A Texas Tech University textiles researcher is to receive an honorary fellowship from the world’s largest textile and fibre association. Seshadri Ramkumar, head of the Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH), will be given the honorary fellowship on 28 January 2011 by The Textile Association (India), with members topping 22,000.

“Fellowship recognition is of significant importance to academics and scientists,” Ramkumar said. “The Textile Association’s honorary fellowship is conferred only to very few with lifetime contributions. Only very senior distinguished scientists who are directors, senior professors and industry leaders have received this award, and I accept it with delight and humility.”

The award will be made in January during the 66th annual conference of the society in Bangalore, India, said P.R. Roy, director of Fibre2Fashion and president emeritus of The Textile Association (India). Since 1946, 57 people have been honoured with the fellowship. The association was founded in 1939.

“Our association is pleased to honour Dr. Ramkumar with the highest research award for his research accomplishments in nonwovens and technical textiles and also his collaborative efforts with India in the textiles field,” Roy, an honorary fellow of the association, said.

Ramkumar specializes in technical textiles, and is best known for creating Fibertect, a decontamination technology developed in 2005. With his team at TIEHH, Texas Tech, Ramkumar leveraged the absorbent capabilities of cotton to create the Fibertect wipe that can absorb and neutralize gases and liquids that might be used in chemical warfare.

The process has been awarded a patent and has been validated for use as a low-cost decontamination wipe for the U.S. military. The wipe’s qualities were also re-engineered to create a better absorbent material to pick up the ‘chocolate mousse’ oil slicks on Gulf Coast beaches following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

“I offer hearty congratulations to Dr. Ramkumar for this accomplishment,” said Provost Bob Smith. “This is outstanding news, and a very high-level honour and recognition for him, TIEHH and Texas Tech. It also serves as recognition of the high-calibre research we do at Texas Tech that will usher us to Tier One status.”