ASHS Opening Plenary Session and William A. (Tex) Frazier Lecture

Objective(s):
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ramani Narayan Ramani Narayan MSU University Distinguished Professor Department of chemical engineering & materials science Michigan State University Ramani Narayan is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science. He has 143 refereed publications, and 27 issued patents in the bioplastics space. He has graduated 14 Ph.D students and 23 Master’s students. Currently there are 8 Ph.D, one Master’s and two postdoctoral students working in his group. He was named MSU University Distinguished Professor in 2007 -- the highest honor that can be bestowed on a faculty member by the university; Governor’s (State of Michigan) University Award for commercialization excellence; Michigan Green Chemistry Governor’s Award for KTM Industries biodegradable starch packaging and insulation foams, 2011; University Distinguished Faculty Award, 2006, Withrow Distinguished Scholar award 2005; Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship Chair in Science & Technology Management & Commercialization (University of Lisbon; Portugal); DuPont’s Packaging Award for excellence in Innovation & Sustainability, 2010 as part of the Coca Cola Plant bottle team, and serve on Coca Cola “Plant bottle" Advisory Board First recipient of the William N. Findley Award for “significant contributions to the application of new technologies within the scope of ASTM Committee D20 on Plastic; Award of Excellence from ASTM committee D20 on Plastics for exemplary technical contributions, and valued leadership, 2006; the ASTM award of merit, the highest award given by the society to an individual member and comes with the title of Fellow. The James Hammer Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006 for outstanding leadership, and research accomplishments in the field of Degradable Polymers from the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS), as well as the first recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award, 2010 from the BEPS; recipient of the Research and Commercialization Award sponsored by ICI Americas, Inc. & the National Corn Growers Association. Scientific Chair and board member of the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), North America www.bpiworld.org; Chairman, ASTM committee on Environmentally Degradable Plastics and Biobased Products (D20.96) ; USA Technical expert on ISO (International Standards Organization) TC 61 on Plastics ; Chairman, SC (subcommitte) 1 Terminology ; Convener SC 5/WG (Working Group) 23 on Bioplastics; SC5/WG 22 on Biodegradable Plastics; Convener of working group 7 of ISO TC 122 SC 4 on Packaging and the Environment; Advisor to USDA BioPreferred Program, and serve on ASTM Technical Advisory Committee on “USDA biopreferred labeling of biobased products” He is a successful entrepreneur, responsible for commercializing several technologies -- poly(lactic acid) materials technology and engineering scale-up studies for Cargill Inc.(now Natureworks, www.natureworksllc.com ); biodegradable, starch ester thermoplastics technology for Japanese corn wet miller, Japan Corn Starch (JCS); modified starch, and starch-polyester graft copolymer resins for Corn Products (www.cornproducts.com.br/ecobras); Starch biofoam sheets for cushion packaging and insulation material is through KTM Industries (www.ktmindustries.com); biodegradable and recycling friendly starch based nanoparticle adhesives through Eco Synthetix (www.ecosynthetix.com); a $100 million publically traded company on the Canadian StockExchange (TSE: ECO); biopolyester, PLA and cellulosic based resins for biodegradable/compostable films, molded products, and engineering plastics through BioPlastic Polymers & Northern Technologies(www.natur-tec.com), a $150 million NASDAQ traded company;. Biobased polyesters and polyols for polyurethanes and polyester resins using vegetable and algal oil platforms in partnership with Michigan biorefinery, Zeeland biobased products (www.zfsinc.com)