Department of Chemistry

Prof. Mallika Pathak has been a faculty member at Miranda House since 2004. She is a trained computational chemist who has published numerous research papers in peer-reviewed international journals, written book chapters for Elsevier Publishing House, and has been granted an Indian patent in 2017. She is devoted to fostering Active Learning and collaborating with students on creative initiatives. Her research interests include Molecular modelling, Drug-molecular interactions, Nano-chemistry, etc. She is a recipient of various honours like Most Promising Innovation in 2016 from the University of Delhi; Teaching Excellence Award for Innovation in 2015 from the University of Delhi and Australian Leadership Award Fellow (ALAF) in 2013. She has been a PI/Co-PI for three major research projects under DU Innovation and Star Innovation Projects. She is a recognized Ph.D. supervisor and has been a mentor and facilitator for a variety of summer student internship research projects at DSKC, Miranda House. She has also been associated with COESME, IISER Pune as a resource person for teacher training workshops.

Dr Sharda Mahilkar Sonkar is an alumna of Miranda House. She is a trained synthetic organic chemist who has published numerous research papers in peer-reviewed international journals, as well as has co-authored a book titled Green Chemistry: An Introduction and a book chapter. She is devoted to fostering Active Learning and collaborating with students on creative initiatives. She has been mentor and facilitator for different summer training projects at D S Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House. Her academic interests are Green Chemistry, Chemical Education and Synthetic Organic Chemistry. She has been a PI and Co-PI for two research projects under DU Innovation Projects. She has been working at Miranda House since 2006. At present she is the Teacher-in-Charge, Department of Chemistry with effect from February 2021.

Dr. Kalawati Saini joined Miranda House in 2009 and is currently a Professor. She completed her M.Sc. (2000, Physical Chemistry) and Ph.D. (2005) from the Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Prior to 2009, she worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Physics, University of Rajasthan (2005-2006) and in the Materials Chemistry Lab, Department of Chemistry, IIT-Delhi (2007-2009). Before joining Miranda House, she also got an opportunity to teach post-graduate classes for over two years at IIT, Delhi, and at the Kanoria Post Graduate College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. She received the IAAM Scientist Medal-2017 award from the International Association of Advanced Materials, USA. Her research areas include Electrochemistry (supercapacitors, electrochemical sensors), pollution research, Nanoscience and Technology (anticancer studies on lung cell lines), and Materials Science. She has been recognized as a Ph.D. supervisor by the University of Delhi and currently is guiding Ph.D. students. She has published thirty-three papers in peer-reviewed journals, ten papers in the conference proceedings, and two chapters in Springer Nature's book.

Dr Nutan Rani is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has been working at Miranda House since 2008 and is a dedicated teacher. Along with teaching, She is actively involved in research projects and college activities, particularly NSS. She has been involved in organizations of various seminars/workshops/conferences. She has been a mentor and facilitator at summer internship workshops organized by D S Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House. Her academic interests include Designing and Synthesis of Nanomaterials. 

Dr. Malti Sharma is a faculty member at Miranda House since 2009. During the research tenure, she has been selected for the Senior Research Fellowship and Research Associateship from CSIR, New Delhi. She has worked as a Departmental Research Associate in the department of chemistry, University of Delhi. During her research period, she has published several research papers and reviews in peer-reviewed National and International journals of repute and written one book for undergraduate students. She has about 12 years of research experience in the field of synthetic Inorganic and Metallo-Organic chemistry with more emphasis on heterometallic alkoxides and nanochemistry. She has received the “Most Promising Innovation” award in 2016 for her Innovation project. She has participated as Mentor and Facilitator at the summer workshops organized by D. S. Kothari Centre of Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House.

M.Sc., B.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Dr. Anita Kumari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Miranda House since 2009. She has completed her Ph.D. on the topic “Anticorrosive properties of synthesized Schiff bases as corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in acidic medium” from the Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi. She has more than 14 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level. She has Awarded “Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship” on the basis of merit for research scholars sponsored by UGC in 2008. She has many research papers which are published in International Journals and  book chapters to her credit. She has presented her research work at various National and International conferences. She has contributed and organized various National and International Seminars/workshops/conferences in the department of Chemistry, Miranda House. She has been a Co-PI for research projects under DU Innovation in 2016. She has been associated with INSPIRE, a facilitator and mentor at the summer workshops organized under the aegis of the D.S. Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House. Presently, she is the staff advisor member of TRICORD (Life Science Society), Miranda House from 2021.

Prof. Smriti Sharma Bhatia is an alumna of University of Delhi and has a teaching experience of more than 16 years.  Her academic and research interests include Computational chemistry, drug design and nanoparticle toxicity in plants. Currently, her research group is focussed on the design of oral drug formulations for Type 2 diabetes mellitus. She has undertaken six research projects so far with total funding of 63.82 Lacs from organizations such as DBT, UGC and Research council, University of Delhi. She has 61 publications, including articles in peer-reviewed journals of repute, book chapters and conference proceedings. She  was selected for the prestigious ‘Faculty Training Program’ of University of Delhi to upgrade her skills at the University of Glasgow, UK and has been a Summer Faculty Research Fellow at IIT, Delhi twice. Her other distinctions include ‘UGC Travel Award’, ‘Most Promising Innovation project’ from the University of Delhi and best oral presentation awards at various conferences.  Along with a Ph.D. in computational chemistry, she also has ‘Post-graduate Diploma in Educational technology’ from IGNOU,   diploma in ‘Applied Nanotechnology’ from Biolim Varsity and various other certifications. She is a member of various illustrious research bodies like ‘The Indian Science Congress Association’ (ISCA), ‘Indian Women Scientists Association’ (IWSA), ‘Materials Research Society of India’ (MRSI), and ‘Indian Society of Analytical Scientists’ (ISAS). She regularly contributes as a resource person and consultant to NCERT, e-PG Pathshala -INFLIBINET and is a popular science communicator. She is active in community service and is working for the cause of organ and body donation in India for the past 20 years.

Dr. Deepti Rawat is an Assistant Professor at Miranda House since July 2015.  She received her Bachelors degree  University of Delhi and M.Sc from Jamia Millia Islamia. She was awarded M.Phil and Ph.D from University of Delhi. In the course of her research, she has been actively engaged in preparation and characterization of various inorganic-organic hybrid silica catalysts. Her research interests are related towards design and fabrication of visible light mediated photocatalyst for removal of pollutants from the environment . She was project co-investigator for three innovation projects from University of Delhi. She has published research papers and contributed chapters in international peer reviewed journals and has one book to her credit. She is a recognized PhD supervisor and has been the mentor and facilitator at the summer workshops organized by D. S. Kothari Centre of Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House.

Dr. Priyamvada Singh is an Assistant Professor at Miranda House since July 2015. She is leading a research group of several doctoral students and trainees with the research work focused on Medicinal and Material Chemistry. She has received several research grants (Rs. > 2.2 crores) as PI/Co-PI during the last 6 years. She has contributed 56 peer-reviewed research/review articles, three book chapters, and a few patents. She has been a recipient of the prestigious, SIRE Fellowship, Distinguished Investigator Award at the International Conference, UGC Travel Award, CSIR-Senior Research Fellowship, and Science Meritorious Fellowship sponsored by the Government of India. She is associated with well-renowned collaborators worldwide to strengthen research activities at the college level. Within these frameworks, she was honored as an Affiliate Assistant Professorship-USA, CAPES Fellow-Brazil, Adjunct-Visiting Senior Researcher-Russia, and Visiting Fellow-Hungary. Besides this, she is an Assistant Editor of "Chemical Biology Letters” and was a Guest Editor for the special issue(s) of “Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry”. She has a deep interest in students’ queries, cultural and sports activities.

Dr Anshika Lumb did her B.Sc. (2006) and M.Sc. (2008) from Miranda House, University of Delhi and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of Delhi. She was a rank holder and Gold Medallist in M.Sc. Organic Chemistry (2008). She has several research papers in international journals. She has been working in Miranda House since 2012. She has participated as mentor at summer workshops organized by D. S. Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House.

Dr Sujata Sengupta is an alumna of Miranda House. After completion of her bachelors and  masters degree in chemistry, she worked as a Junior Research Scientist at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., in Hyderabad, India, where she was involved in the synthesis of new chemical entities (NCE) towards metabolic disorders. Dr. Sengupta completed her doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, USA. She has several publications in reputed international journals and has co-authored a book titled Green Chemistry: An Introduction. Her areas of interest lie in green chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry. Dr. Sengupta has extensive teaching experience both in national and international universities, having taught both masters and bachelors students. Currently, she has been teaching at Miranda House since 2016.

Dr Shivani is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has been working at Miranda House since July 2017 (July 2017 - March 2023 as Adhoc Faculty; Permanent Faculty since March 2023). She attained her BSc, MSc and PhD from University of Delhi. After completion of her master's, she cleared CSIR-JRF in June 2012 and then joined her PhD in collaboration with Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Delhi and University of Delhi. Her doctoral research was based on design, synthesis and biological evaluation of synthetic probes for tumor and Alzheimer's diagnosis. She has several research papers in high impact journals. She is dedicatedly involved in the teaching process of all branches of Chemistry at undergraduate level. She has contributed extensively to numerous national/international events organised by the department. Her academic and research interests include synthetic organic chemistry. She has been a Scientific Guide of various summer training projects at D S Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House.

Dr. Mamta Sethi is a faculty member at Miranda House since 2019. Dr. Mamta Sethi has completed her B.Sc. B.Ed. (four-year integrated Program) from Regional Institute of Ajmer (NCERT) and pursued her Masters and Ph. D from University of Delhi. She is the recipient of gold medal in graduation and Best outgoing student (given for excellence in academia and extracurricular activities). She has more than 13 years of teaching experience of at undergraduate and post graduate level. She has several research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has also authored chapters in the book for Nova Science Publishers and Elsevier Publishing House. Currently, she is pursuing research in the field of Molecular Modelling and Drug Design. 

Dr. Anuushka Pal is an alumna of Miranda House of batch 2007. She did her Master’s in Chemistry from Delhi University and  Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. She was NPDF post-doctorate at CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Delhi. She is the recipient of the iPUR exchange program funded by DAAD in 2015. A visiting research scholar at the University of Regensburg, Germany in 2013 and 2015. She has many research papers in peer-reviewed International Journals and authored two book chapters for Wiley Scrivener Publishing House and Elsevier. Her research interests include the synthesis of nanoparticles and the study of their charge dynamics. Designing of nanoparticles for photocatalytic organic transformation. Currently, she is working on waste-to-wealth realization. She has been teaching at Miranda House since 2019.

P Lishinai Paoteimai completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Miranda House, University of Delhi. Currently, she has been working in Miranda House since 2019. She mentored a group of undergraduate science students at summer workshop organized by D.S Kothari Centre of Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House. In addition, she is a part of the organizing committee on

Dr. Preeti Droliya did her B.Sc. (2012) from Maharshi Dayanand University. She pursued her M. Sc. (2014) and Ph.D. (2019) from University of Delhi. She joined Miranda House as an adhoc faculty in December 2020. She specializes in physical chemistry and her research area is physicochemical studies of molecular interactions in solutions. She has also worked as Junior Research Fellow in CCRH sponsored research project on homeopathic drug formulations. She has published 12 research papers in peer- reviewed journals so far. 

Dr. Taruna Singh

Assistant Professor

Dr. Taruna Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Miranda House since 2023. She has completed her Ph.D on the topic “Preparation, Characterization and Biomedical Studies of Metal Containing Matrix” from Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She was a Post Doc Fellow in Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi under the project sanctioned by DST (Women Scientist B Scheme) on topic entitled “Physiochemical interactions of MnO2 nanoparticles with polypyrrole nanotube towards improved performance in super capacitor electrodes” She has more than 7 years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level. Her academic interests are Coordination Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry and Bioinorganic Chemistry. She has various Research Publications, Book Chapters and Conference Proceedings which are published in International Journals. She has presented her research work at various National and International conferences and Seminars. She has contributed and participated in various National and International Seminars/workshops/conferences. She has been a Mentor for various Pathfinder Research Projects at Undergraduate level, University of Delhi.

Yogesh Kumar did B.Sc. (H) Chemistry in 2012 from Ramjas College, University of Delhi and M.Sc. Chemistry in 2014 from Hindu College, DU. He did his Ph.D from IGNOU, New Delhi. He has qualified GATE and CSIR NET in 2014. His research interests are designing and synthesis of structured nanomaterial and their application in sensing, catalysis, environmental remediation and clean energy production. He has published several research papers in Elsevier, Springer and ACS and has worked with multiple research teams during his Ph.D (DU, JMI and Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University, Czech Republic). He further wants to extend his research in the field of green and clean energy production (Hydrogen production from wastewater and agricultural biomass).

Dr. Swati Rani, an alumna of Miranda House (2012), earned her Master’s and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Delhi. She has qualified for the CSIR-UGC JRF and GATE exams and conducted her Ph.D. research on the "Interactive Behaviour of Curcumin in Restricted Molecular Assemblies" using spectroscopy. She has also developed carbon-based nanomaterials for environmental applications, such as pollutant degradation and heavy metal sensing. With over four years of teaching experience, Dr. Rani has mentored both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has published 18 research articles and 2 book chapters in esteemed international journals. Currently, she is the editor of the book series "Futuristic Trends in Chemical Material Sciences & Nanotechnology" and reviews for several scientific journals.

Her achievements include the Young Faculty in Chemistry Award (2024), Shining Star of India, Bharat Excellence Award, and the "Amul Vidya Bhushan" award. Dr. Rani's research focuses on nanomaterials, molecular spectroscopy, and sustainable technologies.

Dr. Sapna Yadav did her B.Sc. (H) Chemistry from Miranda House in 2015. She did her master’s from the Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, specializing in Inorganic Chemistry (2017). She has Qualified CSIR-UGC JRF and Gate Exam. She did her Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Kalawati Saini, Miranda House, University of Delhi in 2023. The topic for Ph.D. was “Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites and their uses as photocatalyst, electrochemical sensors, and supercapacitors”.  During her Ph.D., she has published 15 research papers in reputed international peer-reviewed Journals. Dr. Sapna Yadav has organized a conference “Nano road show – 2020” at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has presented her research work in various National and International conferences. She is a recipient of the “International best researcher award” award by ISSN International Science & Technology Awards and Congress 2022 on 3 November 2022, and “Certificate of Excellence” award by Young scientist award YST-2022.