Ankur Gupta

Ankur Gupta

Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

I utilize mathematical and numerical techniques to understand how ions, particles, and cells move and self-organize. This is a personal space where I share science and educational posts from my work, or sometimes personal reflections. For official information, please see my professional page and my research group's page, LIFE (Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow, and Electrokinetics).

In the News

Some of the broader implications of our group's work have been covered in the following outlets.

Boxfish Turing patterns
The New York Times

Alan Turing's Patterns and the Boxfish

Coverage of our work on Turing patterns and biological self-organization.

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Tiger stripes
The New Yorker

How the Tiger Really Got His Stripes

On the mathematical principles behind pattern formation in nature.

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Rules of the road for ions
Chemical & Engineering News

Rules of the Road for Ions

On our work understanding how ions move and self-organize in solution.

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Blog

Posts on science, research, and the tools we use, meant to share our work with a broader audience, along with the occasional personal reflection.

Prof. Ashok Kumar Gupta

In Memory of Prof. A. K. Gupta Personal

May 2026 · Ankur Gupta

A tribute to Prof. Ashok Kumar Gupta, known to generations of Chemical Engineering students at IIT Delhi as “Prof. AKG” or “Daddu.” He taught me my first chemical engineering course. This page collects memories, photographs, and messages from his students, colleagues, friends, and family.

Balance sheet analysis versus Poisson-Nernst-Planck: graphical abstract

Rethinking How We Teach Ion Transport: Balance Sheets vs. Poisson–Nernst–Planck Interactive

April 2026 · Ankur Gupta

An interactive companion to our paper (led by Grace Origer with Ritu R. Raj) on ion transport in electrochemical cells. Solve the PNP equations in your browser and compare them to the textbook balance sheet approach taught in Bard, Faulkner & White.

Electrophoresis shape blog post

How Claude Helped Us Solve a Fluid Mechanics and Electrokinetics Problem Interactive

April 2026 · Ankur Gupta and Arkava Ganguly

We used AI to solve a mathematical physics problem on how particle shape affects electrophoretic mobility. Includes interactive visualizations of the physics and an honest account of where AI helped and where it stumbled.