NWI Announces Student Researcher Awards for Outstanding Presentations

The Nonwovens Institute (NWI) is honored to announce three researchers who have been recognized with awards for their outstanding presentations at the institute’s Fall 2024 Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meeting:

• Best Technical – Christine Lee, “PLA Nonwovens,” Fiber and Polymer Science, NC State University
• Best Presentation –Lucille Verster Rivera, “Degradation Modalities of Synthetics and Bio-Based Fiber Nonwoven,”Chemical Engineering and Forest Biomaterials, NC State University
• Best Overall – Anicah Smith O’Brien, “Effect of Surface Coatings on Biodegradability and Functional Properties of Model Pure and Blended Biopolymer Substrates,”Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University

“NWI’s industry-selected fundamental nonwovens research program is led by a group of students who are doing remarkable work,” said Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Ph.D., executive director of NWI. “Over the course of several years, our researchers focus on expanding knowledge around topics that are of significant interest to the nonwovens industry. Christine, Lucille and Anicah have made impressive progress on their research projects, and we are proud to recognize their efforts as part of the NWI Student Awards program.”

NWI’s student researchers present their latest findings during the institute’s semi-annual IAB meetings. Representatives from NWI member companies evaluate each presentation for presentation style and technical merit. These evaluations are used to determine the NWI Student Award winners for Best Technical, Best Presentation and Best Overall. Each winner receives a plaque and a monetary award to recognize their achievement.

Best Technical: Christine Lee, “PLA Nonwovens”

Christine’s NWI research project (Ph.D.), which concluded at the Fall 2024 IAB meeting, was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Pourdeyhimi and Mehmet Dasdemir, Ph.D., NWI’s director of product development. Building upon previous research conducted at NWI that found polylactic acid (PLA) blended with other bio-based polymers can lead to an improvement in properties such as crystallinity, shrinkage and heat-deflection temperature, Christine’s research investigated how PLA/biopolymer blends impact properties such as thermal bonding, charge density and nucleation in nonwovens.

Best Presentation: Lucille Verster Rivera, “Degradation Modalities of Synthetics and Bio-Based Fiber Nonwoven”

Lucille’s NWI research project (Ph.D.), which also concluded at the Fall 2024 IAB meeting, was conducted under the guidance of Lokendra Pal, Ph.D., and Orlin Velev, Ph.D., of NC State University. Lucille’s project focused on developing standardized methods and breakdown criteria to quantify, visualize and characterize the degradation and photostability of synthetic and bio-based polymer fibers and nonwovens.

Lucille’s research aims to generate universal exposure-breakdown correlations to guide nonwoven developments and increase the understanding of the product lifecycle. The precise characterization and manipulation of chemical, mechanical, thermal and light (photo) degradation were studied under controlled microenvironments that simulate environmental exposure conditions.

Best Overall: Anicah Smith O’Brien, “Effect of Surface Coatings on Biodegradability and Functional Properties of Model Pure and Blended Biopolymer Substrates”

Anicah’s NWI research project (Ph.D.), which is being conducted under the guidance of Saad Khan, Ph.D., and Morton Barlaz, Ph.D., of NC State University, focuses on examining how surfactant coatings affect both aerobic and anaerobic biodegradability of biopolymer substrates and their impact on important in-use properties, such as wettability.

Anicah’s project aims to bridge this knowledge gap by systematically evaluating the mechanisms behind the biodegradability of specific polymer blends and coatings. Understanding how surface modifications and blending impact polymeric properties and biodegradability is critical for such biopolymers to be fully implemented in industry.

Christine and Lucille are expected to complete their Ph.D. defenses in spring semester 2025.

Anicah has presented her research at four IAB meeting so far and has been previously recognized with NWI Student Awards at the Spring 2023, Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 IAB meetings. Anicah is expected to complete her NWI research project in May 2026.

Are you are interested in engaging with NWI as a graduate student researcher?

The Nonwovens Institute is a membership-based fundamental research institute serving leading companies/organizations across the nonwovens value chain, from raw material to end-use. NWI research aims to enable strategic R&D efforts by member companies who are seeking to forge next-generation fiber- and polymer-based materials and products. At the end of this value-added research pipeline are revolutionary and often life-enhancing products for both industrial and consumer markets. Research thrust areas are industry-selected and research results are considered proprietary to the Institute and its member companies.

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