Exploring the intersection of materials, chemistry, and design.
The new Indian millennial has a Swiggy (delivery app) account and a pantry stocked with "MTR Ready-to-Eat" packets. Yet, paradoxically, the pandemic triggered a massive return to the dadi ka nuskha (grandma’s remedy).
To live the Indian lifestyle is to understand that you are not what you eat—you are how you cook it. Slowly, thoughtfully, and with a little bit of heat.
You see it in the resurgence of kadha (a spicy, herbal tea of turmeric, ginger, and tulsi) to fight colds. You see it in the obsession with desi ghee (clarified butter) as a health food, not a cholesterol risk.
In a world obsessed with biohacking and macros, the Indian kitchen has been quietly hacking biology for 5,000 years. It understands that a pinch of turmeric heals a wound, that a sip of buttermilk cools a temper, and that the act of rolling a roti is a prayer for sustenance.
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Principal Investigator, Professor of Chemistry
Panče Naumov leads the Smart Materials Lab and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials at NYUAD. His group is internationally recognized for pioneering crystal adaptronics and advancing adaptive molecular solids, with applications in sensing, robotics, optics, and energy systems.
Meet the TeamThe new Indian millennial has a Swiggy (delivery app) account and a pantry stocked with "MTR Ready-to-Eat" packets. Yet, paradoxically, the pandemic triggered a massive return to the dadi ka nuskha (grandma’s remedy).
To live the Indian lifestyle is to understand that you are not what you eat—you are how you cook it. Slowly, thoughtfully, and with a little bit of heat.
You see it in the resurgence of kadha (a spicy, herbal tea of turmeric, ginger, and tulsi) to fight colds. You see it in the obsession with desi ghee (clarified butter) as a health food, not a cholesterol risk.
In a world obsessed with biohacking and macros, the Indian kitchen has been quietly hacking biology for 5,000 years. It understands that a pinch of turmeric heals a wound, that a sip of buttermilk cools a temper, and that the act of rolling a roti is a prayer for sustenance.
We are proud that the Smart Materials Lab is the leading team in impactful chemistry research in the United Arab Emirates, with research output that, according to the Nature Index, accounts for 40‒60% of the total chemistry publications within the country, both in fractional count and weighed fractional count. The past and current research projects in the Smart Materials Lab have been sponsored by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), Human Science Frontier Program Organization (HFSPO), and the UAE National Research Foundation (NRF), in addition to generous financial support from NYUAD and the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute. The members of the Smart Materials Lab work closely with NYUAD's Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM).