S.M. Sapuan is a Professor (Grade “A) of composite materials in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, at the Universiti Putra Malaysia. He is also the former Head of the Advanced Engineering Materials and Composites Research Centre (AEMC) at UPM. He attained his BEng in mechanical engineering from the University of Newcastle, in Australia and then went on to receive his MSc in engineering design and PhD in materials engineering, from De Montfort University in the UK. He is a Professional Engineer and a Fellow of many professional societies, including the Society of Automotive Engineers; the Academy of Science Malaysia; the International Society for Development and Sustainability; the World Academy of Sciences; the Plastic and Rubber Institute Malaysia (PRIM); the Malaysian Scientific Association and the Institute of Materials Malaysia. He is an Honorary Member and past Vice President of the Asian Polymer Association and Founding Chairman and Honorary Member of The Society of Sugar Palm Development and Industry, Malaysia. During the course of his career, he has produced over 2500 publications, including 989 journal papers, 68 books and 246 book chapters. R.A. Ilyas is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. He is also a Fellow of International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM), Sweden, Fellow of International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS), Japan, a member of Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), UK, Chair of Science Outreach for Young Scientists Network - Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) 2023. He received his Diploma in Forestry, Bachelor's Degree (BSc) in Chemical Engineering, and Ph.D. degree in the field of Biocomposite Technology & Design at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. R.A. Ilyas was the recipient of the MVP Doctor of Philosophy Gold Medal Award UPM 2019, for Best Ph.D. Thesis and Top Student Award, INTROP, UPM. He was awarded with Outstanding Reviewer by Carbohydrate Polymers, Elsevier United Kingdom, Top Cited Article 2020-2021 Journal Polymer Composite, Wiley, 2022, and Best Paper Award at various International Conferences. R.A. Ilyas also was listed and awarded among World’s Top 2% Scientist (Career-Long Achievement) Year 2022 and 2023, World’s Top 2% Scientist (Subject-Wise) Citation Impact during the Single Calendar Year 2019-2023 by Stanford University, US, PERINTIS Publication Award 2021 and 2022 by Persatuan Saintis Muslim Malaysia, Emerging Scholar Award by Automotive and Autonomous Systems 2021, Belgium, Young Scientists Network - Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) 2021, UTM Young Research Award 2021, UTM Publication Award 2021&2023, and UTM Highly Cited Researcher Award 2021. In 2021, he won Gold Award and Special Award (Kreso Glavac (The Republic of Croatia) at the Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE2022), Gold Award dan Special Award at International Borneo Innovation, Exhibition & Competition 2022 (IBIEC2022), and, a Gold Award at New Academia Learning Innovation (NALI2022). He was awarded with Best Scientific Book Award from COMSTECH, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Pakistan and ModTech, Romania. His main research interests are (1) Polymer Engineering (Biodegradable Polymers, Biopolymers, Polymer composites, Polymer-gels) and (2) Material Engineering (Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites, Biocomposites, Cellulose materials, Nano-composites). To date he has authored or co-authored more than 500 publications on green materials related subjects.
