RA Ilyas Editor & Author

S.M. Sapuan is Researcher and A Grade Professor of composite materials at Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Head of Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, INTROP, UPM. He has a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Newcastle, Australia, an M.Sc. in Engineering Design from Loughborough University, UK, and Ph.D. in Material Engineering from De Montfort University, UK. He is Professional Engineer, a Society of Automotive Engineers Fellow, an Academy of Science Malaysia Fellow, a Plastic and Rubber and Institute Malaysia Fellow, a Malaysian Scientific Association Fellow, an International Biographical Association Fellow, and an Institute of Material Malaysia Fellow. He is Honorary Member and immediate past Vice President of Asian Polymer Association based in IIT Delhi and Founding Chairman and Honorary Member of Society of Sugar Palm Development and Industry, Malaysia. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Functional Composites and Structures and Member of editorial boards of more than two dozen journals. To date, he has authored or co-authored more than 1800 publications including over 815 journal papers, 46 books, 160 chapters in book, and other publications. Besides, he has delivered over 40 plenary and keynote lectures, delivered over 150 invited lectures, organized 26 journal special issues as Guest Editor, presented over 500 technical articles in conferences and seminars, reviewed over 1000 journal papers and has 8 patents to his credits. He has successfully supervised 86 Ph.D. and 70 M.Sc. students and 15 postdoctoral researchers mainly in the areas of mechanical engineering and composites. He received nine Outstanding Researcher Awards from UPM. He was awarded ISESCO Science Award (Gold Medal) in Technology, Plastic, and Rubber Institute Malaysia (PRIM) Fellowship Award and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) First Prize Publication Award. He also received the Khwarizimi International Award, SEARCA Regional Professorial Chair Award, and Kuala Lumpur Royal Rotary Gold Medal Research Award. He also won two National Book Awards. He received the Endeavour Research Promotion Award by Teerthanker Mahaveer University/IEEE India, Citation of Excellence Award from Emerald, UK, the Malaysia’s Research Star Award by Elsevier/Ministry of Education Malaysia, and Publons Peer Review Award, from Publons, USA. He was recognized as Certified Publons Academic Mentor, also by Publons, USA. Later, he received a Professor of Eminence Award from Aligarh Muslim University, India, Top Research Scientists’ Malaysia Award from Academy of Science Malaysia, Gold in Invention and Innovation Awards, Malaysia Technology Expo and PERINTIS Publication Award from PERINTIS, Malaysia. He was listed among the World Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University, USA.

R.A. Ilyas is Senior Lecturer in School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. He received his Diploma in Forestry at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Bintulu Campus (UPMKB), Sarawak, Malaysia from Mei 2009 to April 2012. In 2012, he was awarded the Public Service Department (JPA) scholarship to pursue his Bachelor’s Degree (B.Sc.) in Chemical Engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Upon completing his BSc. program in 2016, he was again awarded the Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) by the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to undertake a Ph.D. degree in the field of Biocomposite Technology & Design at Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP) UPM. R.A. Ilyas was the recipient of MVP Doctor of Philosophy Gold Medal Award UPM 2019, for Best Ph.D. Thesis and Top Student Award, INTROP, UPM.  In 2018, he was awarded with Outstanding reviewer by Carbohydrate Polymers, Elsevier United Kingdom, Best Paper Award (11th AUN/SEED-Net Regional Conference on Energy Engineering), Best Paper Award (Seminar Enau Kebangsaan 2019, Persatuan Pembangunan dan Industri Enau Malaysia), and National Book Award 2018. R.A. Ilyas also was listed and awarded Among World’s Top 2% Scientist (Subject-Wise) Citation Impact during the Single Calendar Year 2019 by Stanford University, US, and PERINTIS Publication Award 2021 by Persatuan Saintis Muslim Malaysia. 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 246 publications (published/accepted/submitted): 88 Journals Indexed in JCR/ Scopus, 14 books, 69 book chapters, 51 conference proceedings/seminars, 2 research bulletins, 10 conference papers (abstract published in book of abstract), 6 Guest Editor of Journal special issues, and 6 Editor/ Co-Editor of Conference/Seminar Proceedings on green materials related subjects.

M. R. M. Asyraf graduated with bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering with first-class honors with a CGPA of 3.789 at Universiti Putra Malaysia. In 2014, he was awarded the JPA Program Ijazah Dalam Negara (PIDN) scholarship to pursue his Bachelor's Degree (B.Eng.) in Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia. He was also the recipient of Anugerah Pelajaran Diraja 2018 (Universiti Putra Malaysia), Excellent Graduate Award 2019 (Yayasan Bank Rakyat), and Academic Award (Koperasi UPM). The excellent academic performance is amplified by his ability to complete his final thesis submission at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) within 6 semesters during the program of Doctor of Philosophy in Material Engineering. He also was awarded the JPA Program Pelajar Cemerlang (PPC 2019) scholarship to pursue his doctorate degree. In 2019, he was awarded Best Speaker Award and Best Paper Award (Seminar Enau Kebangsaan 2019, Persatuan Pembangunan dan Industri Enau Malaysia). His main research interests are: (1) Composite material (Polymers, Fibers, Polymeric composites); (2) Creep characterization and analysis (Cantilever beam creep, Flexural creep, and Creep numerical modeling), and (3) Concurrent engineering (Conceptual design, Problem-solving technique, MCDM, CAD). He has authored and co-authored 25 indexed journal articles on design developments, composite materials, and material characterizations with an H-index of 13 in the Scopus database. As for today, he has cumulative citations of more than 370. Also, he has authored and co-authored 11 book chapters and 12 conference proceedings/seminar papers/research bulletin on composite materials related subjects. In terms of scientific experience, he was appointed as International Reviewer by several high-impact journals such as Cellulose (Q1), Springer; Journal of Vibration and Control (Q2), and Science Progress (Q3), SAGE; Scientia Iranica (Q3) and World Journal of Engineering, Emerald (Scopus). Furthermore, he also demonstrated excellence in non-academic performance, among them are through his contribution as Committee Member for the Seminar on Scientific Writing and Publications using KSI Technique in 2019 organized by Department of Aerospace Engineering, UPM, Committee Member for Seminar Enau Kebangsaan 2019, as well as 5th International Conference on Computational Methods in Engineering and Health Sciences (ICCMEH 2019). Moreover, he also has been appointed as Deputy Chairman in MyOHUN-USAID International Webinar Series 2020 and MyOHUN-USAID One Stop Centre & Exhibition. In 2021, he has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in International Conference on Sugar Palm and Allied Fiber Polymer Composites (SAPC 2021).