Dr. Priya Samudrala is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Monash University, where she commenced in July 2024. She is a chemist with a background in Biotechnology and Microbiology, with expertise in heterogeneous catalysis and sustainable chemical processes.

She earned her PhD in Applied Chemistry from RMIT University in 2016, with a research focus on heterogeneous catalysis for converting bio-glycerol into commodity chemicals and fine chemical synthesis through organic transformations. Her outstanding contributions during this time were recognised with the Martin Bennett Research Excellence Award. She also holds an MSc in Organic Chemistry from Osmania University (2008), where she received the Gold Medal for academic excellence.

Following her PhD, Dr. Samudrala worked as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC), RMIT University, where she reinforced her expertise in heterogeneous catalysis and began exploring three-dimensional printed catalyst formulations for sustainable chemical production. In 2017, she joined Monash University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering and, the following year, was appointed Assistant Lecturer, where she continued to expand her teaching and research in catalysis and Reaction Engineering. At Monash, she leads a research group focused on novel catalyst design and reaction engineering, with emphasis on rationally designed catalytic systems, process optimisation, and the development of hierarchically structured and bio-inspired heterogeneous catalysts. By integrating tailored catalytic interfaces with 3D-printed designs, her team is advancing cleaner and more efficient pathways for sustainable fuels and chemical production.

Novel catalytic materials hold the key to advancing chemical and energy production. The development of active and robust catalysts for sustainable chemical syntheses remains one of the most important and challenging areas of industrial innovation. At the same time, the urgent need for environmentally cleaner processes is driven by the ecological and socio-economic impacts of conventional petroleum-based fuel and chemical production, which both depletes natural resources and contributes to environmental damage. To address these challenges, sustainable production of fuels and chemicals from renewable, biomass-derived feedstocks offers a cost-effective and low-impact pathway towards a cleaner and more resilient chemical industry.

Against this backdrop, Dr. Samudrala’s research focuses on the design and development of innovative heterogeneous catalysts, including hierarchically structured materials, nanozymes, and bio-inspired catalytic systems, for transforming waste and renewable feedstocks into value-added chemicals and clean fuels. Her work sits at the intersection of green chemistry and sustainability, with the goal of creating efficient and economically viable catalytic processes that advance both the biofuel and chemical industries.

She has extensive expertise in developing mesoporous, microporous, crystalline, and amorphous catalysts, as well as supported nanoparticle systems (mono-, bi-metallic, and bifunctional). Her research integrates catalyst synthesis, reaction engineering, process optimisation, and kinetic studies to establish structure–activity relationships and improve catalytic performance. With a strong background in both experimental and theoretical aspects of catalysis, Dr. Samudrala advances molecular-level understanding of catalytic phenomena while translating these insights into practical solutions for biomass valorisation, bio-based fuel production, and sustainable chemical manufacturing.