Bringing together the best of both industry and academia is a hallmark of The Nonwovens Institute (NWI).  Located in the heart of the vibrant Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NWI is an innovative global partnership between industrial practitioners in both the Private and Public sectors and academia resulting in unique opportunities for graduate students across a variety of technical disciplines at the university.  

As noted by Dr. Constantine Megaridis located at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and one of NWI’s extended academic colleagues who led the Institute’s 2020 5-year Review, “Students commented upon the strength of the faculty associated with NWI and the linkage between industrial members of The Institute and their research work.”  Students highlighted that “NWI offers us an opportunity to work with ‘real world’ experts and technical leaders to a far greater degree than our peers.”

The opportunity for these students to present their work uniquely prepares them for future careers

One of the most important functions of NWI’s Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) is the review of graduate student projects at its bi-annual meetings.  Here, technical experts from across the industry listen to and provide feedback upon student presentations regarding their research as well as learn themselves from the students’ work.  “The opportunity for these students to present their work before a group of true academic and industry experts uniquely prepares them for future careers,” said Dr. Raoul Farer, NWI’s Executive Director and Professor of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science at The Wilson College of Textiles.

“The overall caliber of the student presentations was truly exceptional…”

In November 2025, 19 students presented their work to the IAB after which, the Board recognized three students  for their outstanding work and the NWI Student Researcher Group named its “Student Choice Award.”    

“The overall caliber of the student presentations was truly exceptional,” said Bryan Haynes, Ph.D., Senior Technical Director for Applied Science & Technology R&D – Nonwovens at Kimberly-Clark Corporation and chair of the Industrial Advisory Board Executive Committee and Strategic Scientific Advisory Board.  

 “That depth of quality across the board made it extremely challenging to select only a few students for these awards as many were deserving of recognition.”   These four students were recently recognized at the Spring 2026 IAB meeting.

Best Technical Award: Shyam Atri

“Computational-Experimental Study on Particle Removal via Electrically Charged Multilayer Nonwovens.”  This award recognizes the technical excellence of the student’s work which is at the heart of the activities of each student at NC State.  

Shyam received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2015 from The People’s Education Society Institute of Technology in Bengaluru (Bangalore), Karnataka State, India and his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (Computational Mechanics) from The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles in 2017.  During his study at USC, he joined ANSYS, Inc. in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA as a software engineering intern before accepting a full time position as a Continuous Improvement Engineer with The Huf Group in Greeneville, Tennessee, USA.  Shyam would start his pursuit of his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at NC State in 2021 with the guidance of Dr. Hooman Tafreshi (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi (Wilson College of Textiles). He has received guidance from NWI members Dr. Martin Lehmann (Mann+Hummel), Dr. Nagendra Anantharamaiah (Hollingsworth & Vose), Dr. Perry Potnis (Owens & Minor) and Dr. John Algers (Procter & Gamble).  

Shyam was a student of the Porous Media and Multiphase flow laboratory of NC State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Shyam has presented is work in numerous conferences namely as a guest speaker in RISE® Conference held in 2023 where he spoke about his work on “Macroscale Simulation of N95 Respirators” and at the Spring 2025 IAB meeting where was also recognized with the “Best Technical Paper” award.  He presented a poster about his work at RISE® in 2023, and 2024, and at IDEA in 2025 and received the 2025 “Leon Memorial Scholarship” within NC State’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department. Shyam graduated with his Ph.D. in May 2026 and will soon return to Huf Automotive as Operations Engineering Manager.

See more about Shyam’s work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CdiYLfR98ugpzgcMA-PrkWbFP5MgXdGw/view?usp=sharing

Connect with Shyam on LinkedIn.com at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shyam-prasad-v-atri/