National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Associate professor Maria Râpă graduated in 2001 the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest and has a PhD in Chemical Engineering since 2011, at the same faculty. She is a PhD supervisor since 2023 for Environmental Engineering, coordinating 3 PhD students.
Dr. Maria Râpă’s research mainly focuses on Environmental protection. She investigates the recycling of polymer waste, development of materials using various renewable resources, with applications in water pollution, as well as detection and characterization of micro- and nanoplastics in seawaters. Also, dr. Maria Râpă focuses her research towards Polymeric biomaterials for medical application where she investigates the creation of polymeric biomaterials though the electrospinning technique with potential uses in wound dressings.
Food safety and security is another relevant research topic, especially the development of plastic food packaging based on biodegradable polymers and renewable resources that exhibit controlled degradation, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities
She has published over 125 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals, 11 book chapters, 11 patents, having a Hirsch Index 24 (Scopus). She has been involved as coordinator/project manager and member in 32 research projects funded by European and national agencies and industry contracts.
At ICEEM13 dr. Maria Râpă will have a keynote lecture in the field of waste management in the context of circular (bio)economy titled:
Challenges, Experimental Approach, and Prospects into Microplastics Waste Management