// curriculum-vitae

Mohammad Imaran, PhD

Chemical Engineer · Computational Scientist · Manchester, UK

Available for Consulting

// experience

Computational Scientist

Feb 2024 – Present

Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC – UKRI), UK

  • Led SPH–DEM GPU simulation of a novel hydropower turbine design using DualSPHysics, modelling air–water multiphase free-surface flow with fluid–solid coupling via Project Chrono.
  • Implemented a dynamic Langmuir adsorption boundary condition in OpenFOAM (scalar transport + mass transfer coupling) for CO₂ direct air capture (DAC) process design.
  • Developed reactive multiphase CFD for industrial CO₂ absorption into NaOH solvent; results used by UK industrial partners for scale-up decisions.
  • Ported sections of the NEMO ocean model to GPU using OpenACC (Met Office collaboration); re-implemented a vector-borne disease model in JAX/XLA for GPU-accelerated parameter sweeps on real Wirral geographic data.
  • Scoped projects jointly with industrial partners, defining work packages and milestones; presented technical results to engineering and non-technical audiences.

Process Modeller & Data Scientist

Apr 2023 – Jan 2024

Pfizer

  • Calibrated cohesive contact models in EDEM (powder blending) and Rocky (tablet compaction) against angle-of-repose, shear cell, and bulk density data for OSD manufacturing.
  • Set up HyperStudy DoE and parametric sweep workflows, automating batch DEM runs to map mixing performance and reduce physical experiments per formulation.
  • Built Python pipelines (Pandas, Scikit-learn) for data-driven fitting of DEM contact coefficients, replacing manual trial-and-error.
  • Trained 3–5 engineers on EDEM from scratch; team now runs independent DEM blending studies. Delivered scale-up recommendations to formulation scientists and project governance.

Research Associate (Post-Doctoral)

Mar 2022 – Mar 2023

University of Edinburgh, UK

  • Led development of SHDEM — a spherical harmonic-based DEM package inside LAMMPS for non-convex particle geometries. Published in Computer Physics Communications (2024).
  • Implemented contact detection for non-spherical particles; parallelised with MPI and OpenMP for large-scale HPC runs.
  • Collaborated with EPCC and Sandia National Laboratory; authored Sphinx-based documentation, verification cases, and worked examples.

PhD Researcher

2016 – 2022

Monash University – IIT Bombay (Joint Programme)

  • Extended LAMMPS in C++ with custom fixes for self-propelled particle dynamics. Published in Soft Matter (2021).
  • Developed stochastic simulation methodologies for active matter systems and dense suspension rheology.

// education

Ph.D., Computational Biophysics

Monash University – IIT Bombay

2016 – 2022

M.Tech., Chemical Engineering

IIT Guwahati

2014 – 2016

B.Tech., Chemical Engineering

Aligarh Muslim University

2010 – 2014

// technical-skills

Commercial Simulation Tools

EDEMRockyHyperStudyAnsys SpaceClaimFreeCAD

Open-Source Frameworks

LAMMPSLIGGGHTSOpenFOAMDualSPHysicsProject ChronoAMReXCantera

Simulation Methods

Multiphase CFDDEM (Spherical & Non-Spherical)SPH & SPH–DEM CouplingReactive Flows & Mass TransferMolecular DynamicsDense Suspension Rheology

HPC & Parallel Computing

MPIOpenMPOpenACCJAX / XLAGPU Code TransformationSLURM

Programming & Data

C / C++PythonFortranRMATLABPandas / NumPy / Scikit-learnMatplotlibBash

Workflow & Optimisation

DoE & Parametric SweepsSimulation AutomationData-Driven CalibrationHyperStudy Batch Workflows

// publications-and-conferences

Journal Article

Imaran et al. "Spherical harmonic-based DEM in LAMMPS: implementation, verification and performance assessment." Computer Physics Communications, 2024.

doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2024.109290 →
Journal Article

Imaran et al. "Cluster and conquer: morphodynamics of invasion of a compliant substrate by active rods." Soft Matter 17:7459–7465, 2021.

doi:10.1039/d1sm00860a →
Conference

Imaran et al. "Modelling of complex-shaped granular particles using spherical harmonics." APS March Meeting, 2023; Advances in Particle Technology, Leeds, 2022.

Conference

Imaran et al. "Stigmergic furrowing by an active suspension in a soft substrate." 22nd AFMC, Brisbane, 2020.

Conference

M. Imaran & A. Singh. "Stokesian dynamics simulation of shear rate dependent rheology of dense suspensions." Int. Congress on Rheology, Kyoto, 2016.

// awards-and-fellowships