Professor Mohini Sain elected to the Royal Society of Canada

Professor Mohini Sain’s (MIE) research focuses on the sustainable manufacturing of low-carbon and carbon-neutral materials. (Photo: University of Toronto)

Professor Mohini Sain (MIE) has been elected a 2021 fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). The RSC’s mission is to recognize excellence, to advise governments and organizations, and to promote a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada. Fellowship in the RSC is one of the highest honours a Canadian scholar can achieve. 

Sain has provided leadership across several disciplines in the area of advanced low-carbon materials and sustainable bio-manufacturing. His research has successfully addressed multiple scientific and technological challenges related to the low energy conversion of industrial waste and byproducts to low-carbon and carbon-neutral materials that are multifunctional, lightweight and durable. These materials are now widely used in many sectors.  

Recently, Sain has applied his research to several projects in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including N95 mask recycling and 3D-printed PPE using renewables developed in his lab.

Sain served as Dean of U of T’s Faculty of Forestry from 2012–2017. He is the founding director of the Centre for Biocomposites & Biomaterials Processing (CBBP), a leading hub for research and learning in low-carbon materials engineering. The CBBP was one of the first research centres to position itself at the interface of academia and industry; it has since become a model for many other academic institutions. Sain is also a founding member of the Canadian Natural Composites Council, the Ontario BioAuto Council and the Ontario-Jianshu Nano-Innovation Centre. He is involved in many global strategic research councils in an advisory role and has helped to grow the wood-plastic composite industry to a five-billion-dollar market.

Sain has authored more than 600 highly-cited scientific publications and co-authored the world’s first book on cellulose nanocomposites. With more than 30 patents, he has helped create new companies that manufacture products such as biomedical devices, packaging solutions, flexible electronics and building and transportation materials.

Sain is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K. He has received several prestigious national and international awards, including the Society of Chemical Industry’s Kalev Pugi Award, the NSERC Synergy Award and the Canadian Plastics Industry Innovation Award.

“As a pioneer in the field of biomass-based composites, Professor Sain has made tremendous contributions not only to his research field, but to sustainable manufacturing on a global scale,” said Christopher Yip, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “On behalf of the Faculty, I offer my warmest congratulations on this well-deserved honour.” 

– This story was originally published on the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering News Site on September 7, 2021 by Carolyn Farrell

Professor Sain is a cross-appointed professor to the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.