Community mourns loss of VCU researcher
“He was such a wonderful human being, bright-eyed and always ready to share stories with friends.”
These words expressed by Puru Jena, distinguished professor in physics at VCU, describe Bappa Chatterjee, who died Nov. 13, 2005.
Chatterjee, a postdoctoral fellow in physics at VCU, always kept his friends and colleagues in good spirits.
“He was such a wonderful human being, bright-eyed and always ready to share stories with friends.”
These words expressed by Puru Jena, distinguished professor in physics at VCU, describe Bappa Chatterjee, who died Nov. 13, 2005.
Chatterjee, a postdoctoral fellow in physics at VCU, always kept his friends and colleagues in good spirits.
“He was always trying to help others. He was so nice and kind,” said Qian Wang, a research assistant professor and friend to Chatterjee.
Janice Guyer, program support technician for the physics department, said through an e-mail sent through the College of Humanities and Sciences office that Bappa was a warm and gentle man who loved his friends and colleagues. His warm and caring personality she said, brought many people together: students, postdoctoral fellows, staff and faculty alike.
In October 2003, Chatterjee earned his Ph.D in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also received the Babler Award, an award given yearly for his outstanding efforts in teaching. He then joined PhilipMorris USA as a research fellow and conducted his research in the VCU physics department.
“He always did beautiful work and was now being accepted for publication on his pyrolisis of cellulose work,” Jena said.
After leaving PhilipMorris in October 2005, Chatterjee joined VCU’s theory group in the physics department as a postdoctoral fellow.
“When he was working at VCU he was working on hydrogen absorption under ambient conditions,” Jena said.
Kiran Boggavarapu, a research assistant professor, said the physics lab environment is a friendly place, and Bappa along with everyone else had support within the department.
Anil Kandalam, a postdoctoral associate in physics, described Bappa as a person always wanting to help people. He collaborated with high school teachers in Chicago, improved and created novel ideas for teaching chemistry, judged at science fairs, and Kandalam said Chatterjee helped a colleague’s son with his science project.
Chatterjee is survived by his mother and younger brother.
