Dr. Shekhar Garde is the Elaine and Jack Parker Chaired Professor and Head of Rensselaer’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. He received his BS (University of Bombay, 1992) and Ph.D. (U. Delaware, 1997) degrees in Chemical Engineering. He received the prestigious Director’s post-doctoral fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he performed research from 1997 to 1999. He Joined Rensselaer as an Assistant Professor in 1999. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and to Full Professor in 2006. He was appointed Parker Chaired Professor in 2006 and as the Head of Chemical and Biological Engineering Department in 2007.

His research focuses broadly on understanding the role of water in biological structure-function, and specifically on hydration and water-mediated interactions using statistical mechanical theory and molecular modeling and simulation tools. He has received several awards including the prestigious NSF CAREER Award (2001), School of Engineering Research Award (2003), and Rensselaer Early Career Award (2004). Garde is also one of the leaders of the one-of-a-kind animation movie project called Molecularium, which aims to excite the next generation about the world of atoms and molecules. He has pioneered integration of large-scale molecular dynamics simulations into Disney-Pixar style animation world. He is an executive producer of the Molecularium I-MAX/3-D movies – Molecules to the MAX, which are currently being distributed nationwide.