Congratulations to Shabab Saad for receiving 2022 GRInSTEM Award to scale up and commercialize the Carbon Fibre Project. This award will help in forming a spin-off company and compete for Phase III of Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge in 2023.
Shabab Saad holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary, AB. During his undergraduate career, he gained extensive experience in sol-gel synthesis of large pore size silica glass for optical fiber production at the UNM Center for High Technology Materials under the supervision of Dr. Ravi Jain. His undergraduate honors thesis focused on the development of a microfluidic platform for the fabrication of synthetic liposomal microcapsules for smart biomaterials at UNM Center for Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Nick Carroll. His experience in the simulation of a disinfection module with grafted stimuli responsive polymer brushes for efficient bacteria removal was acknowledged and recognized as one of the top three innovative engineering projects at UNM School of Engineering. His graduate research with Dr. Giovanniantonio Natale included analyzing the self-diffusiophoresis of active particles in different fluid media (Newtonian vs viscoelastic) and the synthesis of pH-responsive active particles via Pickering emulsion. Currently, he is working with Dr. Kibria concentrating on the physiochemical characterization and transformation of carbonaceous materials to value added products (asphaltene to carbon fiber, asphaltene derived graphene composites, etc.). He is also simultaneously working on different high quality grant proposals for national and federal foundations for Dr. Kibria. He is the recipient of numerous academic/research awards like AICHE National Poster Competition Award, CMC Award, SOR Travel Award, University of Calgary Three Minute Thesis Heat Winner/Finalist, etc.