Chemical Product Formulation Design and Optimization

Ali Elkamel is Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is also cross appointed in Systems Design Engineering. Prof. Elkamel holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering and BSc in Mathematics from Colorado School of Mines, MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University ? West Lafayette, Indiana. His specific research interests are in computer-aided modelling, optimization and simulation with applications to energy production planning, carbon management, sustainable operations and product design. Prof. Elkamel supervised over 90 graduate students (of which 35 are PhDs) and more than 30 post-doctoral fellows/research associates and his trainees all obtain good jobs in the chemical process industry and in academia. He has been funded for several research projects from government and industry. Among his accomplishments are the Research Excellence Award, the Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award, the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Best teacher award, and the IEOM (Industrial engineering and Operations Management) Outstanding Service and Distinguished Educator Award. He has more than 370 journal articles, 145 proceedings, and 45 book chapters, and has been an invited speaker on numerous occasions at academic institutions throughout the world and at national and international conferences. He is also a co-author of five books; two recent books were published by Wiley and entitled Planning of Refinery and Petrochemical Operations and Environmentally Conscious Fossil Energy Production.

Dr. Hesham Alhumade is a skilled engineer with experience in chemical industry and enthusiastic assistant professor in Chemical and Material engineering with extensive research, teaching, supervision and administration experience. Meticulous and methodical in approach to all tasks, guaranteeing high quality results in line with learning specifications. Dr. Alhumade was recently appointed as the president of the chemical engineering chapter of the Saudi council of Engineers. His research interests include Polymer nanocomposites, renewable energy, Catalyst, Solar systems and Fuel cell. He is currently working on developing pyrolysis techniques for biomass conversion to biofuel to meet the growing global demand for alternative and green sources of energy in addition to the current industrial demanding for adequate waste management process. In oil and gas industry, promising research are conducted on the field of synthesis and functionalization of catalyst for hydrocarbon conversion and oil upgrading purposes. His research interests include modeling and simulation of fluid dynamics in porous media and synthesis of nanocomposites materials for various electrochemical applications including fuel cells, supercapacitors, batteries and corrosion mitigation. Dr. Alhumade received the SABIC Distinguished Award, in 2006.

Navid Omidbakhsh is Director of Early R&D, and Advanced Research for Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP), where he leads the innovation and technical feasibility of new concepts for future products. Prior to joining ASP, Navid was Vice President of Open Innovation and Intellectual Property for Virox Technologies and held a key role in the development of Virox `s globally registered products, and company?s exponential growth. Before Virox, Navid was an R&D engineer for Henkel in Surface Technology field. Navid has earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where his main research area was on the development of a systematic method to optimize chemical products/formulations. Navid holds several patents and peer-reviewed publications in the area of product design, disinfectants and sterilization formulations and systems. Navid is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School, where he completed programs on business, management, and innovation. He is also a licensed professional engineer of Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Keyvan Nowruzi is a principal scientist at Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP). He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran, a M.Sc in chemical engineering from Tehran Polytechnic University, and a PhD in biochemical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Prior to joining ASP, he has served as a Post-Doctoral fellow at the University of Guelph, Canada for 4 years and a staff scientist for Akkim Kimya San. Ve Tic. A. S. for one year. He has been with ASP for 6 years. Dr. Nowruzi has contributed in few inventions patented worldwide and has several publications in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences.

Dr. Thomas Duever is Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science and a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University. Prior to his role at TMU, Dr. Duever served as chair of the University of Waterloo?s Department of Chemical Engineering for nine years, navigating the department toward unprecedented growth. He has also taught industrial short course in experimental design and polymer reaction engineering.
Dr. Duever is an accomplished researcher with interests including applied statistics, experimental design, polymer reaction engineering and product development. He has more than 100 articles in journals and conference proceedings to his credit and has supervised the research projects of over 35 graduate students.
Dr. Duever is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He holds PhD, Master?s and Bachelor degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo.

A. Elkamel, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, USA; H. Alhumade, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, USA; N. Omidbakhsh, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, USA; K. Nowruzi, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, USA; T. Duever, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada, USA