Lalitha Ganapatibhotla

Lalitha Ganapatibhotla is an Advanced Product Development Specialist in 3M’s Electronic Materials Solutions Division. Lalitha has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University in New York where she worked on synthesis and characterization of novel polymer electrolytes for dye sensitized solar cells, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University where she worked on developing and characterizing solid polymer electrolytes for use in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

She has experience in understanding the physics behind what makes the polymers work in various applications through her work on neutron scattering during collaborations with NIST and Oakridge National labs. She gave 8 conference presentations and an invited talk on her PhD work. Lalitha has 12 academic publications and 2 patents from her M.S. and PhD research. After graduation from Penn State, she worked at the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas for 3 years and developed products for 3D printing. One of the commercialized products from this work called EVOLV3D USM won the Edison Award in the Industry in 2017. This is a universal support material that works with all build materials for 3D printing applications. It’s biodegradable and can be washed down the sink in homes after use. Lalitha joined 3M in 2018 and in her current role she develops new light and heat curable multifunctional polymer adhesive chemistries for applications in automotive and electronics bonding.

Lalitha has won 3 Circle of Technical Excellence awards at 3M and is an author of 20 invention submissions and 10 patent filings. Lalitha has chaired multiple sessions in AIChE and chaired the Women Initiative committee of AIChE from 2015-2017. Lalitha has been a judge to the national You Be the Chemist Challenge for multiple years and has mentored several graduate and undergraduate students, tech aides, and interns over the years. Lalitha is passionate about alternative energy technologies and new chemistries to solve challenging problems in new energy applications. Outside work, Lalitha enjoys Yoga, hiking, travelling to nature getaways, and teaching periodic table to her 3-year-old.