations!


Dec 2017 Prof. Kota received an NIH R21 grant to investigate superomniphobic coatings for biomedical devices. Congratulations!


Oct 2017 Anudeep Pendurthi successfully defended his Masters thesis. Congratulations!


Sep 2017 Prof. Kota received the ACS PRF New Directions grant to investigate role of contact angle hysteresis in single phase flows. Congratulations!


Aug 2017 Sanli Movafaghi won the Walter Scott Jr. CoE Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Congratulations!


Jul 2017 Prof. Kota received an NIH R01 grant to investigate superhydrophobic heart valve prosthesis. Congratulations!


Jun 2017 Lewis Boyd successfully defended his Masters thesis. Congratulations!


Summer 2017 Kota research group conducted outreach workshops called “Fun with Surfaces” for underrepresented high school students from the Denver public school district (primarily African American & Hispanic) and TriUte Native American tribes.


Apr 2017 Hamed Vahabi won people’s choice award for best presentation at the CSU Ventures Innovation Symposium. Congratulations!


Oct 2016 Matthew Cackovic won the Gary Olson scholarship. Congratulations!


Aug 2016 Lewis Boyd won 1st prize for best poster at the ACS Young Talent in Colorado and Beyond. Congratulations!


Aug 2016 Matthew Cackovic won the NSF Bridge to Doctorate scholarship. Congratulations!


Summer 2016 Kota research group conducted outreach workshops called “Fun with Surfaces” for underrepresented high school students from the Denver public school district (primarily African American & Hispanic) and TriUte Native American tribes.


Apr 2016 Sanli Movafaghi won people’s choice award for best presentation at the CSU Ventures Innovation Symposium. Congratulations!


Mar 2016 Prof. Kota received the US Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship. Congratulations!


Feb 2016 Prof. Kota received the Teaching Excellence Award from CSU. Congratulations!


Jul 2015 Darryl Beemer successfully defended his Masters thesis. Congratulations!


Summer 2015 Kota research group conducted outreach workshops on Surface Science for underrepresented (primarily women and African American) freshmen engineering students, underrepresented high school students from the Denver public school district (primarily African American & Hispanic) and Native American middle school and high school students from TriUte tribes.


Jun 2014 Prof. Kota’s paper received the Institution of Civil Engineers - Best Science Paper Award. Congratulations!


Summer 2014 Kota research group conducted an outreach workshop on Engineering and Surface Science for underrepresented (primarily African American) high school students from the Poudre school district.


April 2014 Darryl Beemer received the “Outstanding Senior Researcher” award from the Department of Mechanical Engineering @ CSU. Congratulations!


August 2013 Kota Research Group started in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University.

W. Wang, X. Du, H. Vahabi, S. Zhao, Y. Yin, A. K. Kota*, T. Tong*, “Trade-off in membrane distillation with monolithic omniphobic membranes,” Nature Communications, 10, 3220 (2019).


H. Vahabi, W. Wang, J. M. Mabry, A. K. Kota*, “Coalescence-induced jumping of droplets on superomniphobic surfaces with macrotexture,” Science Advances, 4: eaau3488, p. 1 (2018).


W. Wang, J. Salazar, H. Vahabi, A. Joshi-Imre, W. E. Voit*, A. K. Kota*, “Metamorphic superomniphobic surfaces,” Advanced Materials, 27, p. 1700295 (2017).


S. Movafaghi, V. Leszczak, W. Wang, J. A. Sorkin, L. P. Dasi, K. C. Popat*, A. K. Kota*, “Hemocompatibility of superhemophobic titania surfaces,” Advanced Healthcare Materials, 6, p. 1600717 (2017)


D. Beemer, W. Wang, A. K. Kota*, “Durable gels with ultra-low adhesion to ice,” Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 4, p. 18253 (2016).


S. Movafaghi, W. Wang, A. Metzger, D. D. Williams, J. D. Williams, A. K. Kota*, “Tunable superomniphobic surfaces for sorting droplets by surface tension,” Lab on a Chip, 16, p. 3204 (2016).

Research Overview

Superomniphobic

Surfaces

Microfluidic

Sensors

Hemocompatible

Surfaces

Deicing

Surfaces

Openings: We are always looking for highly motivated postdocs and students. Email if you are interested in joining our group.

Funding & Support

We thank the following institutions, foundations and industries for supporting our research: