Alumnus now works with U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention

Dr. Arindam Ganguly graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2010 with an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in physical chemistry (vibrational spectroscopy) and oral biology as a co-discipline. He was the 111th graduate student under the supervision of Dr. James Durig.

Ganguly had seven research papers published in peer-reviewed journals, won awards for his graduate research, and earned several other honors, including the 2009 Coblentz Society Graduate Student Award, the 2009 Society of Applied Spectroscopy Graduate Student Award, and the UMKC Department of Chemistry’s Mr. and Mrs. Fong Wu Cheng Scholarship.

Since he had earned a master’s in Polymer Science, this was Ganguly’s initial emphasis for his Ph.D. After a “brief stint” with computational chemistry, however, he transitioned to molecular spectroscopy.

“Spectroscopy is used for characterizing any system and/or material of interest to researchers,” he said. “There are different types of spectroscopic techniques, each providing a unique set of information about the system and its properties.”

Ganguly now works at United States Pharmacopeia Convention as a scientist in the Spectrometry Lab in the Research and Development group. He uses Optical Spectroscopy to develop Spectral-ID methods for food, pharmaceuticals, and Excipients and to develop methods for the detection of food adulteration.

He encourages undergraduates to pursue graduate school, but advises approaching a Ph.D. not as another degree, but as a challenge.

“The program is designed in such a way to challenge the candidate,” he said, “and approaching it in that fashion will assist in achieving the final goal.”

Ganguly enjoys flexibility in his career opportunities, and said he is always looking for opportunities “at the intersection” of technology, intellectual property, and business strategy.

He said graduate school at UMKC was fun, and his experiences were filled with the coupling of learning opportunities and hard work. He emphasized that there is no shortcut to success.

“You have to spend grueling hours performing experiments, writing papers, completing graduate coursework, comprehensive examinations, dissertation writing and defense.” he said. “Beneath all of this hard work lies the self-satisfaction of achieving a Ph.D.”

Ganguly was an international graduate student. He said it took him some time to find his way, but kept pushing and achieved graduation in 2010.

“And all of this is just the beginning,” he said.

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