Mr Naras Hanumanth Rao
Senior Research Associate
Engineering
School of Chemical Engineering
ARC DECRA Fellow and Senior听Research Associate at the Algae & Organic Matter Lab (AOM Lab) within the Enviro Lab Cluster in the School of Chemical Engineering at 国民彩票.
Naras graduated with a BE in Chemical Engineering (India and USA at UW-Madison) and obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, in 2018. Following his PhD, he was a Research Associate at 国民彩票 and then moved to Belgium where he was a Marie Curie Fellow at KU Leuven, Belgium. He returned to Australia in 2024 as an ARC DECRA Fellow at 国民彩票.
Naras' research interests focus on improving resource management and reuse and are tailored towards optimising particle separation in the water treatment, mining and biotechnology fields. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and technical reports for the industry on polymer and nanomaterial design for efficient algae and cyanobacteria separation, advanced characterisation of algae, cyanobacteria and natural organic matter from engineered and environmental systems, climate change impacts on catchment dynamics, and the improved understanding of existing online monitoring tools and the development of novel adaptations to push boundaries in these technologies for monitoring different contaminants.
GRANTS
Naras has attracted >$1.5 million in competitive funding as the Lead Chief Investigator on several projects from premier Australian and European funding agencies and the Australian water industry.
Major Research Grants
- 2024:听国民彩票 Research Infrastructure Services Grant听- FlowCAM Nano: Non-destructive inline particle sizing and visualisation听
- 2023:听ARC DECRA (DE240100987) - Multifunctional polymers for simultaneous cyanobacterial inactivation and flocculation
- 2021:听Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (101029353) - AlgaeFLOAT: Developing recyclable nanocellulose-based flocculants for algal flotation
- 2020:听Water RA RFF Grant (1125) - Cost of algae to the Australian water industry
Research Travel Grants
- 2023:听Belgian Research Foundation - Flanders听Grant
- 2016:听国民彩票 Postgraduate Research Scholarship Scheme
AWARDS & HONOURS
- 2023:听Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
- 2023:听FWO Grant Belgium
- 2021:听Marie Curie Individual Fellowship
- 2019:听Reviewer Award from Journal of Environmental Management
- 2018:听Outstanding Reviewer Award from Water Research (No.1 journal in the water field)
- 2018:听Dean's List for Outstanding PhD Thesis
- 2016:听国民彩票 PRSS Award
- 2014-2017:听Australian Postgraduate Award
- 2014-2017:听国民彩票 TFS Scholarship
RESEARCH SUPERVISION
PhD
- 2023-2024: Xuan Wei听(co-supervisor/mentor) (visiting PhD)
- 2022-present: Sakshi Tyagi (co-supervisor)
- 2021-present: Angelina听(co-supervisor)
- 2020-2024: Taye Kazeem听(co-supervisor)
- 2020-2024: Dr Xiaoran (Daisy) Chu听(co-supervisor)
- 2018-2022: Dr Zainab Mustafa (mentor)
Undergraduate and Masters
- 2024-2024: Laurine Courcier
- 2022-2023: Guillaume Vandamme听(co-supervisor)
- 2022-2023: Marlon van Oost听(co-supervisor)
- 2022-2023: Christian Debou听(co-supervisor)
- 2021-2021: Ashley Phung听(co-supervisor)
- 2021-2021: Alexander Babkenian听(co-supervisor)
- 2020-2021: Worawan Prasoprat
- 2020-2020: James Preziosa (co-supervisor)
- 2019-2020: Angelina
- 2018-2019: Simon McGrillen
- 2018-2019: Yu Chun Chow
- 2018-2019:听Xiaoran (Daisy) Chu听(co-supervisor)
INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Naras has worked with several water and chemical industry partners including Sydney Water, Melbourne Water, Water NSW, SPARC Technologies Ltd - Harrison Manufacturing Company. As a part of his industry work, he has had a strong focus on process improvements and optimisation. He has a track record of identifying process deficiencies by thoroughly reviewing existing processes and suggesting impactful improvements to drive operational efficiencies and innovation.听
TEACHING ENGAGEMENT
Introduction to Chemistry
Transport Phenomena (Fundamentals to Advanced)
Introduction to Engineering
Chemical Engineering Design
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP
In Europe, Naras serves as a Marie Curie Ambassador with the primary goal of motivating female students to embrace a career in research. As a part of his ambassadorial duties, he organised the 鈥Summer School - Let鈥檚 Talk Science鈥 event at Leuven where he conducted a workshop for 50 female middle school students. He has also chaired the Industry Engagement Chapter of the YouReCa Center at KU Leuven Belgium in 2023. During this time, he established a pathway for translating academic research to industrial practice with GreenCoLab, Algarve, Portugal.
In Australia, he was on the organising committees of two international conferences 鈥6th Australia and New Zealand Cyanobacteria workshop 2018鈥 and the International Water Association鈥檚 鈥13th Wastewater Ponds and Algal Technologies Conference 2022鈥. Prior to these, he was a regular contributor to the 国民彩票 Early Career Network and co-organised and hosted the Australian Water Association鈥檚 Water Industry Career Night in 2018. Naras is also a regular part of 国民彩票 HDR progress reviews since 2019.
To prospective students and postdoctoral fellows, please contact n.hanumanthrao@unsw.edu.au for more info.
E-mail
Location
Sydney
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