{"408351":{"#nid":"408351","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Notable Graduate Student Sudhir Sharma","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGraduate research assistant Sudhir Sharma, a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, came to visit Georgia Tech in the fall of 2010, where he was impressed with the size of ChBE and the many collaborative opportunities available. Upon admission, he worked towards a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering specializing in heterogeneous catalysis. Having not yet quenched his thirst for research, he was drawn to an interesting opportunity to work on a new class of materials\u2014cellulose nano-fibers\u2014with his advisor, Dr. Yulin Deng. The challenge was to develop applications that could potentially be industrially applicable in a short period of time. In January, 2012, IPST\u2014now RBI\u2014awarded him a PSE fellowship to work toward his PhD; his thesis title is Green Nanocellulosic Barriers. His work is focused on the development and characterization of barrier membranes made from nanocellulosic fibers for application as a green, renewable, recyclable, biodegradable packaging material.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESudhir earned his undergraduate degree in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, graduating in 2009 with first-class honors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe is no stranger to successful competition. Sudhir was team leader for the ChemECar competition, a worldwide competition to design and build a carefully calibrated car to travel a precise fixed distance under a random given load. His team won the competition in New Zealand, and then second place at the international competition with the fastest car the competition had ever seen. Here at Georgia Tech, he won recognition at the Georgia Tech Research and Innovation Poster Competition in March of this year for \u201cHigh-Performance Green Barrier Films from Thermal Treatment of Cellulose Nanofibrils.\u201d This award came with a cash prize funded by the Institute of Paper Chemistry Foundation. Sudhir also won the 2013 forest products division award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESudhir is a believer in the power of co-curricular activities. While at Aukland, he helped start a chapter of the Petroleum Engineering student association which now has over 100 members. Here, he serves as TAPPI student chapter president. \u201cIn this short time, I have been able to interact with many industry representatives and had opportunities to interact with other students,\u201d he observes. \u201cThis helped a lot in learning about the research of other students within the chapter and what the current industrial research outlook looks like\u2014most recently, during the visit from Suzano, where Dr. Vinicius explained the company\u2019s research direction and the general outlook of the paper industry as well.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESudhir credits his RBI PSE fellowship with expanding his skills and understanding of high-level research and its application to industry. \u201cI had the good fortune of working with many very intelligent, excellent researchers, both domestically and internationally, in the field, which helps expand my knowledge of fields related to my own research,\u201d he comments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter his expected graduation in Spring of 2015, Sudhir intends to work in industrial bioproducts research, developing next-generation bio\/nano materials as viable replacements for petroleum-derived plastics and current polymers used in packaging.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENever one to sit idle, Sudhir played guitar for the chemical engineering grad student band \u2013 Particle in a Box\u2014and also enjoys long-distance running and reading.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"PhD candidate Sudhir Sharma leads his team in the worldwide ChemECar competition"}],"uid":"27178","created_gmt":"2015-05-29 13:37:07","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:18:25","author":"Amna Jamshad","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-05-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"408321":{"id":"408321","type":"image","title":"Sudhir Sharma with Dr. World Nieh of the U.S. Forest Service","body":null,"created":"1449254188","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:36:28","changed":"1475895134","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:14","alt":"Sudhir Sharma with Dr. World Nieh of the U.S. Forest Service","file":{"fid":"202180","name":"140923_sharma.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140923_sharma_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140923_sharma_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":66726,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/140923_sharma_0.jpg?itok=W8UiBhYC"}},"408341":{"id":"408341","type":"image","title":"ChemECar","body":null,"created":"1449254188","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:36:28","changed":"1475895134","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:14","alt":"ChemECar","file":{"fid":"202181","name":"140923_sharma_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140923_sharma_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/140923_sharma_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":26615,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/140923_sharma_2_0.jpg?itok=ZzQMtTLt"}}},"media_ids":["408321","408341"],"groups":[{"id":"372221","name":"Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI)"}],"categories":[{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"107","name":"Nanotechnology"},{"id":"93811","name":"RBI"},{"id":"4174","name":"renewable"},{"id":"667","name":"robotics"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKelly B. Smith, Marketing \u0026amp; Communication\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.smith@ipst.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}