Dear faculty, staff, and students,
I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Niko DeMartini as the Director, Pulp & Paper Centre (PPC), for a three-year term from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.
Niko joined the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry in 2017. He is the co-Principal Investigator of the University-Industry Consortium on the Effective Energy and Chemical Recovery in Pulp and Paper Mills, and has held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in the Role of Inorganics in the Industrial Processing of Woody Biomass. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, Niko was a Senior Researcher, Åbo Akademi University, Finland (2009 – 2017), and a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology at Georgia Tech (2005 – 2009). He has published more than 45 peer reviewed papers and delivered more than 12 invited talks and 34 conference presentations. Niko has mentored 10 PhD, 15 MASc, and 4 MEng students. He was the Conference Chair of the International Chemical Recovery Conference (ICRC) in 2020 and is the Chair of the ICRC 2025.
In his new role as Director, PPC, Niko will be focusing on fostering research partnership opportunities with industry, government agencies, NGOs, and research institutions, as well as facilitating the creation and launch of multi-researcher university-industry consortia and collaborative research initiatives to stimulate research and support teaching in pulp and paper science and engineering.
Please join me in congratulating Niko on his new appointment.
I also wish to take this opportunity to thank Professor Grant Allen for serving as the Director of the Pulp & Paper Centre this past year, and to Professor Honghi Tran who served as Director from 2003 – 2022. While he was Director, Professor Tran expanded the scope of the highly successful ‘Effective Energy and Chemical Recovery Consortium in Pulp and Paper Mills’ beyond the kraft recovery cycle to encompass a broader range of pulp and paper topics, including ‘Mill Waste Processing and Utilization’ an area that was co-led by Professor Allen. This expansion brought in new faculty collaborators from across our department, faculty, and from other universities in Canada and around the world to work with our industry partners. In collaboration with co-leaders Professors Grant Allen and Markus Bussmann (MIE), the consortium and the PPC provided the support and partnership for the IRC that recruited Professor DeMartini to further develop and expand this exceptional industrial partnership.
Sincerely,
Ramin Farnood
Professor & Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry