Bio
Sam is an early career staff member in the Biomaterials and Biomass Characterization Group in the Biosciences Division. He received his B.Tech. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India in 2011 and Ph.D. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Riverside in 2016. He had post-doctoral appointments in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2016-2018) and Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2019-2021). He has experience in chemical engineering of biomass into renewable fuels and chemicals, structural determination of polysaccharides and lignin by techniques like nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and high-resolution imaging of biological substances. His work on carbohydrate enzymes led to the discovery that cellulase enzymes significantly deactivate at the air-liquid interface. He currently focuses on manufacturing of biomass-plastic composites, chemical and macromolecular properties of thermoplastic polymers and development of functional materials from biomass. He is a top peer-reviewer of manuscripts in esteemed scientific journals in chemistry, biology & biochemistry, and multi-disciplinary fields.