{"648965":{"#nid":"648965","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Faces of Research - Meet Carson Meredith","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet Carson Meredith\u003C\/strong\u003E, executive director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute (RBI).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERBI is one of Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s 10 interdisciplinary research institutes within the Georgia Tech Research enterprise.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your field of expertise and why did you choose it?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI am a chemical engineer with specialization in materials processing and design, particularly the surfaces and interfaces of materials.\u202fI am fascinated by the ways that surfaces and interfaces govern the properties of materials and how they interact with the world. Many of the problems facing the environment, sustainability,\u0026nbsp;and renewable materials,\u0026nbsp;which\u0026nbsp;RBI is\u0026nbsp;engaged\u0026nbsp;in, involve surface chemistry and engineering of interfaces.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat makes\u0026nbsp;RBI\u202f\u0026#39;s research \u202funique?\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe were gifted an endowment from industry that gives us unique capabilities in being able to support four year\u202fPh.D.\u202ffellowships. We use this to build a research\u202fcommunity that tackles interdisciplinary problems in use of biomass and bioprocessing to create sustainable products. We focus on early-stage\u202fresearch, which if successful, has strong promise to translate to real-world applications. In many cases,\u202fwe can fund new ideas to allow faculty interdisciplinary teams to gather data they can then use to secure external funding.\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat impact is\u0026nbsp;RBI\u0026nbsp;research\u202f having on the world?\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFaculty working with RBI are working on the next generation of biorefining technology that will save energy and water compared to today\u0026#39;s processes. One of the projects is focused on using novel membranes to replace evaporators. This project started at the\u202fPh.D.\u202ffellowship level, then became a research\u202fconsortium at RBI, and has now attracted numerous external funding\u202fawards. To support translation of this process to practice, a portable pilot membrane unit was built and installed at a Georgia\u202fpaper mill. This project is led by professor Sankar Nair (ChBE) with collaboration from\u202fassociate professor Meisha Shofner (MSE) and Scott Sinquefield (RBI\u202fSenior\u202fResearch Engineer), as well as several RBI member\u0026nbsp;companies.\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you like to do in your spare time when you are not working on your research or teaching?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nI enjoy walking my dogs (Spaniels), reading, woodworking, and fixing cars.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/rbi\u0022\u003ELearn more about the Renewable Bioproducts Institute.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Faces of Research - Meet Carson Meredith"}],"uid":"27561","created_gmt":"2021-07-21 18:10:17","changed_gmt":"2021-07-21 18:10:17","author":"Angela Ayers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-07-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-07-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"648964":{"id":"648964","type":"image","title":"Faces of Research - Meet Carson Meredith","body":null,"created":"1626890390","gmt_created":"2021-07-21 17:59:50","changed":"1626890390","gmt_changed":"2021-07-21 17:59:50","alt":"Carson Meredith, Executive Director of the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech","file":{"fid":"246379","name":"faces of research banner-carson-layout-2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-carson-layout-2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-carson-layout-2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":405391,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/faces%20of%20research%20banner-carson-layout-2.png?itok=glcRrzvD"}}},"media_ids":["648964"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}