POLYMERMEET2024

Kyung-Suk Kim is currently a Professor of Engineering and a member of Solids and Structures Group at Brown University, directing the Scale Bridging Mechanics, Nano and Micromechanics Research. Professor Kim has played a central role in studying scale-bridging mechanics in broad-scale phenomena as well as the mechanical behavior of nanostructures by developing creative theories and conducting precision experiments

Dr. Richard J. Spontak is an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at North Carolina State University. He received the B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering (with honors/high distinction) from the Pennsylvania State University in 1983 and was later awarded the Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering (under the supervision of Mike Williams) from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988. He then pursued post-doctoral research with Alan Windle in Materials Science & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge (U.K.) and Tormod Riste in Condensed Matter Physics at the Institutt for Energiteknikk (Norway) before joining the Corporate Research Division of the Procter & Gamble Company in 1990. In 1992, he accepted a faculty position at North Carolina State University, where he supervises the Polymer Morphology Group. Since that time, Spontak has published over 275 research papers, and his work has been featured on the cover of 19 journals and 1 book. Although active in a diverse range of disciplines, his primary research interests relate to the phase behavior and morphology/property development of nanostructured polymers, polymer nanocomposites, electron microscopy, and stimuli-responsive media including organogels. In recognition of his fundamental and applied research endeavors, he is the recipient of numerous honors and awards such as the Sigma Xi Outstanding Research Award, the Alcoa Foundation Engineering Achievement and Distinguished Engineering Research Awards, Alexander von Humboldt and Tewkesbury fellowships, the North Carolina State University Alumni Outstanding Research Award, the 2006 American Chemical Society (PMSE Division) Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science & Engineering, the 2007 German Society for Electron Microscopy Ernst Ruska Prize, the 2008 American Chemical Society (Rubber Division) Chemistry of Thermoplastic Elastomers Award, the 2011 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) Colwyn Medal, and the 2012 Norwegian University of Science & Technology Lars Onsager Medal. An elected fellow of the American Physical Society and IOM3, he is or has been on the editorial advisory board of 17 international journals and is editor-in-chief of 3 of them. He has been recognized as a 2007 Outstanding Scholar Alumnus and a 2012 Alumni Fellow by the Pennsylvania State University. Spontak is also a highly acclaimed educator and academic mentor. For his instructional effectiveness employing cooperative and active learning pedagogies in the classroom, he has been elected to the North Carolina State University Academy of Outstanding Teachers and selected for the UNC System Board of Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest instructional honor bestowed by the University of North Carolina system. He has been active in promoting multidisciplinary undergraduate research and design, for which he received the 2006 International Network for Engineering Education & Research Recognition Award and the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Southeast Region Outstanding Mid-Career Teaching Award. He resides in Raleigh with his wife Josephine and his two children, Danielle and Joshua.

Dr. Daoud is Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong. He graduated from the University of Technology Graz, Austria, with a Dipl-Ing degree (BS and MS) in Chemical Engineering and received his PhD in flexible bilayer photovoltaic cells from the University of Sheffield, UK. Dr. Daoud’s current research is mainly focused on the areas of energy harvesting and smart wearable technologies. His group is developing approaches for harvesting free or waste energy, such as light and kinetic energies. Being intermittent sources, it is equally important to find storage solutions for this form of energy. Therefore, the group is interested in the modeling and design of compatible batteries. He has received international renown and several awards for his pioneering research on wearable solar and kinetic energy harvesting technologies. His research has featured in Nature (2004) and Science (2008) and broadcasted through interviews by major international media, such as Reuters (2014), BBC (2015), SCMP (2017), Physics World (2021) and PV Magazine (2022).He has been invited to present Plenary and Keynote lectures at international conferences and is currently serving as the Chief Editor of Wearable Electronics, Frontiers in Electronics and Editorial/Advisory Board of Journal of Power Sources Advances and Industrial Chemistry & Materials.

Professor Raman Singh’s primary research interests are in the relationship of Nano-/microstructure and Environment-assisted degradation and fracture of metallic and composite materials, and Nanotechnology for Advanced Mitigation of such Degradations. He has also worked extensively on use of advanced materials (e.g., graphene) for corrosion mitigation, stress corrosion cracking, and corrosion and corrosion-mitigation of magnesium alloys (including for the use of magnesium alloys for aerospace, defence and bioimplant applications). Prof Singhis a senior professor at Monash University, Australia. He is a Guest Professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (2020, 2023, 2024), US Naval Research Lab, Indian Institute of Science, and University of Connecticut. He worked as a scientist at Indian Atomic Energy and as a post-doc fellow at University of New South Wales, Australia. Prof Singh’s professional distinctions and recognitions include: Guest Professor of ETH Zurich, Editor of a book on Cracking of Welds (CRC Press), Lead Editor of a book on Non-destructive Evaluation of Corrosion (Wiley), Editor-in-Chief of an Elsevier and two MDPI journals, leader/chairperson of a few international conferences and numerous plenary/keynote lectures at international conferences, over 265 peer-reviewed international journal publications and 15 book chapter, and several competitive research grants (that includes 4 Discovery, 7 Linkage and one ITRH grants of Australian Research Council). Prof Singh has supervised 52 PhD students. His vibrant research group at Monash University comprises of PhD students from different disciplines (Mechanical, Chemical, Materials and Mining Engineering, and Science) as well as from different cultural backgrounds (Australian, Middle-eastern, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, African, North American and Israeli).

Denvid obtained his Ph.D. in the field of structures and materials from MIT in 2012. He has become a full professor at CityU since 2023. From January to July 2020, he was a visiting professor at MIT CEE. His research focuses on functionalized construction materials, multiscale modeling of organic-inorganic system, moisture-induced debonding, durability of concrete-epoxy system and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in structural rehabilitation. He is currently the editorial board member of several international journals. He has published more than 180 referred journal and conference articles and has delivered more than 40 invited talks, which include plenary and keynote speeches in international conferences. Since 2018, Denvid has been nominated and selected as a Founding Member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences. He has received one of The President's Awards from CityU, in recognition of his remarkable academic achievement.

Anton Blencowe is a research and teaching academic, and the Applied Chemistry and Translational Biomaterials (ACTB) Group leader at the Clinical and Health Sciences (CHS) Unit at the University of South Australia (UniSA). His research group works at the interface between chemistry, biomaterials and pharmaceutical sciences to develop innovative solutions to current and emerging biomedical and environmental challenges. Anton also teaches into first year chemistry, and second year analytical and organic chemistry courses. The ACTB Group has a strong focus on the translation of fundamental principles to applied outputs and end-user informed solutions. Currently the group is collaborating with various biotech (Carina Biotech; Vetter Pharm.; D&R Pharm.; CRC CTM) and conservation (FAME; Ecological Horizons) groups to develop innovative technologies to deliver more efficient, efficacious and sustainable processes. After completing a PhD in Organic and polymer chemistry from the University of Reading (UK) under the supervision of Prof. Wayne Hayes in 2006, Anton joined the Polymer Science Group at the University of Melbourne as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where he worked on several CRCs (CRC for Polymers; Cotton Catchment Communities CRC) and ARC Linkage (DuPont; PolyActiva) funded projects. In 2009, he was awarded an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2013, Anton moved to UniSA as a Senior Research Fellow to contribute and manage several CRC projects (Vision CRC; Wound Management Innovation CRC; CRC for Cell Therapy Manufacturing (CTM)), before joining Pharmacy School (now CHS) in 2015 to establish the ACTB Group.

Dr. Peter E. Sebaaly is a Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the Western Regional Superpave Center (WRSC) and the Pavement Engineering & Science (PES) Program at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Nevada & Arizona, USA. He earned his B.S.C.E. (1982) and M.S.C.E. (1983) from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his Ph.D. (1987) from Arizona State University, specializing in pavements/materials engineering. In 1990, Dr. Sebaaly joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Dr. Sebaaly is currently working on several research projects on the development of new engineered materials to enhance the durability and sustainability of asphalt pavements and the incorporation of these materials into design methods and specifications for maintenance, rehabilitation, and construction of pavements. In 2019, Dr. Sebaaly was elected as the “Outstanding Researcher” of the University of Nevada, which is the highest recognition for research achievements of a faculty. Dr. Sebaaly receives funding from various sources including the Nevada Department of Transportation, several state DOTs, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and numerous private companies and international sponsors Under the directorship of Dr. Sebaaly, the Pavement Engineering & Science Program at the University of Nevada has grown to a sizeable research, teaching, and training program. It continuously supports 4-5 full time research professionals and 12-15 graduate students working on various research projects. The program is well known for its high quality and thorough research activities in road materials analyses and designs. Past and current graduates of the program have attained high profile positions in both government agencies and private industry. At this point the program could not keep up with the demand of the industry for graduate pavements/materials engineers. Dr. Sebaaly is a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the University Representative, the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (AAPT), and International Society of Asphalt Pavements (ISAP).

Dr. Lixin Wu is professor in the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM), Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his B. Eng. and M. Eng. in polymer materials from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research in The Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, San Diego from 1999-2002. He worked as a research associate in the Concordia University from 2002-2007, and then worked as a senior scientist at MER Corp. in Tucson, Arizona from 2007-2011. He joined FJIRSM, Chinese Academy of Sciences as a full professor in April 2011. His research focus on 3D printing resins and polymer composites, especially on improvement of mechanical properties, flame retardancy and heat conductivity of polymer materials. He published more than 100 papers. He is currently a member of Degrees Committee and a member of Engineering Committee at FJIRSM, a director of SAMPE Beijing Chapter, the director of Fujian Engineering Research Center of Functional Resins and Composite Materials, and the vice-president of Fujian Society of Innovators.

Ibtisam Kamal is a Professor of Process Engineering. She worked as an academic staff memberatthe faculties of engineering in Iraqi Universities (Basrah and Baghdad), and La Rochelle University-France. Currently, she is a full professor and researcher in the Faculty of Engineering, Soran University, Kurdistan Region Iraq. Prof. Ibtisam Kamal research activity is documented by more than 170 scientific peer-reviewed papers and 2 patents one of them European, she supervised more than 40 post-graduate theses. She has participated as a keynote and invited speaker at dozens of national and international conferences, and she has also served as a consultant in petroleum and petrochemical industries, she is a member of ACI and the editorial board of many international journals. One of her main research interests has focused on simulation, optimization, and modeling the production processes of materials namely biofuels, eco-friendly drilling fluids, and smart building materials incorporated with green nanoparticles.

Dr. Kanghoon Yim is a senior researcher at the Computational Science and Engineering Laboratory in the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) since 2017. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, completing them from September 2011 to February 2017. Additionally, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Institute of Advanced Materials in Seoul National University in 2017. Dr. Yim's expertise lies in computational materials science, and he has made significant contributions to scientific research, as evidenced by his numerous journal publications. His research covers a wide range of topics, including photovoltaics, energy storage, optoelectronics, and metamaterials. Notably, he has expertise in theoretical analysis and predictions that are applicable to various classes of materials, including inorganic crystals, 2D materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and conjugated polymers. Dr. Yim's outstanding accomplishments in the development of novel organic hyperbolic metamaterials led to his recognition as the Outstanding Employee in 2020 by the National Research Council of Science & Technology.

Oleg V. Gradov is the Senior Researcher at the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), working in the Department of Chemical and Biological Processes Dynamics (CHEMBIO). He is the author of ≈ 200 journal papers. His recent grants include: “Development of the novel physical methods for complex biomedical diagnostics based on position-sensitive mapping with the angular resolution at the tissue and cellular levels using analytical labs-on-a-chip” (RFBR 16-32-00914) and “Lab-on-a-chip development for personalized diagnostics” (FASIE 0019125), "Ferroelectric polymers for biomedical engineering" (RFBR 20-12-50344). He is also an ambassador of “ASAPBio”* (Accelerating Science and Publication in Biology, based in Cambridge, USA).

Dr. Mohammad F. Bayan is working as an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics at faculty of Pharmacy in Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan. The major focus of Dr. Bayan's research involves the development of controlled and triggered drug delivery systems using advanced and novel technologies. His work involves organic synthesis, synthesis and characterization of polymeric smart materials and performing drug release studies. He is author of more than 25 publications and received funding from national and international grants (Philadelphia University, Jordan; Project number 511/34/100 PU, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia; Project number RGP.2/31/43 and Najran University, Saudi Arabia; Project number NU/RG/MRC/12/20). Dr Bayan has presented his work at numerous international and national conferences such as the 10th world meeting on Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology; 6th APS International PharmSci and 38th All Ireland Schools of Pharmacy Research Conference.

Prof. Eric Buhler currently holds a Full Professor position in soft condensed matter at University de Paris (France). In 1996, he received his Ph.D. degree in physics at the University of Strasbourg investigating the structural and dynamical properties of wormlike micelles. Prof. E. Buhler subsequently obtained a postdoctoral position (1996-1998) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA), where he studied the structural behavior of copolymers in supercritical carbon dioxide using scattering techniques. In 1998, he joined the University of Grenoble, France, where he obtained an Associate Professor position (1998-2006). He spent two years (2002-2004) at the French National Research Center (CNRS) of Montpellier (Charles Coulomb Institute) as a Visiting Professor. In 2006, he joined University de Paris, where he is currently a Full Professor. His research focuses on the structure and dynamics of supramolecular polymers, polyelectrolytes, nanoparticles complexes, and Nano-machines. He has published more than 80 research articles in peer review journals.