Rate My Professor Vikas Berry

Vikas Berry serves as Professor and Department Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006, his MS from the University of Kansas in 2003, and his BS from the Indian Institute of Technology–Delhi in 1999. Prior to joining UIC in 2015, Berry held the William H. Honstead Professorship at Kansas State University from 2012 to 2014. Under his leadership as department head, the Chemical Engineering department has doubled its faculty size, increased research expenditures by 150%, doubled journal publications, raised graduate enrollment by 20%, and introduced new programs in polymer and molecular engineering, process simulations, nanotechnology, energy and environment, and intellectual property and entrepreneurship. The department relocated to the Engineering Innovation Building in 2019.

Berry's research specializes in 2D nanomaterials such as graphene, metal dichalcogenides, and boron nitride; bio-nanotechnology; materials science; electronic materials; molecular devices; and sensors. His work centers on graphene and 2D materials, emphasizing synthesis, scale-up, characterization, and device integration into functional nanotechnologies, including cancer detectors, ultrafast humidity detectors, microbial fuel cells, antibacterial surfaces, photovoltaics, photodetectors, sodium-ion batteries, 3D printing gels, Raman enhancers, IR sensors, molecular machines, and graphene liquid cells for transmission electron microscopy. Current efforts focus on advanced electrode and electrolyte materials for energy storage, nanoscale sensors and detectors, nanomaterial-enabled diagnostics, and 3D-printable functional inks and gels. Funded by the NSF, DoD, and industry, his research appears in high-impact journals. Berry has received the NSF CAREER Award (2011), Sigma Xi Outstanding Junior Scientist Award (2010), and Big 12 Fellowship (2009). He serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) and Journal of Nanoscience Letters. Key publications include “Graphene/Semiconductor Heterojunction Sheds Light on Emerging Photovoltaics” (Nature Photonics, 2019), “Nanotomy Based Production of Transferrable and Dispersible Graphene-Nanostructures of Controlled Shape and Size” (Nature Communications, 2012), “Retained Carrier-Mobility and Enhanced Plasmonic-Photovoltaics of Graphene via ring-centered η6 Functionalization and Nano-Interfacing” (Nano Letters, 2017), “Impermeability of Graphene and its Applications” (Carbon, 2013), and “Graphene-based Single-Bacterium Resolution Biodevice and DNA-Transistor” (Nano Letters, 2008).