{"id":5262,"date":"2025-11-29T04:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/?page_id=5262"},"modified":"2025-11-29T04:47:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T02:47:49","slug":"pranava-pakala","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/about\/alumni\/pranava-pakala\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni profile: Pranava Pakala"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” top_padding=”60″ overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”2\/3″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\n

From plant-based leather to solar cells<\/h1>\n

For Pranava Pakala, studying Electronics and Nanotechnology at Aalto University didn\u2019t quite quench her curiosity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I found out about CHEMARTS, I loved the idea of combining design and science, of making biomaterials functional and beautiful.\u201d<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]

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\"Pranava<\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]\n
Pranava Pakala<\/span><\/h5>\n[\/vc_column_text]
<\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]In 2022, she joined the Design Meets Biomaterials course and the DATEMATS Workshop organised by Aalto CHEMARTS. What she found was nothing like a traditional course.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so hands-on. I don\u2019t remember going to a single lecture, we were just in the lab, experimenting and making.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Design meets science in the lab<\/b><\/h3>\n

Her projects explored plant-based leather, culminating in a <\/span>mobile changing room<\/span><\/i> built entirely from the material. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very novel,\u201d she laughs. \u201cOne of the biggest challenges was making the leather sheets stand upright. We eventually reinforced them with cardboard for the proof of concept.\u201d<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]

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\"Pranava<\/a><\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]\n
Pranava at the CHEMARTS lab<\/span><\/h5>\n[\/vc_column_text]
<\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]For Pranava, the most valuable part of CHEMARTS was collaboration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe projects were mostly done in groups. You\u2019re constantly learning from people who think completely differently, that\u2019s where the real creativity happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Embracing interdisciplinarity<\/b><\/h3>\n

That experience now echoes in her current role as a PhD student at Uppsala University, where she researches perovskite solar cells.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to know a bunch of different topics and fields in order to succeed,\u201d she says. \u201cI used to find that daunting, but CHEMARTS helped me embrace it. It taught me that interdisciplinarity isn\u2019t confusing, it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Life after CHEMARTS<\/b><\/h3>\n

Pranava plans to move into industry R&D, where she hopes to continue developing sustainable and high-performance materials. She\u2019s optimistic about the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand for sustainable materials is growing everywhere. Material production in general is expensive and the extraction process is oftentimes not environmentally friendly so there is a growing need to find alternatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her advice to anyone considering CHEMARTS? \u201cI totally recommend it. It\u2019s an incredible experience, especially if you want to learn by doing and see how design and science can truly work together.\u201d<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]

<\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]Interested in studying CHEMARTS courses? Apply<\/a> to Aalto University.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” top_padding=”60″ bottom_padding=”10″ overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” top_padding=”60″ overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”2\/3″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text] From plant-based leather to solar cells For Pranava Pakala,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5263,"parent":4719,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5262"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5267,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5262\/revisions\/5267"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemarts.aalto.fi\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}