Professor Suprakas Sinha Ray received his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Calcutta in 2001 and is currently a chief researcher on polymer nanocomposites at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa, and director of the DST-CSIR National Centre for Nanostructured Materials. Prof. Ray’s current research focuses on polymer-based advanced nanostructured materials and their applications. He is one of the most active and highly cited authors in the field of polymer nanocomposite materials and was recently rated by Thomson Reuters as one of the Top 1% most impactful and influential scientists and Top 50 high-impact chemists (out of 2 million chemists worldwide). Prof. Ray has co-authored 3 edited books and authored 4 books and 30 book chapters on various aspects of polymer-based nano-structured materials & their applications; he has also co-authored or authored 350 articles in high-impact international journals and 30 articles in national and international conference proceedings. He holds 6 patents, and he and his research team have commercially developed 19 different products. His honors and awards include South Africa’s most prestigious 2016 South Africa National Science and Technology Award (NSTF), the 2014 CSIR-wide Leadership Award, the 2014 CSIR Human Capital Development Award, the 2013 Morand Lambla Award (top award in the field of polymer processing worldwide), and an award from the International Polymer Processing Society, USA. He also serves as an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria and as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg.Dr. Malkappa Kuruma is a senior researcher at the DST-CSIR National Centre for Nanostructured Materials, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa. He received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Hyderabad in 2017. Dr. Kuruma is the author of 11 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and 8 articles in various national and international conference proceedings. His research interests include the development of new methods in polymer synthesis, especially water dispersible polyurethanes, structure-property relationships in polyurethanes, and the development of new polymers for numerous applications such as coatings, paints, adhesives, textiles, biodegradable and biological applications.
