Welcome
Welcome to the Soft Matter Interfaces and Energy Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, headed by Dr. Siddhartha Das. The main research focus of the group is to devise new theoretical and numerical models to explain different fascinating physical phenomena related to soft matter and interfaces. Our research endeavour range from better understanding the colloidal dynamics in an ubiquitous drying coffee drop and the response of an elastomer to surface tension forces to pinpointing the interplay of rheology and electrohydrodynamics in relevant biophysical and micro-nanofluidic problems. The group is also involved in extensive collaborations in several projects with strong experimental components — the main focus of the group for such problems is to clearly identify and hypothesize the central phenomena dictating the experimental observations.



Cheerios Effect (Photo Credit: David Duprey/Associated Press) 




October 2026: Three PhD students from SMIEL defends their dissertations
Three Ph.D. students, Swarup, Mihirkumar, and Ghansham defend their Ph.D. dissertations. Their dissertation titles are…
October 2026: SMIEL Group Gets New Research Grant
This grant is from the APL-UMD joint research program (APL: Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns…
October 2026: Paper accepted in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
In this paper, we utilize our technology of NP de-encapsulation from drops for transferring functionality…
October 2026: Paper Accepted in Macromolecules
In this paper, we develop a DFT-Reactive-MD model to capture the Sold Electrolyte Interphase formation…
October 2026: Prof. Das received AES Mid-Career Award and Delivered a Plenary Talk in SciX Conference
Prof. Das received AES Mid-Career Award and delivered a plenary talk in SciX Conference held…
October 2026: Paper Accepted in Frontiers in Antennas and Propagation
This paper studies the 3D printing and characterization of CNT-GO-based patch antenna structures.