Sujit Datta is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, where he served as the Director of Graduate Studies from 2022-2024. He is also the co-leader of the Princeton MRSEC IRG on Living & Soft Matter, senior investigator in the Center for the Physics of Biological Function, and an associated faculty member in the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, Princeton Materials Institute, Andlinger Center for Energy & Environment, High Meadows Environmental Institute, and Princeton Biophysics Graduate Program. In September 2024, he will be moving to the California Institute of Technology as a Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biophysics.

Sujit earned a BA in Mathematics and Physics and an MS in Physics in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania, and then a PhD in Physics in 2013 from Harvard, where he studied fluid dynamics and instabilities in soft and disordered media with Dave Weitz. His postdoctoral training was in Chemical Engineering at Caltech, where he studied the biophysics of the gut with Rustem Ismagilov. 

Sujit then joined Princeton in 2017, where his lab studies the dynamics, self-organization, and applications of complex, soft (“squishy”), and living systems, with a focus on complex fluids, gels, and bacterial communities/active matter, motivated by challenges in biotechnology, energy, environment, and medicine. His lab's work integrates microscopy, microfluidics, materials science, and biophysical characterization with theoretical & computational modeling, applying ideas from fluid and solid mechanics, colloidal science, polymer physics, statistical mechanics, and network science. Altogether, this research program has revealed and shed new light on the fascinating behaviors manifested by complex fluids and bacterial populations in complex environments, guiding the development of new approaches to environmental remediation, energy production, agriculture, water security, and biotechnology.

Sujit also actively leads outreach efforts in STEM to bring together diverse perspectives and provide access to researchers from traditionally under-represented groups in studies of soft and living systems. In addition to leading professional activities for a number of scientific societies and agencies, Sujit serves on the editorial boards of Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics and the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics.

Sujit's scholarship has been recognized by awards from a broad range of different communities, reflecting its multidisciplinary nature, including through the AIChE Allan P. Colburn and 35 Under 35 Awards, three awards from the APS (Early Career Award in Biological Physics, Andreas Acrivos Award in Fluid Dynamics, and Apker Award), Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, Society of Rheology Arthur Metzner Award, ACS Unilever Award, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER Award, and multiple commendations for teaching.

Sujit grew up in Toronto, but lost most of his Canadian accent by living in Abu Dhabi, Philadelphia, Boston, and Los Angeles before moving to New Jersey. In his free time, Sujit likes to play with his five year-old daughter, cook, eat, run, and reminisce about his past life as a competitive kickboxer.