Dr Athawale is an eminent researcher and professor in the field of Physical Chemistry. She received her masters degree from N. Wadia College, Pune followed by Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor S. F. Patil from the University of Pune. Later she continued her postdoctoral research at Institution of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Lodz, Poland. Her research areas include synthesis of conducting polymers, epoxy composites, metal and ceramic nanoparticles, nanocluster composites, perovskites and layered perovskites, titanium dioxide. Applications as catalyst in organic conversion reactions, gas and chemical vapour sensors, photocatalyst, etc. At present, she has 86 international research articles in peer reviewed journal of high repute and four international patents to her credit.

Apart from research, Dr. Athawale is actively involved in teaching various courses at the Department such as Surface Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Nuclear and Radiation Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Electron Microscopy, Electrochemical Energy Sources, etc.

             

1. Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Science for significant contribution in the field of Chemical Sciences in October 2015
2. Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in reviewing from the Editors of MATERIALS RESEARCH BULLETIN, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands in Jan 2015
3. Certificate of Reviewing from the Editors of JOURNAL OF SOLID STATE CHEMISTRY Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands in May 2015
4. Certificate of Reviewing from The Editors of APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands in March 2015
5. Erasmus Mundus Fellowship, 2014
6. British Commonwealth Academic Fellowship, Oct 2008- March 2009, worked at University of Aberdeen, Scotland, (UK), CSC Reference No :INCF - 2008 – 69 dated 6th May 2008. Worked on ‘heterogenous catalysis with water as solvent’.
7. Invited as Chairman for the International Seminar ICMAT-2003 at Singapore.
8. Prof. Deshpande award given by Institute of Engineers, Pune.
9. Has been felicitated as Best teacher and Researcher by SPPU. (Feb 2016)
10. Received Best Faculty Award by FBA ( Education Expo, TV CRS )
11. Received Pennstate-SPPU Collaborative project (2016-17)