CONTACT INFORMATION:
View contact information...
OBJECTIVE
A challenging position in an industrial setting that takes advantage of my experience in polymer science & rheology, reaction kinetics, surfactant chemistry, process engineering, modeling and simulation.
HIGHLIGHTS
* Experience in high performance nonwoven product development using glass and polymer fibers
* Experience in the application of six sigma tools and methods in project executions.
* Extensive experience in rheological characterization of solutions and gels of associative polymers & biopolymers
* Experience in modeling the kinetics of chemical and enzymatic reactions.
* Hands on experience in Viscometery, Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Thermogravimetry (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Light Scattering, Refractometry & Spectrophotometry
* More than 5 years of industrial experience in process engineering
* Strong background in chemistry and production of different types of surfactants and their formulations
* Developed mathematical models and hydrodynamic simulation codes for industrial processes
* Self motivated, well organized, team oriented and a strong problem solver
EDUCATION
* PhD, Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, May.2006 (GPA 4.0/4/0)
Thesis: Enzymatic modification of rheology of water-soluble polymer solutions & gels
Advisor: Professor Saad A. Khan
* MS, Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 2003 (GPA 4.0/4.0)
* MTech, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India, 1996 (GPA 9.24/10.0)
Thesis: Modeling and simulation of flow boiling heat transfer inside a tube
Advisor: Professor A. R. Balakrishnan
* BE, Chemical Engineering, Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal, India, 1994 (GPA=3.9/4.0)
Thesis: Production of amylase enzyme in a spouted bed fermenter
Advisor: Professor N.C.L.N. Charyulu
INDUSTRIAL/RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
June 2006- till date
Research Engineer, Johns Manville Corportaion, OH
* Develop new products in the area of high performance nonwovens (HPNW) using glass and polymer fibers.
* Develop new or existing binders and sizing suitable for new HPNW products to achieve required product characteristics.
* Research in the areas of thermoplastic/thermosetting, emulsion/solution polymer binders and sizing used for HPNW products, so as to get the fundamental understanding of chemistry and engineering related to the materials.
* Develop processes for the production of new HPNW products in a pilot line and scale them up for manufacturing plants.
* Develop pertinent analytical techniques required for product characterization. Use typical lab scale equipment to collect property/process data.
May 2002---June 2006 Research Assistant, North Carolina State University
* Demonstrated that rheology of hydrophobically modified associative polymer solutions can be modulated using cyclodextrins and enzymes.
* Developed rheology based models to study the kinetics of enzymatic reactions and showed that extent of reaction can be estimated by monitoring the changes in rheological properties.
* Showed that rheometry can be used to study the thermodynamics of cyclodextrin-hydrophobe complexation in the hydrophobically modified associative polymer solutions. The rheometric method estimates binding constant, enthalpy, entropy and free energy change for the complexation.
* Modified the structure of guar galactomannan, a naturally occurring polysaccharide using multiple glycosidase enzymes to tailor their rheological and microstructural properties for specific applications such as controlled drug delivery, food additives and enhanced oil recovery.
* Showed that synergistic action of multiple glycosidase enzymes on the polysaccharide can be used to fine-tune the microstructure to achieve required rheological properties.
* Developed a mathematical model based on Michaelis Menten kinetics to predict the changes in molecular weight distribution during the enzymatic depolymerization of guar galactomannan
* Showed that the kinetic parameters for the above model can be estimated by measuring the changes in viscosity during the enzymatic reactions. This method takes into account the relationship between the viscosity and molecular weight, while developing the rheology based kinetic model.
* Involved in a research project on modulation of rheology of hydrophobically modified associative polymer using nonionic surfactants.
* Suggested that cyclodextrins can be used to modulate the interaction between the associative polymer and surfactants. This method takes into account the relative affinity of the surfactant for adsorption on the polymer hydrophobes and cyclodextrins.
* Developed a mathematical model to predict thermodynamics of polymer-surfactant interactions in associative polymer solutions.
April 1999---August 2001
Scientific Officer, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India
Developed mathematical models and simulation codes
* To study the transient pressure wave propagation due to sodium water reaction inside a liquid sodium cooled steam generators
* To determine the operating conditions for a steam generator at different power levels of the nuclear reactor.
* To study the hydrodynamic and structural pressure wave propagation inside piping network due to hypothetical accidents like pipe rupture, pump failure, etc.
March 1996---March 1999 Project Executive, Galaxy Surfactants Ltd., India.
* Assisted plant manager in troubleshooting process plant equipments.
* Developed process flow diagrams (PFD) and process instrumentation diagrams (PID) for new projects.
* Succeeded in improving the performance of spray drying, SO3 absorption tower and thin film evaporator in a sulfonation plant.
* Synthesized different types of anionic, cationic, nonionic and amphiphilic surfactants on a lab /pilot plant set up to scale up their production to a plant level.
INDUSTRIAL CONSULTANCY
June 2005
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
* Assisted Prof. Maurice Balik (Material Sc. Dept, NCSU) in developing mathematical model and simulation code to estimate diffusion of butene gas from polymeric foam and the accumulation of the gas inside a trailer used for transport of the foams. Estimated time required for the concentration of butene gas to reach dangerous level and suggested a design of proper ventilation for the trailer to avoid the gas concentration to reach the dangerous level. This project was delivered to Nomaco Industries, Zebulon, NC.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE Teaching Assistant, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
* Teaching assistant for 2 undergraduate courses (Chemical Reaction Engineering and Chemical Process Control) and 2 graduate courses (Transport phenomena and Chemical Reaction Engineering)
* Mentored undergraduate students on research projects during the summer of 2003 and 2004.
COMPUTER SKILLS
Windows, MS Office, MS word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Fortran programming
CERTIFICATIONS
Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt
AFFILIATION
Society of Rheology
Phi Kappa Phi
American Chemical Society
TAPPI
PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Journal Publications
* Mahammad, Shamsheer, Enzymatic reactions in water soluble polymer solutions: Rheology and kinetics, (2006), PhD Thesis, NC State University, 225 pp.
* Mahammad, S., Roberts, G. W., Prud'homme, R. K and Khan, S. A., Kinetics of enzymatic depolymerization of guar galactomannan, Biomacromolecules, 7(9), 2006, 949-956.
* Mahammad, S., Comfort, D. A.; Kelly, R. M.; Khan, S. A., Rheological properties of guar galactomannan solutions during hydrolysis with galactomannanase and á -galactosidase enzyme Mixtures. Biomacromolecules, 8(3), 2007, 2583-2590.
* Hunt, M. A., Jung, D. W., Mahammad, S., Uyar, T., Tonelli, A., Polystyrene in channels, Polymer, 45, 2004.
* Mahammad, S., Roberts, G. W., Khan, S. A., Cyclodextrin-hydrophobe complexation in associative polymer solutions, Soft Matter, 3, 2007.
* Mahammad, S., Roberts, G. W., Khan, S. A., Enzymatic modulation of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymers, under review by Macromolecules.
* Mahammad, S., Roberts, G. W., Khan, S. A., Dynamic Equilibrium of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymer solution. Under review.
* Mahammad, S., Roberts, G. W., Khan, S. A., A new rheology based model to predict thermodynamics of intermolecular interactions in associative polymer solutions containing cyclodextrins and surfactants, Under review.
Conference Presentations
* Mahammad, S. and Khan, S. A., Enzymatic modification of guar galactomannan, Rheological investigation of kinetics and synergistic effects of multiple glycosidase enzyme, Food Hydrocolloids conference, UK, June 2005.
* Mahammad, S., Scanu, L. F., Khan, S. A., Enzymatic modification of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymers, Book of Abstracts, 229th ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 2005.
* Mahammad, S. and Khan, S. A., Rheometric Estimation of binding constant for cylodextrin-hydrophobe complexation in associative polymers., Society of Rheology, Lubbock, Feb.2005.
* Mahammad, S., Comfort, D. A., Kelly, R. M., Khan, S. A., Enzymatic Modification of Polysaccharide Biopolymers: Rheology Kinetics & Synergistic Effects of Multiple Glycosidase Enzymes, Book of Abstracts, 56th Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Research Triangle Park, NC, Nov. 2004.
* Mahammad, S., Khan, S. A., Enzymatic modification of polysaccharide biopolymers: Rheology, kinetics and synergistic effects of multiple glycosidase enzymes, Polymer Preprints (American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry), 45(2), 467-468, 2004.
* Mahammad, S. and Khan, S. A., Enzymatic modification of hydrophobic interactions in associative polymers., XIV International congress on rheology, Seol, Aug.2004.
* Abdalla, A., Mahammad, S., Khan, S. A., Modification of rheology of Associative polymers via cyclodextrins and enzymes, AIChE National Meeting, San Francisco, 2003.
* Shamsheer, M., Selvaraj, P., Varadharajan, S., Chellapandi, P., Chetal S. C., Simulation of once through steam generators for predicting the plant operating parameters, Proceedings of XVI national and V ISHMT-ASME heat and mass transfer conference, Bombay, India, January 3-5, 2002.
* Shamsheer, M., Selvaraj, P., Chellapandi, P., Chetal S. C., Analysis of structural and hydrodynamic pressure wave propagation in a piping network, Proceedings of 28th national conference on Fluid Mechanics and Flow Process, Dec., 2001,Chandighad, India.
* Shamsheer, M., Selvaraj, P., Chellapandi, P., Chetal S. C., Sodium water reaction pressure transient analysis in a piping network, Proceedings of 28th national conference on Fluid Mechanics and Flow Process, Dec 13-15, 2001, PEC, Chandighad, India
* Shamsheer, M., Selvaraj, P., Chellapandi, P., Chetal S. C., Pressure transient analysis for an instantaneous guillotine rupture of a pipe, Proceedings of 27th national conference on Fluid Mechanics and Flow Process, 11-13 Dec 2000, FCRI, Palghat, India.
* Shamsheer, M., Selvaraj, P., Chellapandi, P., Chetal, S. C., Design of piping and components under transient pressure propagation, Proceedings of 16th national convention of mechanical engineers and all India trends in mechanical engineering research and development, Dept. of Mechanical Eng, University of Roorkee, Sep. 29-30, 2000.
View contact information... |