Oleg Gang

His research interests cover nanoparticle assembly and functionality, polymers and biopolymers, and hybrid nanoscale systems built from bioderived and inorganic components. To probe materials in relevant environments, in action and in 3D, Gang uses a broad range of methods, including synchrotron techniques and nanoscale imaging.  Gang actively develops novel strategies for creating designed nanoscale architectures through programmable self-assembly, where biomolecules, polymers and external fields guide a structure formation and transformation. The main objective of the research program is to enable autonomous material systems that exhibit designed spatial organization, pathway programmable behavior, and can be dynamically controlled. The developed methods are used to create new materials with targeted optical, mechanical and biomedical functions.

Gang earned MS and PhD (2000) from Bar-Ilan University (Israel), specializing in Atomic Spectroscopy and Soft Matter, respectively. As a postdoctoral Distinguished Rothschild Fellow at Harvard University, he studied nanoscale wetting phenomena and liquid interface phenomena. Gang started at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a Distinguished Goldhaber Fellow in 2002, rising through the ranks to lead the Soft and Bio-Nanomaterials group at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials. In 2016, Gang joined Columbia University as a Professor of Chemical Engineering, and of Applied Physics and Materials Science.

Gang has received numerous awards and recognitions, including University President Award and Wolf Foundation scholarship for his PhD work, Rothschild and Goldhaber fellowships, Department of Energy Outstanding Mentor Award, Gordon Battelle Prize for Scientific Discovery, has been named Battelle Inventor of the Year, and he is a Fellow of American Physical Society.

Research Areas

• Soft Matter
• Advanced Materials
• Nanotechnology
• Advanced Materials
• Materials Characterization
• Materials Design and Engineering
• Materials Synthesis and Processing
• Nanomaterials
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Biocompatible Materials
• Bioinductive Materials
• Biomimetic Materials
• Functional and Responsive Materials
• Nanomaterials (Nanotechnology)
• Biomaterials