Sushanta Kumar Mitra is an Indian-Canadian mechanical engineer. He is an elected fellow of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

, the

Canadian Academy of Engineering The Canadian Academy of Engineering (french: L'Académie canadienne du génie) is a national academy of distinguished professional engineers in all fields of engineering, who are elected on the basis of "their distinguished service and contribution ...

, the

Engineering Institute of Canada The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) (French: l'Institut canadien des ingénieurs; ICI) is a federation of fourteen engineering societies based in Canada, covering a broad range of engineering branches, and with a history going back to 1887. F ...

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

, the American Physical Society, and

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

Early life and education

Mitra was born in India to a physicist father. He earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked four ...

before traveling to Canada for his graduate degrees. Mitra enrolled at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

for his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

for his PhD.

Career

Upon completing his formal education, Mitra joined the Department of Engineering faculty at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...

. In this role, he led a CMC project to coax microorganisms to convert coal into methane. As a result of his research, he was named a Fellow of the

York

In 2014, Mitra left the University of Alberta to become the Kaneff Professor in Micro and Nanotechnology for Social Innovation and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the

Lassonde School of Engineering The Lassonde School of Engineering is the professional engineering school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lassonde incorporates crossover programming with York University’s Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law S ...

. Upon joining the faculty, he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is an award conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. FRSC award Achieving Fellow status in the chemical profession denotes to the wider community a high level o ...

and

. He was later appointed the Associate Vice-President Research at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...

. While serving in these roles, Mitra and his research team conceived of a method of detecting E. coli in contaminated water within two to 60 minutes based on the level of contamination called the Mobile Water Kit. In recognition of his research, he was the recipient of the 2015 Engineering Medal for Engineering Excellence and named a Fellow of the

(AAAS). He was appointed as the President of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. Mitra continued to advance the Mobile Water Kit and, in 2017, raised $50,000 in seed funding through his co-started startup Glacierclean Technologies Inc. to further develop and test the Mobile Water Kit 2.0. The improvements in the newest kit enabled individuals, municipalities, or industries to test water at the source and receive results within minutes.

Waterloo

Mitra left York University in 2017 to become the executive director of the

Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) is located at the University of Waterloo and is co-located with the Institute for Quantum Computing in the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre, Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Cen ...

. In this role, he developed DipTest strips to test the contamination of water in less than three hours at a cost of 50 cents. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Mitra helped develop a coating that would kill the COVID-19 virus immediately upon contact with any surface. His research team worked to quantify the adhesion force between the viral load and the coated surface. His research team is also working on rapid detection of COVID-19. He pioneered the liquid-liquid encapsulation technology, that led to the creation of a Dutch Start up, SLE Enterprises B.V. Mitra started his second term as WIN's Executive Director in August 2022.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Sushanta Living people Canadian mechanical engineers Indian mechanical engineers Jadavpur University alumni University of Victoria alumni University of Waterloo alumni Academic staff of the University of Waterloo Academic staff of York University Academic staff of the University of Alberta Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering Year of birth missing (living people) Engineers from West Bengal Fellows of the American Physical Society