SANS Seminar Series

September 12, 2024

Dr. Anil N. Netravali, Cornell University

Dr. Anil N. Netravali (left), Jean and Douglas McLean Professor of Fiber Science (emeritus) at Cornell University, will be the featured speaker at the first seminar of the fall series, which continues through November.

Netravali will speak on “Advanced Green Composites.”

Biodegradable, fully sustainable and easily composted, advanced green composites are high-strength, transparent all-cellulose, self-healing, fire-resistant and thermochromic. Applications could range from automobiles to sporting goods, circuit boards to housing, and furniture to packaging. 

This presentation will review many developments that fall into the category of ‘Advanced Green Composites’ including high strength green composites, transparent all-cellulose, self-healing, fire-resistant and thermochromic green composites.

Netravali received his Ph.D. in Fiber & Polymer science from North Carolina State University in 1984 and joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University as a postdoctoral associate. In 1987, he joined the Department of Fiber Science &  Apparel Design as an assistant professor. He retired last year as the Jean and Douglas McLean Professor of Fiber Science. 

His research is focused on fiber reinforced composites and green materials and processing. Other research interest includes fiber surface modification to control fiber/resin interfaces in composites.

Netravali is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Fiber Society and the American Nano Society. He was an Adjunct Professor at Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM) in Manaus, Brazil and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, AL. He serves on the editorial advisory boards of six international research journals.

October 3, 2024

Dr. Yvon Woappi, Columbia University

Dr. Yvon Woappi, assistant professor of physiology and cellular biophysics, and the Endowed Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Dermatology in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, is the featured speaker at the seminar on Oct. 3 at 11 a.m. at Carver Hall.

The topic of the seminar is “Developing High-Throughput Wound Organoids for Human-relevant Injury Modeling.”

Woappi will speak on his continuing efforts to learn how to redirect cells in the skin toward a better regenerative state, which could help heal large injuries and even regenerate organ parts. 

At Columbia, Woappi directs the Synthetic Regeneration and Systems Physiology Laboratory, building microphysiological wound organoids and synthetic gene engineering tools to understand how varied skin cells synchronize their activities to restore organ function. 

Other areas of interest in his lab focus on the relationship between wound healing and neoplasia, and on building computational frameworks to characterize organ-level responses to wound healing, including immunological factors.

He also holds a tertiary appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University.

His doctoral work helped characterize the relationship between epithelial regeneration and virus-induced neoplasia and laid the groundwork for synthetic regeneration, the research concept he is currently pursuing in his independent lab. 

Woappi earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and his doctorate in biomedical sciences as a Grace Jordan McFadden Fellow under Lucia Pirisi-Creek at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.

He completed his postdoctoral training in the Harvard Dermatology Research Training Program at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he developed cell manipulation systems to study the epigenetics of skin epidermal plasticity in vivo. 

His postdoctoral work was awarded the NIH K99/R00 pathway-to-independence MOSAIC award to advance his research on skin stem cell biology and regeneration. 

Woappi joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School in 2021 as an instructor of dermatology, then transitioned into his assistant professorship in Fall 2022 at Columbia University.  

His research accomplishments have earned numerous distinctions, prizes and awards, including the MIT Rising Star Award and designation among the “1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America” by Cell Press News and the Community of Scholars. Woappi is also an inaugural recipient of the NIH MOSAIC fellowship from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and is an ardent proponent of inclusive excellence.