Dr. Moni Chauhan
Professor and Chair
Research Integrity Officer (RIO)
College Conflict Officer (CCO)
Research Agreement Point Person (RAPP)
Export Control Administrator (ECA)
STEM Academy Faculty Leader
Office: Science Bldg., Room S-443
Phone: 718-281-5573
Email: [email protected]
1986 Bachelor of Science (BSc)- Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Kanpur University, India
1988 Master of Science (MSc)- Organic Chemistry, Kanpur University, India
1996 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)- Organometallic Chemistry - Polymer and Catalysis, Universite Montpellier II, France
07/1997 –07/2000 Research Assistant Professor, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
06/1996-06/1997 Postdoctoral Associate, National Institute of Materials and Chemical Research, Tsukuba, Japan.
07/91-01/93 Senior Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
07/88-06/91 Junior Research Fellow, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
CH 120 Fundamentals of Chemistry Lecture
CH 121 Fundamentals of Chemistry Laboratory
CH 127 Introductory General Chemistry Lecture and Lab
CH 128 Introductory Organic Chemistry Lecture and Lab
CH 151 General Chemistry I Lecture and Lab
CH 152 General Chemistry II (Honors and Non-Honors) Lecture and Lab
CH 900 level Courses Honors Chemistry Research
The trend to smaller and smaller structures, that is, miniaturization, is well known in the manufacturing and microelectronics industries, as evidenced by the rapid increase in computing power through reduction on chips of the area and volume needed per transistor. Our research focuses on Noble metal nanocrystals and its important roles in different branches of science, such as chemical catalysis, catalysts for the growth of nanowires, nanomedicines, and nanoelectronics. Our goal is to control material size and size distribution for catalysis to promote reactions that have high selectivity with high yield through tailoring a catalyst particle via nanoparticle synthesis and assembly so that it performs only specific chemical conversions, performs these at high yield, and does so with greater energy efficiency.
Anticancer properties of Polyrhodanine Copper Nanocomposites (in collaboration with Dr. Sarbani Ghoshal, Department of Biological Sc. & Geology, Queensborough Community College of CUNY)
We hypothesize that the shape-controlled synthesis of Polyrhodanine will provide an exciting perspective for diagnosing and treating diseases, including cancer. We have investigated the synthesis of Polyrhodanine in a single-step oxidation-reduction reaction in the presence of transition metals in the microwave. Two morphologies for Polyrhodanine have been identified depending on the metal: core-shell and nanotubular. Our compounds are tested in a human lung cancer cell line, namely A549, to measure cell viability by the colorimetric MTT (3- [4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. Our focus is to investigate the cell signaling pathways, by real-time PCR and Western blotting, that our compound could alter to identify the expression of key genes and proteins known to be dysregulated in lung cancer. We are also investigating the effect in other cancer cell lines, including triple-negative breast cancer cells.
Fabrication of Polyrhodanine nanometal composites as antibacterial agents and adsorbents for Azo dyes. (in collaboration with Dr. Bhanu Chauhan, William Patterson University, Wayne, NJ)
We are synthesizing hollow polymeric particles which have stimulated an increasing interest in the area of material science owing to these properties: the nanosized spheres find applications in medicine, biology, and industry, for instance, as nano-/microreaction vessels, targeted drug delivery, controlled release, photocatalysis, and synthetic pigments at industrial scale. These materials have large surface area, tunable particle diameter and shell thickness, and low permeability and density. QCC students are synthesizing and characterizing these materials in the presence of metals and analyzing its antibacterial and azo dye adsorbent properties.
New Building Material Synthesis with reduced CO2 emissions (in collaboration with Dr. M Bolhassani, Department of Architecture, City College, CUNY)
Since CO2 emission due to human behavior is responsible for global warming, there is a great demand of making construction materials (cement) with reduced CO2 emission properties. Our goal is to study the chemistry and rheology of geopolymers (i.e. reactivity, compositions, viscosity) and understand the mechanism of polymerization of cement. Additionally, perform studies to find a new accelerator material in order to reduce the setting time of geopolymer and incorporate metals (Ca, Fe) in the raw material to study the physical/chemical properties (solubility, stability) and the setting time of the polymer. We will investigate the location of the metal in the structure of the polymer and the mechanism by which the metals attach to the silicate structures in order to create environmentally friendly, high performance, economical, durable and high setting polymers.
Community colleges play a very important role in educating the masses in the United States. It's in the college like ours where we encounter students from all walks of life, some in financial difficulties, some immigrants with English as their second language, some with big dreams and others just being there for some unknown reason. Sciences and chemistry are not the areas many undergraduates plan to pursue. I indulge in many teaching approaches and strive to make my classroom environment welcoming, comfortable and respectful for all students. My goal is to instill critical thinking and problem-solving skills into my students so that they can hypothesize, test and interpret theories and devise conclusions. I provide my students with multiple learning opportunities besides lecturing in the class; mentor them and care for their individual needs. I motivate my students to give their best, teach chemistry with real world examples and inspire them to enjoy learning and seek knowledge.
In developing interpersonal relationships with the students through structured or non-structured dialogue I keep them on task, remind them of homework assignments, quizzes and exams. Like any good teacher I tend to be extremely organized, approachable, flexible, and knowledgeable of the subject matter I teach and yet constantly learning and modifying my teaching through student input.
As Albert Einstein had said “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”, I see my role and others in higher education to clarify and simplify the content of the course and still maintain the higher standards as desired in this competitive scientific world. We should strive towards developing tenacity, self confidence in problem solving, and building a strong foundation in math and science for our students.
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