Athira Nair Surendran

• First prize winner of Kentucky Soybean Board Soy Innovation Challenge

Murray Ledger & Times: Kentucky Soybean Farmers announce winners of Soy Innovation Challenge (December 29, 2021)

Morning AgClips: Winners of Soy Innovation Challenge announced (January 4, 2022)

The Larue County Herald News: Kentucky Soybean farmers announce winners of Soy Innovation Challenge (January 5, 2022)

Prestigious Scholarships: Kentucky Soybean Farmers announce winners of Soy Innovation Challenge

• Purdue University Northwest 5th Annual Women’s Leadership Luncheon Representative for Mechanical and Civil Engineering Department (2020)
• Recipient of 2019 Purdue University Northwest Undergraduate Research Grant
• Recipient of 2018-19 Indiana Space Grant Consortium Award
• Recipient of 2019 Purdue University Northwest Travel Grant
• Purdue University Northwest 2019 Days of Discovery poster presentation
• 6th and 9th place winners in 2019 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge

nasa.gov: Human Exploration Rover Challenge: 2019 Teams (April 2019)

• Member of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
• Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Member of NASA Rover Purdue University Northwest Club

• Peer reviewer for MDPI journals, currently reviewed 4 journal articles
• United Soybean Board: An Integrated Approach to Utilize Soy Hulls in Modified Fiber Composites for 3-D Printing Filaments and Produce Xylose as a Value Added Co-Product

-Operated and experimented on a pilot scale 3D printing filament extruder for commercial production of filaments made from polymer and modified fiber composites

-Developed a novel method of spray coating soy fibers with soybean wax to increase hydrophobicity

-Learned and certified on operating characterization equipment and analysis

• United States Department of Agriculture: Integration of Biomass Residues in Modified Fiber Composites for 3-D Printing Filaments and Produce Xylose as a Value Added Co-Product

-Hydrolyze and characterize soyhull, rice and corn fibers to extract xylose (low-calorie sugar) and determine suitability of residual fiber for carbonization

-Develop a method to carbonize fibers using thermal and nonthermal methods to produce pseudo carbon fiber

• Kentucky Soybean Board: Evaluation of Biodiesel Processing Residues for Incorporation in 3-D Printing by Producing Polymer Composites for 3D Printing Filaments

-Evaluate and treat waste material from biodiesel processing plants called MONG to increase compatibility for compounding with polymers

-Produce 3D printing filaments using compounded material made of MONG and a polymer

• Kentucky Soybean Board: Additive Manufacturing of Supercapacitors using Activated Carbon Derived from Soy Hull Fibers

-Evaluated high surface area activated carbon made from soyhull fiber as a environment friendly and carbon neutral alternative to graphene and charcoal

-Incorporated soyhull fiber based activated carbon in 3D printing high energy density electrodes for battery and supercapacitor applications

1. Submitted: Surendran, Athira N., Pavan Kumar Ajjarappu, Arulselvan Akilan Arumugham, Kunal Kate and Jagannadh Satyavolu. "Characterization of Industry Grade Soybean Wax for Soy Hull Fiber Coating and Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) in Additive Manufacturing Applications." Industrial Crops and Products

2. Surendran, Athira N., Ran Zhou and Yang Lin. “Microfluidic Device for Magnetic Separation of Biological Particles: A Review.” Journal of Medical Devices, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 15(2): 024001, (2021). DOI: 10.1115/1.4048912.

3. Zhou, Ran, Athira N. Surendran, and Jingyang Wang. "Fabrication and characteristic study on mixing enhancement of a magnetofluidic mixer." Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 326, (2021) DOI: 410.1016/j.sna.2021.112733.

4. Zhou, Ran, Athira N. Surendran. “Study on micromagnets induced local wavy mixing in a microfluidic channel.” Applied Physics Letter 117, (2020). DOI: 10.1063/5.0024011.

5. Zhou, Ran, Athira N. Surendran, Marcel Mejulu, and Yang Lin. “Rapid microfluidic mixer based on ferrofluid and integrated microscale NdFeB-PDMS magnet.” Micromachines 11, no. 1 (2019): 29. DOI: 10.3390/mi11010029.

6. Zhou, Ran, Mark Parra, and Athira N. Surendran. “A Low-Cost, High-Resolution Fabrication Method for a Microfluidic Device.” International Journal of Engineering Research and Innovation 11, no.2 (October 2019): 5. Print ISSN: 2152-4157 & Online ISSN: 2152-4165.

1. Surendran, Athira N. and Ran Zhou. “Active High-Throughput Micromixer using Injected Magnetic Mixture Underneath Microfluidic Channel.” Virtual ASME International Conference of Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels 2019, Orlando, FL, USA. DOI: 10.1115/ICNMM2020-1018.

2. Zhou, Ran, Athira N. Surendran. “Experimental and Numerical Study of Ferrofluid Mixing in A Double-Layer Magnetic Micromixer.” Virtual COMSOL Conference 2020 North America.

3. Surendran, Athira N., and Ran Zhou. “Continuous Separation of Microparticles and Cells Based on Lab on Chip System.” Days of Discovery 2019, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, IN, USA.

4. Surendran, Athira N., Aaron Kruse, Mohammed Dawod, Harini Ilamurugu, John Resa, Sam Olsen and Harvery Abramowitz “Nasa Human Exploration Rover Challenge – Rover 2.” Days of Discovery 2019, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, IN, USA.

M.S. Research Advisor: Dr. Ran Zhou (https://www.pnw.edu/people/ran-zhou-ph-d/)

PhD Supervisor: Dr. Jagannadh Satyavolu

PhD Supervisor: Dr. Kunal Kate

Internship Supervisor: Joseph Perdue