About

Welcome to my webpage! I am a Chemical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maryland College Park, under the supervision of Dr. Srinivasa R. Raghavan. Prior to that, I worked as a software developer for 2 years at Citicorp Services in Pune, India. I received my bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institiute of Technology Kanpur in 2019.

My research focuses on designing innovative formulations, from hydrogels that achieve precise drug release kinetics to plastic materials that can degrade on-demand. I'm passionate about translating fundamental science into real-world applications, and I hold two U.S. patents. I am currently collaborating with several startups, including Medcura, where we aim to develop "smart" hemostatic materials.

I am currently on the job market, seeeking opportunities in drug formulation and development, advanced materials, and polymer science.

Patents

Plastic Products that Can be Rapidly Degraded On-Command.
Mahima Srivastava, Hema Choudhary, Ronanld N. Goodman, Srinivasa R. Raghavan
U.S. Provisional Patent Serial No. 63/679,017
Soft Materials that Absorb Impact.
Mahima Srivastava, Ganesh Sairam, Sai Nikhil Subraveti, Srinivasa R. Raghavan
U.S. Provisional Patent Serial No. 18/640,988

Publications

Plastic Products that Can be Rapidly Degraded On-Demand.
Submitted.
Switchable Adhesion of Hydrogels to Plant and Animal Tissues
Advanced Science 12(5), 2411942 (2025).
Geometric Determinants of Sinterless, Low-temperature-processed 3D-Nanoprinted Glass
Microsystems & Nanoengineering 11(1), 145 (2025)

Conference Talks

Can Hydrogels Mimic the Rheology of Animal Tissues?
Pacifichem 2025, Honolulu, HI
15-20 December 2025
Bioplastics that Can be Degraded On-Command within Minutes
Pacifichem 2025, Honolulu, HI
15-20 December 2025
On-Demand Degradation of Bioplastics into Soil-Enriching Compost
2025 AIChE Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
2-6 November 2025
Designing Gels That Mimic the Rheology of Animal Tissues
2025 AIChE Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
2-6 November 2025
How Viscoelastic are Tissues? Insights into Tissue Rheology and on Gels That Can Mimic the Same
95th Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology, Austin, TX
13-17 October 2024
CO2-Activated Rheological Transitions: Reversible Transitions Between Wormlike Micelles and Vesicles
95th Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology, Austin, TX
13-17 October 2024
Can Plastics be degraded in Minutes? Yes, on-demand!
ACS Spring Meeting, New Orleans, LA
17-21 March 2024
Using CO2 to Modulate Self-Assembly and Rheology: Viscosity Increase or Decrease in Surfactant Fluids Induced by CO2
XIXth International Congress on Rheology (ICR2023), Athens, Greece
29 July-4 August 2023
Designing Gels to Absorb Impact—How a Thin Gel Can Protect an Egg from Breaking
Materials Research Society Spring Meeting 2023, San Francisco, CA
10-14 April 2023

Outreach

Over the past 4 years, I have mentored 5 undergraduates in our lab. I also received formal training on being a mentor and mentored a high school student as a part of Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experience in Research (CIMER).