Manuraj Kallumkal
He/Him
I am gay and I am an inorganic and organometallic chemist.//
I am a PhD student in chemistry at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. My research focuses on understanding the fundamental chemistry of multimetallic molecular platforms to develop design principles for next-generation catalysts. Before joining the grad school, I worked in inorganic and catalysis research at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India.
As a gay man, growing up in Kerala under the pre-conditioned heteronormative social setting was challenging. My first exposure to the queer community was through Queerala, a Kochi-based community organization, and that made me realize that I’m not alone. From there onwards, through lots of self-awareness and self-learning, I completely accepted myself and made myself comfortable with my sexual orientation.
Being true to myself had a phenomenal transformative effect on my life. Over the years, especially after coming to the US, I feel comfortable coming out to my peers. I realized that it is now my time to be a representative and inspire science-loving queers! As a part of it, I work with oSTEM and Queer Science at UMN to foster community. 500 Queer Scientists is a great initiative to bring worldwide visibility to the queer STEM community, and I am delighted to be a part of it from now onwards!
I am more than happy to help with any of the queer aspects or just a fun chemistry talk! Cheers!!