Associate Professor
University of Alberta Profile
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Education
- Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
- M. Tech., Post Harvest Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
- B.Tech., Agricultural Engineering, Kerala Agricultural University, Trichur, India
Professional Experience
- Associate Professor (2022-Present), University of Alberta, Canada
- Assistant Professor (2016-2022), University of Alberta, Canada
- Research Associate (2012-2015), Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Achievements/Awards
- International Engagement Award from the Faculty of Agricultural, Life, and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 2025
- Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program scholarship (which is part of Global Affairs Canada’s International Scholarships Program), 2024
- Research and Innovation Award, Faculty of Agricultural, Life, and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 2020.
- Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Emerging Leaders Network Program, 2017
- Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Foundation Feeding Tomorrow Graduate Scholarship, 2011, 2010
- Outstanding student award and Kegel Fellowship award, Biological Systems Engineering department, Washington State University, Pullman, 2010.
- Graduate School Doctoral Scholarship, Washington State University, 2011.
- December Career Day, PepsiCo and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), 2011
- E-Journal Prize, International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR), 2008. International
International Collaboration and Research Mobility
- Visiting Professor, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, supported by the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program scholarship (which is part of Global Affairs Canada’s International Scholarships Program). (June - July 2024; March 2025).
- Visiting Professor, Indian Council of Agricultural Research - National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India (February 2024).
- Visited and delivered guest lectures at the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos IATA CSIC (Valencia, Spain), Center for Low Temperature Plasma, Nagoya University (Japan), Swansea University (United Kingdon), NIFTEM Thanjavur (India), KMUTT Bangkok (Thailand), Comenius University, Bratislava (Slovakia), Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (Czech Republic).
Professional Affiliation
- Professional Member, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST), 2016-Present.
- Professional Member, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), 2008-Present.
- Member, International Association of Food Protection (IAFP), 2015-Present
Synergistic Activities
- Editorial Board Member, Journal of Food Science (Food Engineering, Material Science, and Nanotechnology), Institute of Food Technologists.
- Editorial Board Member, Food Engineering Reviews
Lab members
Visiting Scientists/Students
- Mª Teresa Fernández, Visiting PhD student from Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA-CSIC, Valencia, Spain) (February 2025-Present)
- Project: Plant protein functionality improvement by cold plasma and 3D printing
Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Assistants
- Shifa Dinesh, Lab Coordinator and Research Assistant (November 2021 - Present)
- Negar Ravash, Research Assistant (July 2023-Present)
- Project: Validation of plasma-activated water spray technology
Graduate Students
- Felix Ayiera, PhD student (May 2025 - Present)
- Project: Decontamination of meat-packing facilities by plasma nanobubble water technology
- Shivani Sonkar, PhD student (January 2024 - Present)
- Project: Development and validation of plasma-activated water mist technology
- Prithviraj Vellamunda, PhD student (September 2023 - Present)
- Project: Development and validation of plasma nanobubble water technology
- Ella Sun, Masters student (July 2024 - Present) (Co-supervised with Dr. Xianqin Yang, AAFC Lacombe)
- Pauline Chan, Masters student (July 2022 - Present)
- Project: Plant protein value addition by cold plasma and 3D printing
Former members
Postdoctoral Fellows/Research Assistants/Visiting Scientists
- Dr. Luis Puente Díaz, Visiting Professor from Universidad de Chile (May 2023 - May 2025)
- Aditya Sukumar Pasagadi, Visiting PhD student from National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India (September 2023-April 2025)
- Dr. Magdalene Eljeeva Emerald Franklin, Principal Scientist, Dairy Engineering Section ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (Deemed University), Southern Regional Station Bengaluru, India (April 2025)
- Dr. Bhagyashree Tiwari, Postdoctoral Fellow (January 2024 - July 2024)
- Dr. Harleen Dhaliwal, Research Assistant (November 2023 - April 2024)
- Dr. Bhagyashree Tiwari, Research Assistant (November 2022 - December 2023)
- Dr. Lihui Du, Ningbo University, China, Visiting Professor (January - March 2023)
- Dr. Rami Althnaibat, Research Assistant (November 2022 - February 2023)
- Barun Yadav, Postdoctoral Fellow (April 2022 - October 2022)
- Amritha Prasad, Research Assistant (July 2022 - September 2022)
- Dr. Basheer Iqdiam, Postdoctoral Fellow (June 2019-May 2021)
- Cinu Varghese, Shastri Research Student Fellowship (SRSF)-Doctoral award (IIT Kharagpur, India, July-December 2019)
- Bina Gautam, Research Assistant (February 2019-February 2020) Farah Naz, Research Assistant (September 2018-August 2019)
- Lihui Du, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow (March-October 2018)
- Ana Claudia Spinelli, visiting scientist (Jointly with Dr. McMullen), (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil, February 2017-January 2018)
Graduate Students
- Sitian Zhang, PhD student (PhD, Degree completed: September 2024) (Co-supervised with Dr. Lingyun Chen)
- Thesis: Utilization of non-thermal processing technologies to improve pea protein gelation and gelling mechanisms study
- Harleen Kaur Dhaliwal (PhD, Degree completed: September 2023)
- Thesis: Efficacy of conventional and novel antimicrobial treatments on the inactivation of desiccated cells and biofilms of Salmonella
- Ehsan Feizollahi (PhD, Degree completed: January 2023)
- Thesis: Mycotoxin degradation in food and feed grains by atmospheric cold plasma technology
- Muhammad Zubair (PhD, Degree completed: January 2023) (Co-supervised with Dr. Aman Ullah)
- Thesis: Feather keratin derived sustainable biosorbents for adsorption of heavy metal ions from water
- Barun Yadav (PhD, Degree completed: January 2022)
- Thesis: Application of atmospheric cold plasma to improve microbial safety of meat products
- Amritha Jaya Prasad (PhD, Degree completed: January 2022)
- Thesis: Antimicrobial applications of treatments using light pulses emitted from light emitting diodes
- Rahul Chetry, Masters student (MSc, Degree completed: December 2024)
- Thesis: Antibacterial efficacy of light-activated graphene oxide nanoparticles and nanochitosan in water
- Devansh Patel (MSc, Degree completed: April 2024)
- Project: Evaluation of plasma activated water on plant growth of canola and barley
- Yuliya Barsukova (MSc, Degree completed: January 2024) (Co-supervised with Dr. John Wolodko)
- Thesis: Microbial safety of 3D printed foods
- Sreelakshmi Menon (MSc, Degree completed: September 2023)
- Thesis: Improvement in the functionality & 3D printability of pea protein gels prepared by plasma activated microbubble water
- Muhammad Faisal Arif (MSc, Degree completed: September 2023)
- Thesis: Effects of atmospheric cold plasma treatment on canola protein structural and functional properties
- Abdullahi Adam (MSc, Degree completed: January 2021)
- Thesis: Microbial decontamination and rapid cooling of fresh food products by plasma integrated low-pressure cooling
- Alvita Mathias (MSc, Degree completed: January 2021)
- Project: Development of 3D printed foods and their drying and decontamination using light emitting diodes
- Samir Subedi (MSc, Degree completed: January 2020)
- Thesis: High intensity pulsed Light Emitting Diode (LED) treatment for simultaneous Salmonella inactivation and drying of wheat flour and pet food
- Bina Gautam (MSc, Degree received: June 2019)
- Thesis: Influence of water activity on thermal resistance of microbial pathogens in low water activity foods
- Shreyak Chaplot (MSc, Degree received: June 2018)
- Project: Atmospheric cold plasma based hurdle technology to improve food safety
Undergraduate students/Interns
- Ella Sun, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, Winter 2023)
- Jenna Wong, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, September 2022)
- Hitarth Godhani, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, September 2022)
- Yuxuan Ge, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July 2019, GFTC scholarship, September-December 2019)
- Sabrina Chang, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July 2019)
- Jorge Humberto Sanchez Ochoa, Mitacs Globalink intern (University of Guadalajara, Mexico, June-August 2019)
- Yazeed Alnefaie, Mitacs Globalink intern (King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, June-August 2018)
- Qifan Wu (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July-August 2018)
- Jiayu Zhao (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July-August 2018)
- Akina Yoshioka, UARE undergraduate intern (University of Sao Palo, Brazil, May-August 2017)
- Bharti Sharma, UARE undergraduate intern (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, May-August 2017)
- Kexin Li, UARE undergraduate intern (National University of Singapore, May-August 2017)
