By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
(Lubbock, USA, January 1, 2024)–Happy New Year-2024 to all in my network.
Today marks a milestone in my professional career. My official start date at Texas Tech was January 1, 1999, and I have completed 25 years of service at Texas Tech University.
I was physically present at the International Textile Center building in the East Loop of Lubbock on January 2nd, 1999, to be greeted by Mrs. Chalotte Anderson, Administrative Associate at TTU, then.
In 2000, my proposal to the U. S. Department of Defense to develop a decontamination wipe was successful that resulted in the commercialization of the multipurpose wipe, which has been taken to market by Amit Kapoor at First Line Technology.
A talented graduate student Thandavamurthy Subbiah discovered self-assembly in nanofibers. Our work with him in electrospinning has remained a highly cited paper.
Along the way, about 2006, we started working with the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA), USA to build the technical textiles sector in India. This early effort has built the advanced textile sector in India.
Our laboratory has tackled topics such as oil pollution during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. My graduate student Vinitkumar Singh, now in a Senior Position in Glatfelter worked with me to prove the usefulness of raw cotton in absorbing crude oil. One of the first papers was published in this subject in an ACS Journal gained global recognition with news briefs in The Guardian, Economist, and many global news outlets.
As a direct outcome of the International Cotton Advisory Committee meeting in Lubbock in September 2010, after interacting with many world leaders in the global cotton sector, I started global outreach effort by creating the “TexSnips,” newsletter. A unique feature is that this newsletter will carry only one research and/or general information related to fiber, fashion and advanced textiles field and goes to about 2000 people around the world.
Last but not the least, we worked on face masks aspects during COVID-19 and graduate student James Ayodeji came as a blessing to our laboratory to assist with the work.
Thanks to all the students, colleagues here at Texas Tech and around the world who have helped us to do some useful work.
26th year journey begins and continues–
