Saleesh Sivaraman
Saleesh Sivaraman was born and educated in Kerala, South India, gaining his PhD for research into liquid crystals from the University of Kerala in 2008. Since then he has continued his research at the universities of York and Miami and the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Division, Trivandrum, India.
“My interests developed to include the synthesis of fluorescent polymers and I explored their application in photovoltaic devices and other organic molecules for solar cells. I am now back at the University of York as a European Union Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow (EU-MC-IIF) working on a molecular materials chemistry project. This looks at the design, synthesis and property determination of a series of liquid crystalline polymers containing metal centres, which are capable of both optical and magnetic responses.
“I am delighted that I have also had the opportunity to mentor several undergraduate and graduate students during my research career. My career goal is to obtain a faculty position in the inter-disciplinary research areas of chemistry, physics and biology, where I can best utilise my knowledge for teaching, learning and research.
“When I am not in the chemistry lab I love watching movies and to go jogging and swimming.”