Dr. Mehmet Dasdemir Appointed as Director of Product Development at NWI

The Nonwovens Institute (NWI) is pleased to announce Mehmet Dasdemir, Ph.D., has been appointed to the position of Director of Product Development for the Institute, succeeding Pierre Grondin who retired from NWI earlier this year after 30 years of service to the nonwovens industry.

In this new role, Dr. Dasdemir is leading the management of NWI’s sponsored product development projects portfolio. He is focused on working with NWI’s industry partners on the development of new nonwoven products and applications, including scale-up using NWI’s extensive pilot facilities. This is an area where NWI brings high value to the nonwovens industry – i.e., in providing an environment where early-stage product designs can benefit from the Institute’s decades of nonwovens application knowledge, along with in-house fabrication and testing capability, to enable proof-of-concept in an extremely cost-effective manner. He is also serving as an internal and external advocate for products developed at NWI.

Dr. Dasdemir has strong roots at NWI and NC State, as he received his Ph.D. in Fiber and Polymer Science from NC State University in 2011. During his doctoral studies, Dr. Dasdemir participated in NWI’s industry-identified fundamental research program, investigating polymer interfaces in biocomponent fibers and nonwovens. He then served as a Professor at Gaziantep University in Turkey, where he conducted, published, and presented research studies related to polymers, fibers, nonwovens, composites, and nanotechnology. Dr. Dasdemir has also worked as a consultant and R&D coordinator at several fiber, filament, and nonwoven production companies in Turkey. In addition, he has designed, prepared, and managed several industrial and academic research, product, and application development projects.  

Since taking on the role of Director of Product Development, Dr. Dasdemir has been engaged in several important projects, including one focused on developing polylactic acid (PLA)-based spunbond and meltblown nonwovens for medical and filtration applications.

In 2021, Dr. Dasdemir returned to the NWI family as a Visiting Research Associate Professor to study sustainable polymers and nonwoven products and, in 2022, he joined NWI as a Research Scientist where he led biodegradable nonwoven product development studies, engaged in research on biopolymers, and supported graduate students working through NWI’s fundamental nonwovens research program.

Since taking on the role of Director of Product Development, Dr. Dasdemir has been engaged in several important projects, including one focused on developing polylactic acid (PLA)-based spunbond and meltblown nonwovens for medical and filtration applications. He recently presented some promising results from this project at the 2023 RISE^® – Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics – conference.  

Dr. Dasdemir reports to Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, NWI’s Executive Director, and is located at the NWI offices in The Center for Technology and Innovation on NC State’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

In addition to its expert in-house staff, NWI is supported by a dedicated group of stakeholders from its Members to Faculty and Students to Volunteers.