Principal Investigator
Dr. M. S. Roopesh
Associate Professor
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
- 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
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).
- 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 Center for Low Temperature Plasma, Nagoya University, Japan; Swansea University, UK; NIFTEM Thanjavur, India; and KMUTT Bangkok, Thailand, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; Institute of Plasma Physics, of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague.
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
- Dr. Luis Puente Díaz, Visiting Professor from Universidad de Chile (May 2023 - Present)
- Aditya Sukumar Pasagadi, Visiting PhD student from National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India (September 2023-Present)
- Project: Cold plasma treatment of liquid whey
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
- 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 ultrafine bubble technology
- Ella Sun, Masters student (July 2024 - Present) (Co-supervised with Dr. Xianqin Yang, AAFC Lacombe)
- Project: TBD
- Pauline Chan, Masters student (July 2022 - Present)
- Project: Plant protein value addition by cold plasma and 3D printing
- Rahul Chetry, Masters student (September 2022 - Present)
- Project: Pathogen inactivation in water by ultraviolet light and nanomaterials
Former members
Postdoctoral Fellows/Research Assistants/Visiting Scientists
- 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
- Devansh Patel (MSc, Degree completed: September 2023)
- 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)