A Texas Tech University fabric researcher will receive an honorary fellowship from the world’s largest textile and fiber association.

Seshadri Ramkumar, manager of the Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH), will be given the honorary fellowship Jan. 28, 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 given this January during the 66^thannual 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 honored with the fellowship. The association was founded in 1939.

“Our association is pleased to honor 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 said, also an honorary fellow of the association.

Ramkumar specializes in technical textiles, and is best known for creating Fibertect, a decontamination technology developed in 2005.
With his team at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at 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.