Arpita Upadhyaya has received the 2013 Richard A. Ferrell Distinguished Faculty Fellowship, which recognizes outstanding personal effort and expertise in physics as well as dedicated service to the UMD Department of Physics. The Fellowship, established in 2001, honors Dr. Richard A. Ferrell, a deeply-respected physicist who joined the University in 1953, served 40 years, and remained active in the department even after his retirement. Dr. Ferrell died in 2005 at his nearby University Park home.

Professor Upadhyaya is an Assistant Professor for the Maryland Biophysics research group. Her primary research interests are in membrane and cellular biophysics, soft condensed matter and statistical mechanics of polymer networks.