Dr. Sandeep Kumar
Old Dominion University
USA
Biography
Dr. Sandeep Kumar is a chemical engineer and currently working as Associate Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University, VA. As Director, Energy Cluster at Frank Batten College of Engineering, Old Dominion University, Dr. Kumar is working on interdisciplinary research, energy related courses, and outreach activities. Dr. Kumar possesses nearly twenty years of professional experience in industry, R&D, and academic research in the area of carbon black, nuclear fuels, and biofuels with responsibilities in new process development, process engineering and project management. Dr. Kumar started his professional career in 1994 as a process engineer and was a certified project management professional (PMP®) between year 2007 - 2011. Dr. Kumar earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, AL in May 2010. Dr. Kumar serves as reviewer/panelist for several scientific international journals and grant agencies. He has successfully secured more than $1.5M of external research grants including the prestigious NSF CAREER award. Dr. Kumar has been awarded 2 patents, and has published 5 book chapters, 30 peer-reviewed journal publication, and more than 50 conference presentations in the area of biofuels.
Research Interest
Dr. Kumar’s research focuses on the application of sub- and supercritical water technology for the conversion of biomass/algae to advanced biofuels and bioproducts. Dr. Kumar’s areas of interest are supercritical fluids (CO2 and water), biofuels, biodiesel, hydrodeoxygenation of lipids for green diesel, and the applications of chemical and environmental engineering concepts to produce renewable fuels. His expertise is in high temperature and high pressure reactions involving biomass components such as proteins, lipids, cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin.