High-Performance Materials and Engineered Chemistry

Francisco Torrens, PhD, is lecturer in physical chemistry at the Universitat de Valencia in Spain. His scientific accomplishments include the first implementation at a Spanish university of a program for the elucidation of crystallographic structures and the construction of the first computational-chemistry program adapted to a vector-facility supercomputer. He has written many articles published in professional journals and has acted as a reviewer as well. He has handled 26 research projects, has published two books and over 350 articles, and has made numerous presentations.

Devrim Balkoese, PhD, is currently a retired faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department at Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Turkey. She graduated from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, with a degree in chemical engineering. She received her MS and PhD degrees from Ege University, Izmir, Turkey, in 1974 and 1977 respectively. She became Associate Professor in macromolecular chemistry in 1983 and Professor in process and reactor engineering in 1990. She worked as research assistant, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor between 1970-2000 at Ege University. She was the Head of Chemical Engineering Department at Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir, Turkey, between 2000 and 2009. She is now a retired faculty member in the same department. Her research interests are in polymer reaction engineering, polymer foams and films, adsorbent development, and moisture sorption. Her research projects are on nanosized zinc borate production, ZnO polymer composites, zinc borate lubricants, antistatic additives, and metal soaps.

Sabu Thomas, PhD, is a Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the School of Chemical Sciences and Director of the International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. The research activities of Professor Thomas include surfaces and interfaces in multiphase polymer blend and composite systems; phase separation in polymer blends; compatibilization of immiscible polymer blends; thermoplastic elastomers; phase transitions in polymers; nanostructured polymer blends; macro-, micro- and nanocomposites; polymer rheology; recycling; reactive extrusion; processing-morphology-property relationships in multiphase polymer systems; double networking of elastomers; natural fibers and green composites; rubber vulcanization; interpenetrating polymer networks; diffusion and transport; and polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering. He has supervised 68 PhD theses, 40 MPhil theses, and 45 Masters thesis. He has three patents to his credit. He also received the coveted Sukumar Maithy Award for the best polymer researcher in the country for the year 2008. Very recently, Professor Thomas received the MRSI and CRSI medals for his excellent work. With over 600 publications to his credit and over 23683 citations, with an h-index of 75, Dr. Thomas has been ranked fifth in India as one of the most productive scientists.