BIOGRAPHY

Vijaya Raghavan, Treasurer, RSC, is a James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering (FAES) at McGill University. He is Graduate Program Director for Bioresource Engineering, He was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in 2012, and into the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2017. He was President of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering from 2016 to 2017 and was President of the Academy of Science of the RSC from 2017 to 2019. Prof. Raghavan has made key contributions to the development of knowledge and technologies in the area of post-production technologies related to drying, storage, thermal and non-thermal treatments of food, valorization of agricultural and food by-products leading to more than 630 articles, 53 book chapters, and 7 patents. He has developed particulate medium-based heating and drying systems for heat treatment of grains and biological materials. He is studying the use of electro-technologies such as microwaves (MW), radiofrequency (RF), and pulsed electric fields (PEF) not only for the drying and thermal treatment of crops, but also for MW-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from plant materials. He has directed four CIDA and one IDRC-CIFSRF funded projects in India and China, in which he has implemented his expertise in post-production technologies to assure food security and safety. These projects improved the capacity of local universities and NGOs for research and development in agricultural engineering, while sharing knowledge and appropriate technologies with farming communities to reduce post-harvest losses. Training on methods for food processing and assuring food safety has fostered the start-up of small enterprises by women self-help groups and entrepreneurs from farming communities.  These activities have resulted in economic benefits to these communities and especially to the women. He has been a co-investigator or as a consultant in other CIDA and IDRC funded projects in Africa and India.     

Awards/Honours: Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence, 1992,1996; Maple Leaf Award of the CSAE, 1997; Outstanding Indo-Canadian Award from the National Indo-Canadian Council, 2002; Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Certificate of Achievements, 2004; Proctor and Gamble Company Award for Excellence in Drying Research, 2006; Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), TNAU 2007, and UAS-Dharwad 2010; David Thomson Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision & Teaching, 2007; Lifetime Achievement Award by the Drying Technology Journal, 2008;  Kishida International Award, ASABE, 2017. ASABE International Food Engineering Award, 2018.

Other Fellowships: Foreign Fellow of Natioanl Academy of Agricultural Sciencess, India , Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE); Indian Institution of Engineers (IIE); American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), ASABE, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers); CSBE, the Canadian Society for Bioengineering.