University Distinguished Professor
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (ChEMS), College of Engineering
University Distinguished Professor - Packaging in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
3815 Technology Blvd Ste A109
Polymeric materials from renewable resources; biodegradable polymer systems; engineering and design of natural-synthetic polymer graft and block copolymers; polymer blends; studies in reactive extrusion processing, biobased and recyclable composites.
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry (Polymer Science & Eng.), Bombay University 1975
M.S., Organic Chemistry, Bombay University 1969
Withrow Distinguished Scholar Award 2005
State of Michigan, Governor's University Award for Commercialization Excellence, 2005
James Hammer Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
Award of Excellence from ASTM committee, 2006
M. Zumstein, R. Narayan, H.-P. E. Kohler, K. McNeill, and M. Sander, "Dos & Do Nots when assessing the biodegradation of plastics," Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 53. No. 17. pp. 9967-9969. (2019).
P. Giri, C. Tambe, R. Narayan, "Using reactive extrusion to manufacture greener products: from laboratory fundamentals to commercial scale; ACS Symposium Series (2018), 1304 (Biomass Extrusion and Reaction Technologies: Principles to Practices and Future Potential), 1-23 (2018).
S. Dewasthale, C. Andrews, R. Narayan, D. Graiver, "Interpenetrating polymers networks derived from silylated soybean oil and water soluble polysiloxanes," Journal of Applied Polymer Science 136, 47182 (2018).
R. Narayan, "Biodegradable and Biobased Plastics" in Soil Degradable BioPlastics for a sustainable modern agriculture, Ed., M. Malinconico; Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany; Ch 2, pg 23-34 (2017).