Seminar Announcement WHISTLER CENTER FOR CARBOHYDRATE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF FOOD SCIENCE sponsored lecture: "Plants to Plastics" Atanu Biswas Lead Scientist, NCAUR/USDA Peoria, IL Friday, March 29, 2013 1:30 p.m. Morgan Conference Room FS2187 NLSN (Food Science Building) As we are located in the Corn Belt, our goal has always been to enhance the utilization of corn. Dr. Biswas will talk about research at NCAUR dealing with expanded uses of the components of corn, such as starch, protein, fiber, and oil. Past and ongoing research work includes chemical and enzymatic modifications of renewable resources to produce new biobased materials and value-added products. A particular emphasis is to develop new, green synthetic methodologies through microwave, ionic liquid, and solvent-less processes. Atanu Biswas is a Lead Scientist with USDA at Peoria, IL. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. After a postdoctoral stay at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA he went to Hercules Incorporated where he worked for 14 years and had 6 patents and one paper. Ten years ago he joined USDA where he has published over 60 papers and one patent thus far. His research deals with green chemistry, polysaccharides, and vegetable oils. A recent focus has been the chemical and enzymatic modifications of renewable resources to produce value-added products. His research emphasizes creativity, collaboration and team work in developing new bio-based materials from starches and proteins using various chemical, physical and biochemical processes to create new market opportunities for agricultural products, and for usage in formulations of adhesives, bio-based plastics, coatings, films, hydrogels, and absorbents.