PLASTICS CREATE Research Faculty
The PLASTICS CREATE team of researchers come from a diverse range of disciplines each with an important role in addressing the challenges of sustainable plastics use.
Dr. James McLellan
Professor
Director, PLASTICS CREATE
Academic Director, Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre
National Associate Academic Director, Invention to Innovation (i2I) Program
Department of Chemical Engineering
Queen's University
Kingston, ON
Research Areas:
Plastics valorization, process design, LCA/TEA, university-anchored innovation/entrepreneurship ecosystems, science translation, human-centred design, contextual engineering
Dr. George di Cenzo
Associate Professor
Project Lead, Open Plastic
Project Co-Lead, The BENEFIT Project
Department of Biology
Queen's University
Research Areas:
Computational biology, host-microbe interactions, molecular genetics
Dr. Elicia Maine
Associate Vice President, Knowledge Mobilization and Innovation
WJ VanDusen Professor of Innovation, Beedie School of Business
Simon Fraser University
Research Interests:
Technology Innovation, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship, Technology-Market Matching, Science-Based Business Innovation Policy
Dr. Sarah Lubik
Academic Director, Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship
Senior Lecturer, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Beedie School of Business
Simon Fraser University
Research Interests:
University spin-outs, early-stage strategy formation, business models, commercialization of advanced technologies, partnerships, market selection, innovation ecosystems, and incubation
Dr. Qian Zhang
Assistant Professor
Robert M. Buchan School of Mining Engineering
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Mining and Sustainability, Mineral Economics, Life-cycle Assessment, Carbon Footprint, Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency, Urban Mining
Dr. Jesse Greener
Professor of Chemistry
Université Laval
Research Interests:
development of new microfluidic-based analytical methods, synthesis of living catalytic biomaterials, optimizing microbial fuel cells and other bioelectrochemical systems, environmental applications
Dr. Carlos Escobedo
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Lab-on-a-chip, Microfluidics, Nanofluidics, Nanophotonics, Optofluidics, BioSensing, Point-of-care diagnosis, Handling and study of single cells, Bio-hybrid cell-based microsystems
Dr. Karine Auclair
Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Antimicrobials and Green Enzymes
Professor
Department of Chemistry
McGill University
Research Interests:
synthesis, medicinal chemistry, mechanoenzymology, biocatalysis, microbiology, as well as protein purification, expression, and engineering (including bioconjugation)
Dr. David Zechel
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Enzymes: structures and mechanisms, natural product biosynthesis Streptomyces, degradation of phosphonates by microbial enzymes
Dr. Cao Thang Dinh
Tier 2 Canada Research Chair
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Renewable Fuels and Chemicals, CO2 conversion, Catalysis, Electrochemical Engineering, Energy Storage, Nanofabrication, Energy Systems
Collaborators
Dr. Myra Hird
Professor and Queen's National Scholar
School of Environmental Studies
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Waste Studies, Interdisciplinarity, Knowledge Mobilization, Research Creation
Dr. Ann Witmer
Teaching Associate Professor
Biomedical and Translational Sciences
Carle Illinois College of Medicine
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests:
Parsing the urban-rural divide to address health needs in agricultural communities, Leveraging context in addressing interactions between land, people, and environmental practices, Applying context to engineering processes in the industrialized world - finding the nuances of societal differences in rural America, Measuring context using observation-based tool - best practices for using the Contextual Tool, The infrastructure client experience in non-industrialized societies - enthographic evaluation of the indigenous society experience
Dr. Jon Thomas
Director, Esposito Family Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
BC Regional Innovation Chair in Canada-India Partnership Development
Associate Professor, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
School of Business
University of the Fraser Valley
Research Interests:
Innovation Management, Patents, Technology & Innovation, Science-based Entrepreneurship, Technology Commercialization, Technology Management, Innovation Studies
Dr. Graeme Howe
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Elucidation of enzyme mechanisms, Understanding natural and directed evolution of enzymes, Evaluating the role of protein dynamics in catalysis, Kinetic isotope effects as mechanistic probes, Computational modelling of transition states, Interplay of solvent effects and transition state structures
Greg Bavington
Executive Director
Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre
Special Advisor to the Provost, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Queen's University
Research Interests:
Circular economy, innovation, entrepreneurship