http://nova-institute.eu/nova-team/

Michael Carus studied physics at the University of Cologne. Following his studies he worked as a scientific staff member for nuclear energy and environment at the University of Tuebingen, as a scientific journalist for different professional magazines (environment and technology), at the KATALYSE-Umweltinstitut in Cologne (environment and resources), for the US company Tektronix GmbH in Cologne (IT system management) as well as for the company Flachglas Solartechnik GmbH in Cologne (solar power plants) until founding the nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation GmbH together with other scientists in 1994.

nova-Institute is a private and independent research institute, offering research and consultancy with a focus on bio-based and CO2-based economy in the fields of food and feedstock, techno-economic evaluation, markets, sustainability, dissemination, B2B communication and policy.

https://www.chbe.gatech.edu/people/yulin-deng 

Dr. Deng is a Professor and the James C. Barber Faculty Fellow in Chemical Engineering and Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology.  He was the recipient of the AIChE Forest Bioproducts Division Andrew Chase Award in 2013, TAPPI William Aiken research award in 2020. He is also an elected Fellow of American Institute of Chemical Engineering (2018) and Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS) (2013).  Dr. Deng has published 275 peer reviewed papers, one e-book, 8 book chapters, and received 4 patents. His research focuses (1) lignocellulosic nanomaterials, (2) woody biomass based chemicals/hydrogen/biofuel/ electricity, (3) nanostructured materials for electronic devices, and (4) pulping and papermaking.  His research covers both fundamental research and industrial applications.

 https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/experts/evan-fraser/

Evan started thinking about agriculture and food systems while spending summers working on his grandfather’s fruit farm in Niagara.  There, he watched his stock-broker grandmother rake in an unconscionable amount of money on commissions from her clients’ investments while the farmers around were letting their crops rot because the cost of harvesting was higher than the cost of importing from the Southern US and Mexico. He decided, however, it was easier to write and talk about farming than actually try to make a living on it so passed on inheriting the family farm, opting instead for grad school.  He did degrees in forestry, anthropology and agriculture at UBC and UofT.  Since graduating, he worked in a policy institute with the Hon. Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, and began his academic career in 2003 in the UK where he worked on farming and climate change at the University of Leeds.

https://www.woodbridgegroup.com/

Dr. Hamdy Khalil is the Senior Global Director for Advanced Technologie and Innovatio  at The Woodbridge Group. Dr. Khalil holds a BSc with majors in chemistry and physics from the University of Alexandria in Egypt, an MSc in Nutritional Biochemistry from Cairo University in Egypt and MSc in Terpenoid Chemistry from Laurentian University and a PhD in Polymer scince from Windsor University. Dr. Khalil pioneered the introduction and commercialization of renewable materials into the polyurethane chemistry used in the interior automotive parts manufacturing which is now the benchmark for the industry. Prior to his present position at Woodbridge Foam Corporation - a major manufacturer of flexible moulded polyurethane foam for the global automotive industry- Dr. Khalil held positions at Labatt's in the pharmaceutical Division, for PolySar Corporation as analytical laboratory supervisor and as Senior Technical Manager for BFGoodrich. Dr. Khalil sits on the scientific advisory committee of ArboraNano and on the NRC steering committee for Bio-products development. He is the Vice Chair of the Ontario Bioautocouncil Board of Directors and Chair of the investment committee for CRIB Board of Directors. Dr. Khalil is one of the pioneers for the development of Phase Transfer Catalysis (PTC). He participated and Chaired many Biotechnology International Conferences. He holds patent in the areas of Polyurethane structural sealants, Latex, Styrenics and Bio Polyols. His first passion is the mentoring and development of young scientists and technical personnel.

https://www.ford.com/

Dr. Deborah Mielewski is the Senior Technical Leader of Sustainable and Advanced Materials at Ford Motor Company, Research and Innovation Center. She received her B.S.E. ('86), M.S.E. ('93) and PhD ('98) degrees in Chemical Engineering, all from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and has been with Ford Motor Company for 33 years. Dr. Mielewski has worked at Ford Research in automotive paint durability, polymer processing and materials development. She initiated the biomaterials program at Ford Research in 2001, and her team was the first to demonstrate soy-based foam that met all the requirements for automotive seating. Ford launched soy-based foam on the 2008 Mustang, and soy seat cushions, backs and headrests have found their way into every Ford North American built vehicle. Bio-based foams currently reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 25 million pounds and reduce petroleum dependence by over 5 million pounds annually. 

Since that first laboratory success in formulating and launching the first automotive soy-based foam over a decade ago, the Ford biomaterials research team has been working to expand the use of sustainable plastic materials in vehicles. Ford currently has over a dozen renewable materials in production vehicles, including natural fiber reinforced composites such as wheat straw, rice hulls and cellulose fiber from trees. These materials meet all the stringent requirements of automotive, many times exceeding the performance of traditional plastic composite materials. The team continues to search for innovative and creative bio-technologies that can reduce our dependence on petroleum, create new markets for agricultural products and additional revenue streams for farmers, as well as reduce vehicle weight, which results in improved fuel efficiency and lower vehicle emissions. Over the past 2 years, Ford has kicked off several new material investigations on materials such as cellulose nanofibers (CNF, CNC, cellulose filaments), materials from carbon dioxide, and have even started to apply our knowledge in “green” materials to the exploding area of 3d printing. Late last year, Ford pioneered the introduction of the first bio-carbon made from McDonald’s coffee chaff into the headlamp housings of the Lincoln Continental.

Dr. Mielewski is passionate about the work she does to reduce Ford’s environmental footprint and believes that these new materials are going to dominate the market in the future. Her philosophy is to “do the right thing” in incremental, but ever advancing steps. She has appeared in a Ford national commercial, the NOVA “Making Things” series, and has been interviewed by countless media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, Time Inc. and CNN. She has over 60 referred journal publications and 20 U. S. patents. Her work has been acknowledged with awards such as the Henry Ford Technology Award, the R&D100 Award, the Free Press Automotive Leadership Award, the Environmental Management Association Award, 5 SPE Environmental Innovation Awards and the American Chemical Society’s Industrial Innovation Award. She has spoken at prestigious outlets such as TED and the Smithsonian “Age of Plastics Symposium”.

https://www.egr.msu.edu/people/profile/narayan

Dr. Ramani Narayan studied Organic Chemistry at Bombay University, receiving his PhD in 1975. Since then he has become a distinguished researcher in the area of design and engineering of sustainable, biobased products, biodegradable plastics and polymers, biofibre reinforced composites, reactive extrusion polymerization and processing. He is currently a professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Michigan State University. He was named an MSU University Distinguished Professor in 2007. He also serves as the Scientific Chair of the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) and on the Board of Directors of ASTM International.

Dr. Narayan is a successful entrepreneur having been responsible for commercializing several technologies. He developed poly (lactic acid) materials technology and conducting engineering scale-up studies for Cargill Inc. The technology is currently being commercialized by NatureWorks LLC. He also developed biodegradable modified starch ester thermoplastics technology. He is also developing and commercializing technology for manufacturing new biopolyesters, and polyols that find application in polyurethanes and polyester resins products using vegetable and algal oil platforms. He is involved with setting up a biorefinery in conjunction with a Michigan agribusiness, Zeeland biobased products (www.zfsinc.com) producing advanced biofuels, biomoners and plastic products in addition to traditional food and feed products.

https://www.human.cornell.edu/people/ann2

After receiving Ph.D. from North Carolina State University Dr. Netravali joined the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University as a postdoctoral associate and research associate. After that he joined the Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD) as an Assistant Professor of Fiber Science. Currently he is the Jean and Douglas McLean Professor of Fiber Science. His current research is in the areas of Fiber Reinforced Composites and Green Materials and Processes. In composites, the primary focus of his research group is to develop environment-friendly resins from sustainable sources such as plant-derived proteins and starches and use plant based reinforcements to engineer ‘Green Composites’ with desired properties. While carbon-neutral green composites can be engineered to have properties comparable to conventional petroleum-based composites, unlike conventional composites that end up in landfills, green composites are biodegradable and can be composted at the end of their life. Netravali group has also developed Advanced Green Composites with high strength and toughness that may be used in some structural or ballistic applications, Toughened Green Composites and Self-healing Green Composites that can autonomously repair themselves and Fire Resistant Green Composites. The second focus of his group is modification of fiber surfaces to control fiber/resin interface characteristics in composites. His research group hasused many techniques including polymerizing and non-polymerizing plasmas, pulsed excimer laser, high power ion beam, solvent treatments, etc., to modify fiber surface chemistry and topography to control their adhesion to resins and, thus, to control the composite properties. A third focus of his group is developing green chemical processes to obtain functional properties in cotton and wool fibers and fabrics. His group has developed several green technologies to obtain hydrophobic, ultra-hydrophobic and anti-wrinkle cotton fabrics as well as treatments for hair stabilization and enhancing wool fiber strength.

https://www.ars.usda.gov/people-locations/person?person-id=4240

Dr. William J. Orts is the Research Leader for Bioproducts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services Western Regional Research Center where he oversees a team that aims to add optimal value to agricultural coproducts, especially from under-valued biomass sources found in the Western United States. He has over 30 years of experience in research related to biofuels and bioproducts with over 200 publications and more than 125 invited presentations.

Bill's masters work focused on fermentation scale-up of gums derived from wood sugars and Ph.D. research carried out at the Xerox Research labs on developing polyhydroxyalkanoates as a commercial biopolymer.

http://cbe.utk.edu/people/art-j-ragauskas/

Arthur Ragauskas held the first Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy and is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Wood Science and TAPPI.

In 2014, he assumed a Governor’s Chair for Biorefining based in University of Tennessee’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, with a complementary appointment in the UT Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries and serves in the US Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Biosciences Division, at ORNL. His research program is directed at understanding and exploiting innovative sustainable bioresources. This multifaceted program is targeted to develop new and improved applications for nature’s premiere renewable biopolymers for biofuels, biopower, and bio-based materials and chemicals. Recently, his research team has begun to examine the upcycling of waste plastics.

His research program has been sponsored by NSF, USDA, DOE, GA Traditional Industry Program, a consortium of industry partners, and several fellowship programs which is summarized in 488 publications. His Fulbright sponsored activities at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden were focused on the forest biorefinery and new biofuel conversion technologies for lignocellulosics. Currently, Ragauskas manages a research group of graduate students, postdoctoral research fellows, a research scientist, and visiting scientists. He is the recipient of the 2014 TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal Award, the ACS Affordable Green Chemistry award, 2017 AIChE Green Processing Award, 2017 Academia Distinguished Service Award, and his students and postdocs have won several awards, including the ACS graduate research award, ORNL UT-Battelle Award, and Supplementary Performance Award (ORNL).

https://www.eng.nus.edu.sg/me/staff/ramakrishna-seeram/

Honorary Everest Chair Seeram Ramakrishna, FREng is a Professor of materials engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), which is ranked consistently among the leading world-class universities (http://www.nus.edu.sg/global/rankings.html). He is an elected Fellow of UK Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng); Singapore Academy of Engineering; Indian National Academy of Engineering; and ASEAN Academy of Engineering & Technology.   He is also an elected Fellow of American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS); ASM International; American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME); American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE); Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IMechE and Institution of Materials, Minerals & Mining, IoM3, UK; ISTE, India; and International Union of Biomaterials Science & Engineering (FBSE). He received PhD from University of Cambridge, UK. Among numerous recognitions he received are: Honorary Everest Chair of Nepal (https://mbustb.org/member_cat/honorary-chair/);  Honorary Engineering Doctorate, Central University of Technology, South Africa; Asia Polymer Association Distinguished Researcher Award, International Federation of Engineering Education Societies President award- Global Visionary; Global Engineering Dean's Council Ambassador; ASEAN Outstanding Engineer Award; Institute of Engineers Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award; IIT Madras Distinguished Alumni Award, UK Cambridge Nehru Fellowship, Singapore Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship, and China Chang Jiang (Yangtze Scholar) Scholar.

Thomson Reuters identified him among the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. His Google Scholar H-index exceeds 154 and his publications have attracted over 106,000 citations (https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?hl=en&user=a49NVmkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate). Clarivate Analytics recognized him among the Top 1% Highly Cited Researchers in the world in materials science and cross-fields categories. Microsoft Academic ranked him among the top 36 salient authors out of three million materials researchers worldwide (https://academic.microsoft.com/authors/192562407).

His academic leadership includes NUS’s Vice-President (Research Strategy); Dean of Faculty of Engineering; Director of NUS Enterprise; Director of NUS Industry Liaison Office; Director of NUS International Relations Office; Founding Director of NUS Bioengineering; Founding Co-Director of NUS Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Institute. $100 million Global Water Center by General Electric was established under his watch as the Dean of Engineering. As a founding Chairman he championed the establishment ~ $100 million Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, SERIS. He served as a board member of several national organizations, policy institutes, and tertiary education institutions.  He founded the Global Engineering Deans Council (http://gedcouncil.org/ambassadors) while serving as the Vice-President of International Federation of Engineering Educator Societies (IFEES).  He was a member of World Economic Forum (WEF) Committee on Future of Production-Sustainability. He is a co-organizer of NSF, USA sponsored conference on materials and circular economy and sustainability (http://www.ceasiapacific.com).  He authored the book The Changing Face of Innovation.  He is a renowned speaker on higher education and innovation trends worldwide.

https://www.geds-sage.gc.ca/en/GEDS?pgid=015&dn=cn=greg.rampley@canada.ca,ou=EAD-DAE,ou=TEIB-DCEI,ou=NCR-RCN,ou=CFS-SCF,ou=DMO-CSM,ou=NRCan-RNCan,o=gc,c=ca&cn=Greg%20Rampley

Greg Rampley works within the Economic Analysis Division at the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) in Natural Resources Canada, where he works with senior government officials to set strategic direction for Canada’s forest sector in the circular bioeconomy.  He currently leads a multi-disciplinary team of economists, engineers, and policy analysts evaluating market opportunities and competitiveness impacts associated with novel bioproducts, technological advancements and proposed regulatory changes in order to establish a solid foundation for forest sector related policy decisions.  His team recently supported the design and launch of Natural Resources Canada’s bioplastics and biofoam innovation challenges as well as ongoing work to develop biobased solutions to the emergent issue of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) waste.
Greg has a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph and Masters of Engineering in Clean Energy Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

https://www.wm.com/

Susan Robinson leads WM’s Sustainability Team.  In this role, she is responsible for WM’s sustainability policy, advocacy and reporting.   Her 30+ years in the industry includes work in the public sector, non-profit environmental work, consultancy, and over 25 years in the private sector.  Susan’s experience includes global commodity marketing, research and analysis of industry trends, and twenty years managing municipal solid waste and recycling contracts.    

Susan is active on several boards including the American Institute for Packaging and Environment (Ameripen), the Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC), as well as the ReFED Advisory Council.

Susan attended Stanford University and holds a B.S. in Applied Earth Sciences from the University of Washington.  Her Masters work in Environmental Studies is from The Evergreen State College.

https://www.mie.utoronto.ca/faculty_staff/msain/

Professor Mohini M. Sain is the founding director of the Centre for Biocomposites and Biomaterials Processing at the University of Toronto (U of T). He is the former Dean of U of T’s Faculty of Forestry and is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering as well as the Faculty of Forestry.

Sain received his doctoral degree in 1988 under UNESCO award. In the last 30 years of his professional career he has received numerous awards, including the recent Canadian Entrepreneur of the year award in 2017. His work on Biocar has been chosen as one of the top two world changing ideas by Torontonians in 2009 by Toronto Life magazine. His work on advanced biomaterials and nanocellulose technology has made him one of the world’s top researchers in transforming research to business. His current research interests include fuzzy neuro-network in next gen transportation, bio-nano cellulose and carbon material for functional materials, low carbon and carbon-negative technology development for construction and advanced potable electronic devices. Based on ResearchGate, the largest social networking site for researchers, Sain is among the top 2.5% of researchers worldwide.

Sain has published over 400 peer reviewed research papers in a wide spectrum of international journals, and owns over 30 patents related to the development of processing techniques and advanced materials. His current h-index is over 50, RG index is 49 and citations are greater than 17,000. He has also co-authored/edited seven books, two of which are best sellers. Sain has working experience in various countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, USA, Canada and India, besides Singapore.

https://www.basf.com/ca/en.html

As BASF Canada’s Head of Sustainability and Government Relations, Amy Sandhu is responsible for designing and executing strategies to achieve BASF Canada’s global sustainability targets, support BASF’s customers in achieving their sustainability targets, and advocate for BASF’s business interests at government level. Prior to joining BASF 2 years ago, Amy’s global experience includes conducting environmental and social performance consulting for the mining and oil and gas sectors, as well as working for the United Nations in Europe and west Africa.  Amy holds a MSc in Economics with a specialization in Development Management from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a Bachelors in Political Science from Queens University.

http://www.plasticsolutions.com.mx/index.html

Dr. Ranganath Shastri, Founder and CEO of Expert Plastics Solutions de México, dedicated to providing technical consulting services to the plastics industry, is a veteran of more than 38 years of experience in the plastics industry including

• 21 years with The Dow Chemical Company in the U.S., in various functions including New Products & Technology Development, New Business Development, Business Research, Marketing, e-business support and Knowledge management
• 7 years with CIATEQ, one of the leading research centers of the National Science & Technology Council of México (CONACYT), as Coordinator in Plastics Programs responsible for Applied R&D, Skilled Workforce Training & Development and Customer Technical Support.
• 4 years with Graham Packaging Plastics Products de México, leading the Applied Research, Technology Development & Innovation (I+DT+i) programs.
• 2 years as Adjunct Faculty in Plastics Engineering Program at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

He holds a B.E.in Chemical Engineering with M.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Doctorate in Materials Science from University of Cincinnati.
Dr. Shastri is author of more than 75 technical publications and holds 23 patents. He was elected a “Fellow” of the Society of Plastics Engineering (SPE International) – a select group of about 335 experts worldwide - in recognition of his technical contributions to the global plastics industry.
Dr. Shastri is an active member of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE Internation

https://nrc.canada.ca/en/corporate/contact-us/nrc-directory-science-professionals/karen-stoeffler

Dr. Karen Stoeffler is head of the Polymers & Bioproducts team at NRC’s Automotive and Surface Transportation Research Centre. This team comprises researchers and technicians specializing in polymer formulation and processing, and dedicated to the development of cost-competitive and sustainable polymers and composites for the industry. Research areas include biorefining, biosourced polymers, compostable polymers, lightweight composites and polymer recycling technologies. Since 2018, she has collaborated tightly with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on implementing Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Strategy.

https://www.ndsu.edu/researchgroups/ulven/contact/

Chad Ulven is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at NDSU. He has been involved in the research of polymer matrix composites (PMCs) for various commercial and defense applications for the past 20 years. He has co-authored 6 book chapters, 70 journal articles, and over 100 conference papers related to PMCs. Ulven received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University in 2001 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2003 and in 2005, respectively. He became a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department at North Dakota State University in 2005. Ulven is the co-author of 5 patent applications which have led to 4 patents awarded and 2 spin-out companies, c2renew inc. and c2sensor corp.