Prof. Mohanty has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Polymer Processing Society’s (PPS) JL White Innovation Award 2020. This was announced in the April 2020 PPS Newsletter (see full article below)

This award is given annually to outstanding researchers or inventors in academia and industry for their work in polymer processing and related fields. The award is for an innovative development in the field of polymer processing technologies with recent commercial impact. It aims to recognize originality, innovation and creativity among researchers and inventors in the science and technology of processing polymers and polymeric products.

Prof. Mohanty will formally receive this award at PPS-36 in Montreal, Canada.

The James L White Award will be given at PPS-36 in Montreal, Canada, to Amar Mohanty.

 

Dr. Amar Mohanty is recognized with this prestigious award for his innovation and commercialization of bio-based sustainable materials. His innovative research has led to five commercial bio-based products being released into the marketplace, including the most publicized single-use coffee pods by Club Coffee Inc. company that are made from renewable materials and are 100% compostable. The ultimate success of the innovation was the wide adoption by coffee brand names and distribution by Loblaws and McDonalds, in Canada, USA, Mexico and South America. His patented technology; on biocarbon for durable biocomposites uses has recently been commercialized by Ford Motor Company for manufacturing lightweight head-lamp housing auto-parts in their Lincoln Continental model. In addition to meeting the performance standards, the biocarbon filled biocomposite part is 20% lighter and performs better in injection moulding, resulting in processing energy savings of 25%.

 

Dr. Amar Mohanty is currently a Professor and OAC Distinguished Research Chair in Sustainable Biomaterials at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He also serves as the Director of the Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre and University Research Leadership Chair Professor at the university. Prior to his move to Ontario, he worked as a professor in Michigan State University. He was recruited by the University of Guelph to take up the prestigious Ontario Premier’s Research Chair in Biomaterials and Transportation position in 2008.

 

Dr. Mohanty is an internationally recognized leader in the field of bioplastics and biobased materials with a focus on engineering novel sustainable materials. His current research interests encompass renewable-resource-derived materials, biocarbon-based biocomposites, natural fiber composites, green composites, bioplastics, nano-structure bioplastic blends, value-added biomaterials from the byproducts and coproducts of the biofuel and food Industries, recyclability, durability and biodegradability studies, pyrolysis of waste biomass and food-industry waste streams, 3D Printed biobased materials and circular bioeconomy. His R&D has resulted in outstanding scientific accomplishments and transformative commercial applications of biomaterials, while reducing the environmental impact of plastics.

 

Dr. Mohanty’s research has had a major impact in the field and he is one of the most cited researchers in advanced biomaterial science and engineering. He has more than 800 publications to his credit, including 385 peer-reviewed journal papers, 66 patents (awarded and applied), 5 edited books, 21 book chapters, and 300+ conference papers and 127 plenary, keynote and 3 invited presentations. He has a Google-Scholar citation count of 32,995 and h-index of 83. His ResearchGate score is 46.83, which is higher than those of 97.5% of all its members worldwide.

 

Prof. Mohanty’s achievement has been recognized with many awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and Jim Hammar Memorial Award from the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS) of the USA, Andrew Chase Forest Products Division Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) Alumni Distinguished Researcher Award. He was also the holder of the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany.

 

In 2016, Dr. Mohanty and his research team were awarded the University of Guelph’s Innovation of the Year Award for the creation of the 100% compostable biocomposite resin using coffee chaff. He received the top researcher award; the Synergy Award for Innovation of 2018 from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

 

Prof. Mohanty is Fellow of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Society of Plastic Engineers and Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Composites of Composites Part C - Open Access; an ELSEVIER journal.