Welcoming Ophela as Our Co-op LCA Researcher

Karan is an experienced professional who has worked in multiple geographies and roles along his career. He holds a total of 10+ years of experience in manufacturing operations, and has focused his efforts towards finding solutions for waste recovery and making recovery economical for industries.

He holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, US and B.Tech from IIT Roorkee, India. As side work, he likes to engage in efforts to support disability causes.

As our Senior Research Scientist, Hormoz draws on his eight years of industrial and nine years of academic research experience in the areas of polymer science and engineering to develop new solutions for advancing circularity and sustainability.

Prior to joining 5REDO, he was a Research Associate at the University of Waterloo working on novel packaging films and advanced polymerization techniques. Hormoz received his PhD from the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, Hamilton in 2006. He then moved back to his home country and served as a faculty member in the Department of Polymer Engineering and Colour Technology at Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran for 10 years.

Hormoz has published 19 papers in various peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, Cellulose, and Colloid and Polymer Science, and has over five patents.

As the Co-founder of 5REDO, Forough brings her expertise in supply chain management, business operations, inventory control, and revenue management to support the implementation of circular solutions within different industry sectors.

During her graduate studies, Forough has been the leading member of several collaborative projects with large organizations such as Canadian Tire, Loblaws and Royal Columbian Hospital. She has been the recipient of University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Paul Chwelos Teaching Award in 2022, NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships in 2017 and the University of Waterloo’s S. Fleming Award for Teaching Excellence as well as the Fraser Award for Graduate Student Research in 2015. Her research paper entitled Assortment Planning with Satisficing Customers was selected as one of the three finalists in the Student Paper Competition of Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) in 2020.

Forough holds a PhD in Business Administration specializing in Operations and Logistics from the Sauder School of Business, UBC and a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the University of Waterloo. In 2022, she joined Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware as an Assistant Professor of Business Administration.

With her significant hands-on experience in developing and characterizing biological and chemical systems, Vicky plays a key role in 5REDO’s efforts toward developing novel products and technologies that offer improved circularity and sustainability to the industry and society.

During her master’s degree in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Vicky synthesized novel antimicrobial coatings with a focus on using nontoxic and environmentally friendly polymers. She completed her undergraduate studies in bioengineering at Central South University of Forestry and Technology in China. Her bachelor’s thesis dealt with the use of activated charcoal in antibiotic wastewater treatment.

Vicky has also been involved in a number of projects outside the university settings. At Aereus Technologies in Waterloo, she worked on developing copper-based nanoparticles and nanocomposites. In addition, as a research assistant in Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, she contributed to a program focused on developing a new antibiotic.

Prior to joining 5REDO, Vicky was involved in a research project on 3D printing of hydrogels in University of Waterloo’s Surface Science and Bio-nanomaterials Laboratory.

With several years of research experience in France and Canada, Fabien lends his expertise and passion for enzymology and microbiology to 5REDO’s sustainability innovation plans.

Fabien has received his PhD in Chemistry from Université Paris-Saclay & Institut Curie in France. He then worked for nearly five years at McGill University as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate where he got involved in several research projects relating to medicinal chemistry and enzymatic reactions.

Fabien has 1 patent and 16 publications in peer-reviewed journals such as Chemical Communications, ChemSusChem and Green Chemistry.

With a passion for driving change and creating impact, Mahdi co-founded 5REDO to facilitate and expedite the adoption of circular economy principles in Canada. Mahdi is an alumnus of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s From Linear to Circular Programme in 2021. He also played a key role in developing and managing the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Circular Economy Seed Funding program aimed at fostering partnership development between companies and academic researchers to co-create solutions for the circular economy.

As a Research Engineer at UBC, Mahdi has supported the development of interdisciplinary research collaboration in materials, manufacturing, sustainability, and health. His contribution has been instrumental in establishing and coordinating UBC’s Cluster of Research Excellence in Biocomposites. Mahdi also led the development of a proposal, with participation of a team of faculty members at UBC Okanagan, which brought about a six-year funding from the Government of Canada to launch a specialized graduate degree program in immersive technologies, starting in the Fall of 2021. He also founded the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Projects in Health at UBC Okanagan which provides undergraduates with a unique platform to experience collaboration across disciplines.

Mahdi has a strong track record of research in materials and manufacturing with publications in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Communications, and Advanced Materials. He also holds multiple certifications in sustainability, including Engineering Design for a Circular Economy, Sustainable Materials Management, Biobased Products for a Sustainable Bioeconomy, Cradle to Cradle Certified Catalyst, and Sustainable Packaging in a Circular Economy. He is currently pursuing a micro-master’s degree in MBA Core Curriculum from the University of Maryland.

Mahdi has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Ryerson University in Toronto. He also completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he conducted research on advanced materials and 3D-printing technologies. He is also a Professional Engineer as a member of Engineers and Geoscientists BC.

By leveraging her expertise in life cycle analysis and process engineering, Ophela helps 5REDO to take a holistic approach to the development of circular solutions and technologies.

During her undergraduate years in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Ophela founded and led a student research team working on the production of biofuels form microalgae. She also took an internship job in Miniwiz, Taiwan where she provided research and design support to the company’s projects centring around upcycling waste streams to consumer goods and construction materials. In addition, as a Junior Research Scientist at KIST-UBC Biorefinery on-site Laboratory, she gained experience in wood-chip biofuels and contributed to the reduction of production costs through process improvement.

Upon completing her undergraduate studies in 2020, Ophela decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Throughout this program, she further enhanced her knowledge about bioengineering, sustainability and management, and in addition, gained expertise in applied data science and intelligent process engineering. Her final project was focused on techno-economic and life cycle assessment of enzymatically-modified technical lignin.

As a recent graduate of chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Kyle brings his passion for impactful innovation and his experience with novel recycling processes to 5REDO to support our technology development initiatives.

During his undergraduate studies, Kyle took co-op positions in several design and manufacturing companies including Zeton, Mondelēz International, and Alchemy Nano. These work experiences offered him the opportunity to deal with large-scale projects and industrial troubleshooting in areas related to quality control, materials formulation, and pilot plant design and construction.

Kyle completed his bachelor’s degree with a cumulative average of 89.7% and was recognized twice on the Dean’s Honour List for his academic achievements. In addition, he and his teammates received the Best Overall Award for their 4th year project on recycling of multilayer films.

Shauna is a freelance journalist that covers a wide range of topics, including health, education, the environment, travel, lifestyle trends, and more. She holds a Master of Journalism from Carleton University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Global Development from Queen’s University.

Her work can be found in University Affairs magazine, Cottage Life, Toast the Daily Xtra, Where Calgary magazine, and more. She served as the editor and head writer for 14 issues of Vital Signs, a trade publication for doctors in Alberta. An initial version of her master’s research project on social workers and trauma was published in THIS magazine. She is a fact-checker for various publications and also writes fiction.

Shauna is currently based in Calgary, Alberta.