Manjusri Misra, PhD

Professor & Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Sustainable Biocomposites, Fellow RSC(UK), Fellow AIChE, Fellow SPE, Fellow IIChE, Fellow RSC

Email:

mmisra@uoguelph.ca

Phone number:

519-824-4120 ext: 58935

Office:

Room 2511

Website link:

Manjusri Misra: A sustainability pioneer with timely expertise

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Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

Brief Bio

Dr. Manju Misra is a professor in the School of Engineering and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph. She holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Sustainable Biocomposites from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE).

Dr. Misra’s current research focuses primarily on novel bio-based composites and nanocomposites from agricultural, forestry, and recycled resources for the sustainable bio-economy moving towards a Circular Economy. She has authored more than 850 publications, including 470 peer-reviewed journal papers, 29 book chapters, and 60 patents. Link to Dr. Misra's Google Scholar.

She was an editor of the CRC Press volume, “Natural Fibers, Biopolymers and Biocomposites,” Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL (2005); American Scientific Publishers volume “Packaging Nanotechnology”, Valencia, California (2009); “Polymer Nanocomposites”, Springer (2014) and “Fiber Technology for Fiber-Reinforced Composites”, Woodhead Publishing (2017). She was the chief editor of “Biocomposites: Design and Mechanical Performance” Woodhead Publishing (2015). She was the President of the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS) in 2009. She was a Research Program Director of the Bioeconomy Panel for the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance a program between the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the University of Guelph (2018-2024). She serves on the editorial boards of “Journal of Applied Polymer Science”, “Composites Part A: Science and Manufacturing”, “Polymer Testing”, “Macromolecular Materials and Engineering”, "ACS Omega", and “Composites Part C: Open Access”.

Awards, Honours, and Distinctions

2024 Fellow, The Royal Society of Canada (RSC)
2023 Fellow, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE)
2021 Fellow, Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE), USA
2021 Lifetime Achievement Award, BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS), USA
2020 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in the Manulife Science and Technology,
Women's Executive Network (WXN), Canada
2020 Featured Author, Publication chosen for the ACS OMEGA publication in the Open Access Virtual Issue “Celebrating 5 Years of
Open Access with ACS Omega”
2020 Tier 1 Canada Research Chair – Sustainable Biocomposites, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada
2020 CEPS Undergraduate Supervision Award, University of Guelph, Canada
2020 Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), USA
2020 Featured Female Author, Publication chosen for the ACS OMEGA publication in the Open Access Virtual Issue “Women at
the Forefront of Chemistry”
2019 Featured Author – Open Access Week (Oct 21-27), Featuring authors who frequently publish in ACS OMEGA.
2019 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
2019 Woman of Distinction on Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM): Guelph YMCA-YWCA
Women of Distinction, Canada
2018 NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canada
This award honours the most outstanding achievements of the collaboration between academia and industry in the
natural sciences and engineering.
2017 Andrew Chase Forest Products Division Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), USA
2017 Featured Canadian Author, Two publications chosen for ACS Publications Open Access Virtual Issue “Hot Materials in a
Cool Country” featuring articles authored by Canadians to celebrate the 100th meeting of the Canadian Chemistry Conference
2016 Innovation of the Year Award, University of Guelph, Canada
This award is for the creation of the 100% Compostable Bio-composite Resin using coffee chaff (waste stream of coffee roasting
industry) for single-serve coffee pods. More awards for this innovation found here: http://purpod100.com/awards/
2014 Composites Part A Most Highly Cited Paper Award, "Characterization of natural fiber surfaces and natural fiber composites",
selected for the award which highlights that the paper has truly generated interest and awareness within the composites community
2012 Jim Hammar Memorial Service Award, BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS), USA

Research Interests

Bio-Based New Materials
Green Nanotechnology
Polymer Nanotechnology
Nanostructured Materials & Devices
Nano Particles & Applications
Pyrolysis of Biomass and Characterization of Biocarbon for Composite Applications
Surface Treatment of Micro and Nanofibers and Fiber-Matrix Adhesion
Nanobiocomposites from Carbon Nanotubes, Alumina Nanowhisker, Silver Nanoparticles, and Cellulose Nanofibers
Electrospinning Processing
3D Printing of Biobased Materials
Nanobio Materials & Tissue Engineering
Bio-Based Polymers (Polylactides-PLA, Polyhydroxyalkanoates-PHAs, Cellulose Plastics, Soy Protein Plastics, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles-DDGS Plastics, Lignin Plastics, Poly(trimethylene terephthalate)-Sorona™ Polymer), their Blends, Composites and Nanocomposites
Biocomposites from Flax, Hemp, Kenaf, Jute, Sisal, Henequen, Cellulose, Bamboo, Corn Stalk, Soy Stalk, Wheat Straw, Talc and Fly Ash
Functionalized Plant Oils
Biobased Polyesters and their Composites
Biobased Epoxies and their Composites
Reactive Extrusion Processing
Extrusion and Injection Molding of Biocomposites
Multilayer Injection Molding
Biocomposite Sheet Molding Compounds
Biocomposite Powder Processing (BioSMC)
Microwave Processing of Biocomposites
Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) of Biocomposites
Novel Materials Derived from Starch and Chitosan

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses

ENGG*2120 Material Science
ENGG*2660 Biological Engineering

Graduate Courses

ENGG*6130 Physical Properties of Biomaterials

Selected Recent Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

Complete List of Publications

Hassan, M., Misra, M., Taylor, G. W., Mohanty A. K. (2024). A review of AI for optimization of 3D printing of sustainable polymers and composites, Composites Part C: Open Access, 15.
Article Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2024.100513
Hassan, M., Pal, A. K., Rodriguez-Uribe, A., Bardelcik, A., Gregori, S., Mohanty, A. K., & Misra, M. (2024). Creating Sustainable Composites from Pyrolyzed Burlap and Ocean-Recycled Plastics using FDM. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 12(4), 1405-1419.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c05031
Weldekidan, H., Vivekanandhan, S., Tripathi, N., Mohanty, A., & Misra, M. (2024). Highly conductive biocarbon nanostructures from burlap waste as sustainable additives for supercapacitor electrodes. Materials Advances, 5(3), 1240-1250.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ma00491k
Jahangiri, F., Mohanty, A. K., Pal, A. K., Shankar, S., Rodriguez-Uribe, A., Clemmer, R., Gregori, S., & Misra, M. (2024). PHBV coating on biodegradable plastic sheet: Effect of coating on morphological, mechanical and barrier properties. Progress in Organic Coatings, 189, 108270.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2024.108270
Mohanty, A. K., Vivekanandhan, S., Das, O., Romero Millán, L. M., Klinghoffer, N. B., Nzihou, A., & Misra, M. (2024). Biocarbon materials. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 4(1), 19.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-024-00297-4
Weldekidan, H., Mohanty, A. K., Drzal, L. T., & Misra, M. (2024). Graphene-containing biocarbon from burlap waste: Property comparison with commercial grade graphene nanoplatelets. Carbon Trends, 15, 100336.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cartre.2024.100336
Zytner, P., Pal, A. K., Mohanty, A. K., & Misra, M. (2024). Performance evaluation of biodegradable polymer PHBV and PBAT blends with adjustable melt flow behaviour, heat deflection temperature, and morphological transition. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.25235
Muir, V., Tripathi, N., Rodriguez‐Uribe, A., Mohanty, A. K., & Misra, M. (2024). Sustainable biocomposites from pyrolyzed lignin and recycled nylon 6 with enhanced flame retardant behavior: Studies on manufacturing and quality performance evaluation. SPE Polymers, 1-16.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1002/pls2.10123
Hassan, M., Mohanty, A.K., & Misra,M. (2024). Additive manufacturing of a super toughened biodegradable polymer blend: Structure–Property-Processing correlation and 3D printed prosthetic part development. ACS Applied Polymer Materials. 6(7), 3849–3863.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.3c03150
Jahangiri, F., Mohanty, A. K., & Misra, M. (2024). Sustainable biodegradable coatings for food packaging: challenges and opportunities. Green Chemistry, 26, 4934-4974.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3GC02647G
Arshad, M., Shankar, S., Mohanty, A. K., Todd, J., Riddle, R., Van Acker, R., Taylor, G.W., & Misra, M. (2024). Improving the Barrier and Mechanical Properties of Paper Used for Packing Applications with Renewable Hydrophobic Coatings Derived from Camelina Oil. ACS omega, 9(18), 19786-19795.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c07213
Patel, H., Mohanty, A., & Misra, M. (2024). Post-combustion CO2 capture using biomass based activated porous carbon: Latest advances in synthesis protocol and economics. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 199, 114484.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2024.114484
Goodrum, R., Weldekidan, H., Li, H., Mohanty, A. K., & Misra, M. (2024). Graphene-based nanostructures from green processes and their applications in biomedical sensors. Advanced Industrial and Engineering Polymer Research, 7(1), 37-53.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aiepr.2023.03.001
Lewis, R., Weldekidan, H., Rodriguez, A. U., Mohanty, A. K., Mielewski, D. F., & Misra, M. (2023). Design and engineering of sustainable biocomposites from ocean-recycled polypropylene-based polyolefins reinforced with almond shell and hull. Composites Part C: Open Access, 12, 100373.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2023.100373
Pal, A.K., Misra, M., Mohanty, A.K. (2023). Silane treated starch dispersed PBAT/PHBV-based composites: Improved barrier performance for single-use plastic alternatives. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 229, 1009-1022.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.12.141
Roy, P., Mohanty, A. K., Dick, P., & Misra, M. (2023). A review on the challenges and choices for food waste valorization: Environmental and economic impacts. ACS environmental Au, 3(2), 58-75.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.2c00050
Harder, N., Rodriguez-Uribe, A., Snowdon, M. R., Misra, M., & Mohanty, A. K. (2023). Hop natural fiber-reinforced poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate)(PBSA) biodegradable plastics: effect of fiber length on the performance of biocomposites. Materials Advances, 4(6), 1502-1514.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2MA00831A
Zytner, P., Pal, A.K., Wu, F., Rodriguez-Uribe, A., Mohanty, A.K., Misra, M. (2023). Morphology and Performance Relationship Studies on Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)/Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)-Based Biodegradable Blends. ACS Omega, 8(2), 1946–1956.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c04770
Tripathi, N., Uribe, A. R., Weldekidan, H., Misra, M., & Mohanty, A. K. (2022). Upcycling of waste jute biomass to advanced biocarbon materials: the effect of pyrolysis temperature on their physicochemical and electrical properties. Materials Advances, 3(24), 9071-9082.
Article link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2MA00678B

Announcements

Ph.D. and M.A.Sc. Student Openings in Biological Engineering with Funding

Funded Graduate Opportunities available in my research group - Ph.D. and M.A.Sc in Biological Engineering*

This graduate opportunity is for graduate students pursuing a degree in Biological Engineering for the following research areas in my team.

3D Printing of Bioplastics and Biocomposites
Bioplastics and Biobased Polymers
Biocomposites (Natural Fibre Composites) and Polymer Blends
Green Composites including Recyclability, Durability and Biodegradability Studies
Biobased Nanocomposites and Nano blends
Biomedical Applications for Bioplastics and Biocomposites
Biomass and Biomaterials Sustainability
Value-added Biobased Materials from the Coproducts/Byproducts of Biofuel Industries
Biodegradability (Compostability)

For entry into the Ph.D. Biological Engineering program, candidates must hold a thesis-based Master’s degree in engineering.

For entry in the M.A.Sc. programs, candidates must hold an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Science.

If your first language is not English, you will be required to submit the results of a standardized language test. Please see the chart for acceptable tests and required scores. Please refer to the School of Engineering website for department requirements.

For more information on how to apply, please contact me by email:

bddcjobs@uoguelph.ca with a copy to mmisra@uoguelph.ca

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the positions are filled.

A preliminary selection will be made based on the interviews to qualify the prospective candidate to apply for graduate studies at the University of Guelph. Selection does not guarantee acceptance for graduate studies.

*Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Relevant Files

5-pg_CV_ManjusriMisra_October 25, 2024.pdf