Pioneering RMIT Engineer becomes first Australian to win prestigious George Whitby Award from American Chemical Society

Professor Namita Roy Choudhury, Head of Chemical & Environmental Engineering Department in the School of Engineering at RMIT, has become the first Australian to win the 2024 George Stafford Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research.

The award, which is cosponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Cabot Corporation, honours teachers and academic scientists for distinguished, innovative and inspirational teaching and research in chemistry and polymer science.

Choudhury said she was honoured to receive the award, which recognises innovative research to push the frontier of science.

"I am feeling truly honoured to receive this award from American Chemical Society (ACS) Rubber Division, amongst the diverse group of eminent scientists," she said.

"The award is a culmination of dedication, hard work and collective power of passion and dream of the Biomimicry team at RMIT. Certainly, we see that we are breaking the mould and see ACS is recognising scientific achievements without any border."

Choudhury's research is focused on design and developing biomimetic smart and tough hydrogel materials for the future.

Tough gels are a necessity for stretchable electronics, robotics, regenerative medicine and many healthcare products, but it is difficult to obtain softness and toughness simultaneously in a single material that is also responsive to environmental cues.

"Rubber, in general, is considered to be a commodity of such global importance that it is included on the US and EU's lists of critical raw materials."

"Due to a projected future shortage of natural rubber, there is significant research going on to derive natural rubber from alternative abundant agricultural resources, other than the rubber tree."

"Interestingly, the Biomimicry team at RMIT has been also working on making highly resilient protein-based elastomers through biotechnological routes from non-plant-based renewable resources for several years," she said.

Protein-based elastomers are found in arthropods including fleas, fruit flies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and cicadas. They are critical for jumping, locomotion, energy storage and sound production mechanisms such as in cicadas.

"In essence, we are extracting or hacking the genetic code of native 'Resilin' elastomer from the insect family and combining them into the design of a unique super elastic protein," said Choudhury.

Her innovative approach has the potential to bring about significant advancements in the field of biomedical engineering and contribute to the development of new and effective medical treatments.