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MSE Seminar: “Sustainability Efforts at Dow: Vision, Strategy, Case Studies, and Challenges,” Kumar Sanketh, Dow
September 12 at 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Materials and chemicals impact daily life, as they enable modern healthcare, preservation of food, and delivering performance and efficiency of transportation and infrastructure. The talk will focus on Dow’s vision and path for carbon neutrality. An overview of Dow Chemical’s portfolio and the breadth of chemistries being practiced will be discussed. Dow has a vision of being carbon neutral by 2050 and recycling 3MM MT of plastics by 2030. To meet this ambitious goal, innovation is being focused on four different fronts related to sustainable chemistry and Engineering. They include Reducing Hazards, Atom economy, Energy footprint, & Holistic design. Case studies will be presented on how innovation in these spaces is being developed and commercialized. To address the complex challenges in sustainable materials and circularity there is a need for collaborative efforts across Industry, academia, and government policy. In this regard, some of the challenges which can be considered for collaboration will be presented.
Kumar Sanketh
R&D Director of Functional Polymers, Dow.
Kumar Sanketh currently serves as the R&D Director of Functional Polymers product R&D within Packaging, Specialty Plastics & Hydrocarbons (PSP&H) division at Dow Inc. PSP&H is the largest division in Dow with sales of $28B serving Packaging, Infrastructure, Consumer, Transportation and Wire & Cable, markets. In this role, he manages a global team of 120+ researchers working on product/formulation innovation in Polyethylene, POE Elastomers, Adhesives & High-pressure copolymers. His responsibilities include talent development, influencing business strategy and driving a robust innovation pipeline.
Prior to this role, from 2015-2021, he held leadership roles in Technical Service & Development (TS&D) for North America region leading teams serving customers across various market segments. In this role, he had responsibility to help deliver the sales plan for the region and monetize the innovation product portfolio. During his tenure, he helped launch new products for caps & closures, pressure pipe, pharma, and other durable applications. Two of the products were also recognized with “R&D 100 finalist” awards. From 2007–2015, Kumar worked as an individual contributor working in area of encapsulation films for solar modules, development of polyurethane dispersions for coatings market as well as understanding fundamentals of scratch and mar behavior of coatings.
Kumar joined Dow in 2007 after completing his PhD in Polymer Science and Masters in Polymer Engineering from University of Akron. Kumar has published 15+ publications in peer reviewed journals and his work at Dow has resulted in 12+ granted patents and patent applications. Kumar has also received a graduate leadership certificate from Jones school of business at Rice University in 2018. He currently serves on the board of SPE, South Texas Chapter and as a member of the Akron Chamber of Commerce: Polymer Innovation Cluster Industry Advisory Council.