Program

SMART Conference aims to bring leading scholars and experts in the sector for highly technical presentations and in-depth discussions. We are pleased to announce the below technical program full of top experts from around the world in sustainable materials research and applications.

The Conference will be livestreamed and also recorded to be made available on-demand for all registered attendees on the Event App called PheedLoop. Registered attendees will receive a link to access the virtual event portal in late July.

*Note that the below program is subject to change.

PROGRAM

SUNDAY AUGUST 7

6:00pm WELCOME RECEPTION

MONDAY AUGUST 8

8:30am BREAKFAST & MINGLE

9:00am WELCOME ADDRESS by Orlando Rojas, UBC

9:10am SESSION #1 – Cellulose & Raw Material

Session Chair: Liangbing Hu, University of Maryland

  • Antje Potthast, Professor, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria – “Papyrus – Some News from Old Cellulose Samples“
  • Thomas Rosenau, Professor, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria – “Oxidation Chemistry of Celluloses: Mechanisms, Side Reactions, Analytical Aspects, and Some Cautionary Remarks“
  • Chungping Dai, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Sustainable Material Development with Bamboo“
  • Yimin Mao, Associate Research Professor, University of Maryland, USA – “Multi-Scale Characterization of Cellulosic Materials Using Scattering Techniques“

10:30am COFFEE BREAK

10:45am SESSION #2 – Plant-based Materials & Applications Part 1

Session Chair: Feng Jiang, UBC

  • Kirsi Mikkonen, Associate Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland – “Birch Glucuronoxylan-Lignin Complexes as Hydrocolloids and Prebiotics“
  • Scott Renneckar, Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Augmenting Properties of Renewable Materials for Melt-Processing“
  • Emily Cranston, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Advances (and Challenges) in the Surface Modification of Cellulose Nanocrystals“
  • Mika Sipponen, Assistant Professor, Stockholm University, Sweden “Production of Colloidal Lignin Dispersions at High-Consistency Without Organic Solvents“
  • Michael Cunningham, Professor, Queen’s University, Canada – “Cellulose Nanocrystal Functionalization and Polymer Grafting via Living Radical Polymerization“

12:25pm LUNCH

1:20pm SESSION #3 – Plant-based Materials & Applications Part 2

Session Chair: Emily Cranston, UBC

  • Johan Foster, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Modifying Hard Materials with Cellulose Nanomaterials“
  • Jason Tavares, Professor, Polytechnique Montreal, Canada – “Sonication of Cellulose Nanocrystal Suspensions“
  • You-Lo Hsieh, Professor, University of California Davis, USA – “Functionalized Nanocellulose Syntheses for Innovations“
  • Theo van de Ven, Professor, McGill University, Canada – “1D, 2D and 3D Cellulose-Based Biodegradable and Recyclable Objects“

2:40pm COFFEE BREAK

2:50pm SESSION #3 – Plant-based Materials & Applications Part 2 Continued

Session Chair: Emily Cranston, UBC

  • Kevin De France, Assistant Professor, Queens University, Canada – “Phase Behavior, Self-Assembly, and Adhesive Potential of Cellulose Nanocrystal – BSA Amyloid Composites“
  • Teng Li, Professor, University of Maryland, USA – “Mechanisms Underpinning the Mechanical Properties of Cellulose-Based Materials“

3:30pm SESSION #4 – POSTER PRESENTATIONS

4:30pm SESSION #5 – PANEL DISCUSSION – Building Blocks for Sustainability

Session Chair: Liangbing Hu, University of Maryland

  • Antje Potthast, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Austria
  • Scott Renneckar, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • You-Lo Hsieh, University of California Davis, USA
  • Michael Cunningham, Queen’s University, Canada

5:15pm CLOSING by Orlando Rojas, UBC

6:30pm NETWORKING DINNER

TUESDAY AUGUST 9

8:30am BREAKFAST & MINGLE

9:00am SESSION #6 – Cellulose Foams

Session Chair: Scott Renneckar, UBC

  • Ning Yan, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada – “Bio-based Smart Functional PU Materials from Lignin and Other Biomolecules”
  • Feng Jiang, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Cellulose Nanofibrils Aerogel – Performance Improvement and Optimization”
  • Michael Hummel, Associate Professor, Aalto University, Finland – ““Shaping” the Future of Lignocellulose via the Ioncell® Process“
  • Hongli Zhu, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, USA – “Photocatalytic Rejuvenation Enabled Self-sanitizing, Reusable, and Biodegradable Masks Against COVID-19“

10:20am COFFEE BREAK

10:35am SESSION #7 – Advanced Wood & Lignocellulose

Session Chair: Michael Hummel, Aalto University

  • Siddhartha Das, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, USA – “Water and Ion Transport in Nanocellulose: Capillary Physics and Electrohydrodynamics in Hierarchical Micro-Nanochannels“
  • Alan Luo, Professor, Ohio State University, USA – “Adhesive and Dissimilar Material Joining and Potential Automotive Applications of Densified ‘Superwood’ Materials” Riveting“
  • Guido Panzarasa, Professor, ETH Zurich, Switzerland – “Wood Materials for the Generation and Transport of Electricity and Light“

11:35am SESSION #8 – Cellulose Nanomaterials for High End Applications

Session Chair: Milad Kamkar, UBC

  • Orlando Rojas, Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Nanotechnologies to Advance a Carbohydrate-based, Sustainable Society“
  • Liangbing Hu Professor, University of Maryland, USA – “Nanocellulose Batteries“
  • Jinguang Hu, Assistant Professor, University of Calgary, Canada – “Cellulose Based Materials for Biomedical Application“

12:35pm LUNCH

1:30pm SESSION #9 – World Food, Energy & Sustainability Assessment

Session Chair: Ning Yan, University of Toronto

  • Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor, ETH Zurich, Switzerland – “Revaluing Food Protein Waste“
  • Qingshi Tu, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Assessing the Sustainability of Bioenergy, Biofuels and Bioproducts Through Industrial Ecology Methods“
  • Ronalds Gonzalez, Associate Professor, North Carolina State University – “Sustainable and Alternative Fibers Initiative“
  • Rajat Panwar, Associate Professor, Oregon State University, USA – “The Transparency Imperative in Promoting the Forest-Based Bioeconomy“

2:50pm COFFEE BREAK

3:00pm SESSION #10 – POSTER PRESENTATIONS

4:00pm SESSION # 11 – PANEL DISCUSSION – Technology Roadmaps for Applications

Session Chair: Feng Jiang, UBC

  • Liangbing Hu, University of Maryland, USA
  • Orlando Rojas, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Qingshi Tu, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Raffaele Mezzenga, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

4:45pm ADVANCING NATURE SUSTAINABILITY by Yaoqing Zhang, Nature Sustainability

4:55pm POSTER AWARD PRESENTATION by Feng Jiang, UBC

5:05pm SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE by Liangbing Hu, University of Maryland

5:20pm ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NEXT CONFERENCE by Kirsi Mikkonen, University of Helsinki

5:25pm CLOSING REMARK by Orlando Rojas, UBC

POSTER PRESENTERS

There will be one hour poster session each day and the poster presenters are split into two groups as follows;

MONDAY AUGUST 8 AT 3:15PM-4:15PM

  1. Lucas Andrew, Ph.D. Student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Cellulose Nanocrystal Composite Aerogel Materials for Supercapacitor Applications“
  2. Shuting Huang, Ph.D. Candidate, McGill University, Canada – “Antibacterial Food Packaging Enabled by Nanocellulose“
  3. Zongzhe Li, Graduate Student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Pristine Cellulose Nanocrystal Gels with Tunable Mechanical Properties from Hybrid Thermal Strategies“
  4. Ahmad Reza Motezakker, Ph.D. Candidate, KTH Royal Institute and Technology, Sweden – “Understanding the Role of Flexibility and Aspect Ratio of Nanofibers on Transport Phenomena in Nanofibrous Networks“
  5. Yi Lu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Sustainable Energy Harvesting from Raindrops Using All-weather Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG)“
  6. Cong Chen, Ph.D. Student, University of Maine, USA – “Water Sorption Behavior and Barrier Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystal Films“
  7. Guillermo Reyes, Postdoctoral researcher, Aalto University, Finland – “Multiscale Manufacture of Cellulose for 1D Filaments and 3D Printed Materials“
  8. Yihan Shi, Graduate student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Diffusion-Controlled Self-Assembly Within Cellulose Nanocrystal Gel Receptors to Give Colorful Host-Guest Complexes“
  9. Ahmad Tufail, University of Tartu, Estonia – “Development and Analysis of Modified Cellulose Composites for Food Packaging“
  10. Zhengyang Yu, Ph.D. Student, University of British Columbia, Canada- “Cellulose Nanofibrils Aided Waterborne Polyurethane Synthesis and its Application for 3D Printing“
  11. Carla Vilela, Principal Researcher, CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials / University of Aveiro, Portugal – “Eco-Friendly Films of Cellulose Nanofibrils and Mango Leaf Extract for Active Packaging: Supercritical Impregnation vs. Solvent Casting“
  12. Yeling Zhu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada- “Functionalized Lignocellulosic Nanofibrils for Fire-Retarding Thermal Insulating Materials“
  13. Bonwook Koo, Principal Researcher, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), South Korea – “Mechanical Properties of PLA-PHA Composite and Enhancement of Thermal Properties by Application of Lignin“
  14. Jingqian Chen, Postdoctoral fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Monodispersed Lignin Particles and Self-assembly into Superstructures“
  15. Tianyu Guo, Postdoc, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Energy Pellets from Whole-Wheat Straw Processed with a Deep Eutectic Solvent: A Comprehensive Thermal, Molecular and Environmental Evaluation“
  16. Brett Abraham, University of Calgary, Canada – “Carbohydrate Binding Module Fusion Proteins for the Modification of Cellulose-Based Scaffolds in the Culture of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells“
  17. Elizabeth Dobrzanski, MASc Student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Stability and Rheological Behaviour of Aqueous Foams from Forest Residues“
  18. Milad Kamkar, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Ultralight Aerogels by Interfacial Assembly of Nanomaterials“
  19. In Park, Principal Researcher, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), South Korea – “Mechanical and Optical Properties of Polyimide Hybrid Films Containing Functionalized Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes“
  20. Mohammad Aliahmadi, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Two-Step Drying Technique to Reduce GHG emissions“
  21. Bruno Mattos, Research Fellow, Aalto University, Finland – “Metal-Phenolic Networking as a Tool to Tailor the Properties of Tannin-Nanocellulose Gels and Porous Solid Materials“
  22. Amanda Ackroyd, Graduate Student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Confinement Effects on Nanoparticle Self-Assembly“

TUESDAY AUGUST 9 AT 3:00PM-4:00PM

  1. Jing Fan, University of British Columbia, Canada – “A Visible Multi-Response Electrochemical Sensor Based on Cellulose Nanocrystals“
  2. Saeed Davoodi, Ph.D. student, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden – “Nanoscale Alignment in Functional Hybrid Cellulose Filaments“
  3. Marcus Johns, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Autofluorescence Spectroscopy for Rapid, Quantitative Analysis of Cellulose Nanocrystal Properties“
  4. Elnaz Erfanian, Ph.D. student, University of Calgary, Canada – “3D Printing of Cellulose Nanofibrils-Graphene Inks: Rheological and Morphological Study“
  5. Cameron King, MSc Student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Surface Modification of Uncharged Cellulose Nanocrystals Using Selectively Soluble Cello-Oligosaccharides“
  6. Seyed Mohammad Amin Ojagh, Graduate Research Assistant, McGill University, Canada – “Structural Characterization of Bacterial Cellulose-Based Composites”
  7. Xia Sun, Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Tough and Ultrastretchable Liquid-Free Ion Conductor Strengthened by Deep Eutectic Solvent Hydrolyzed Cellulose Microfibers”
  8. Umair Qasim, Doctoral Researcher, University of Oulu, Finland – “Hydrophobized Cellulose Nanofibers through Ring-Opening Esterification in Deep Eutectic Solvent“
  9. Anderson Veiga, Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Iron labelled Cellulose Fibres for Applications in Advanced Microscopy“
  10. Mamata Bhattarai, Postdoctoral researcher, Aalto University, Finland – “Wood Hemicellulose Extracts for Controlled Droplet Deposition on Hydrophobic Surfaces“
  11. Wenjing Sun, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Maine, USA – “Insight into Mycelium-Lignocellulosic Bio-Composites: Essential Factors and Properties“
  12. Mingcong Xu, Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Mechanically Responsive Circularly Polarized Luminescence from Cellulose Nanocrystal-based Thermoplastics“
  13. Yuhang Ye, Ph.D. Candidate, University of British Columbia, Canada – Highly Stretchable, Durable, and Transient Conductive Hydrogel for Multi-functional Sensor and Signal Transmission Applications”
  14. Tony Jin, Ph.D. Candidate, McGill University, Canada – “Chitosan Nanocrystals: A New Class of Nanomaterials Derived from Shell Waste“
  15. Jiaying Zhu, Ph.D. student, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Effect of Surface Charge on Capacitance of Cellulose Nanofibrils and the Application as Humidity Sensor“
  16. Amir Varamesh, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Calgary, Canada – “All Biobased and Green Aerogels Developed from Cellulose Filaments, Chitosan and Citric Acid with Dye Removal and Antibacterial Properties“
  17. Penghui Zhu, Post Doctoral Researcher, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Hygroscopic Salt Enabled Super-absorbent Cellulose Nanofiber Scaffold for Solar-driven Water Harvesting From Atmosphere“
  18. Johanna Majoinen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aalto University, Finland – “Polyol Molecular Complexity Controls Monosaccharide-Derived Amphiphile Thermotropic Polymorphism“
  19. Elisa Ferreira, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Oven-dried Foams from Forest Residues for Thermal Insulation“
  20. Gloria Oporto-Velasquez, Associate Professor, West Virginia University, USA – “Improved Filtration Efficacy and Breathability of Eco-Friendly Biofilters against SARS – CoV 2 Virus Using Rotary Jet Spinning Technology“
  21. Bin Zhao, Doctoral Candidate, Aalto University, Finland – “Sustainable Wood Carbon Materials with Ultralow Reflectance for Light Management“
  22. Oliver Musl, University of British Columbia, Canada – “Mapping the Hydrophobic Composition of Lignosulfonates with Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography“