Draft:Virender K. Sharma

Nationality: American

Alma Mater: University of Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology, University of Miami

Scientific Career in Fields: Chemistry, Environmental Science, Engineering, Public Health

Institution: Texas A&M University

Website: https://public-health.tamu.edu/directory/sharma.html#education-and-focus

General Introduction

Virender K. Sharma is a professor and director of the Program of Environment and Sustainability at Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health. He also holds the prestigious title of University Distinguished Professor, the highest honor bestowed on Texas A&M faculty. His transformational research resulted in a breakthrough in Ferrate chemistry that will improve water quality, food safety and the abatement of surface pathogens/contaminants as well as climate change. His personal mission is “Saving Lives, Even One Life.”

Education

Dr. Sharma attended the University of Delhi, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1980. He continued his studies at the university, earning a Master of Science degree in chemistry in 1982 before earning a Master of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology in 1984. His doctoral studies were in marine and atmospheric chemistry at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He completed his doctorate in 1989.

Career

Dr. Sharma’s scientific career started at State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB) where he held a postdoctoral position from 1990-1991. His teaching career started as a lecturer at SUNYAB’s Millard Fillmore College. Following that he spent one year at Brookhaven National Laboratory where he studied the chemistry of reactive species in solution. After serving as a visiting faculty member at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s Institute de Ciences Del Mar Y Limnologia (1991) and Drury College (1992), Dr. Sharma was on the faculty at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi from 1992-1999. He joined the Florida Institute of Technology in 1999 and was a faculty member there until 2013. More about his career at https://twri.tamu.edu/news/2020/october/meet-a-scientist-virender-sharma/

Dr. Sharma joined Texas A&M’s faculty in 2014 and currently serves as a professor in the School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health and Occupational Health and the director of the department’s Program of the Environment and Sustainability. He also serves as an adjunct professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (College of Engineering), Water Management and Hydrological Science interdisciplinary program (College of Arts and Sciences), Department of Food Science and Technology (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), and a Texas A&M Energy Institute Faculty Affiliate.

He previously held research appointments at the University of Paris-Est in France, Palacky University’s Regional Center of Advanced Technology and Materials in the Czech Republic, the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative, and Stanford University’s Chemistry Department in California.

His previous administrative posts include director of Florida Institute of Technology’s Center of Ferrate Excellence (2010-2013) and director of research for undergraduates at Drury College’s Chemistry Department.

Research

Dr. Sharma’s research has made seminal contributions in the areas of chemistry and applications of Ferrate.1-3 His groundbreaking and transformational research solved the historical technical challenges through creating “liquid Ferrate,” which can be produced using a simple and cost-effective process that remains shelf-stable for months, as compared to other forms of Ferrate, which break down over the course of a few hours.

Dr. Sharma’s research efforts led to the kinetic and mechanistic understanding of Ferrate chemistry that could address global challenges in water quality, energy security, infectious diseases, and food safety. He has also performed pioneering research on engineered and natural nanoparticles in water. He has been investigating the occurrence and remediation of pollutants, toxins, antibiotics, antibiotics resistance bacteria and genes, nanoparticles, and microplastics/nanoplastics to address real-world challenges of water sustainability.

Research Impact Area: Water Quality

Ranked among Expertscape’s top 15 international experts on water pollutants over the past decade, Dr. Sharma continues his research focus on creating a healthy water supply. His work includes finding ways to clean the water supply of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals that currently are not removed by wastewater treatment plants. Without further measures, the incompletely treated water would reenter rivers and streams that provide drinking water.

His scientific research efforts led to the kinetic and mechanistic understanding of Ferrate chemistry’s ability to abate contaminants of emerging concern and the associated toxic effects, formation of disinfection byproducts, and inactivation of microorganisms.4-7 These findings contribute to improved water quality for human and environmental health. His fundamental studies were the basis for many other recent developments in the field of Ferrate chemistry and its application to water treatment. For example, unlike many researchers in the field of high valent iron species who pursued Ferrate as a two-electron transfer oxidant, Dr. Sharma showed that Ferrate can be a one-electron transfer oxidant. This research shifted the paradigm of learning the oxidation capacity of Ferrate and treating pollutants in water. Furthermore, some of his practical inventions promise a transition of these findings from laboratory studies to Ferrate applications in active water treatment systems and other related applications, such as the health sector.

His research opened a new field for water treatment through the activation of Ferrate(VI) for enhanced chemical oxidation and better pathogen inactivation. He showed that activation of Ferrate can achieve remediation of contaminants in 30 seconds via the generation of more active short-lived intermediates, high-valent iron(V) and iron(IV) species, which would otherwise take minutes to hours using un-activated Ferrate. This revolutionary work sparked rethinking about Ferrate(VI) fundamentals and technologies and enables Ferrate(VI) technologies to outcompete many established technologies for real applications and broader market acceptance. His ongoing work is addressing water scarcity, a resource that is unevenly distributed and often polluted and unsustainably managed. This is becoming more pressing amid global population increases and climate change. As the United Nations has noted, water scarcity is one of the world’s most pressing problems and this shortage affects every continent. One-fifth of the world’s population—approximately 1.2 billion people—live in areas with water scarcity, while another 500 million are increasingly facing this situation. Additionally,1.6 billion people—one-quarter of the world’s population—face an economic water shortage because countries lack the necessary infrastructure to access water from rivers and aquifers.

Research Impact Area: Infectious Diseases

Healthcare settings can serve as breeding grounds for deadly infectious diseases. The World Health Organization reported that three infectious disease categories—lower respiratory infections, neonatal conditions, and diarrheal diseases—were among the top 10 causes of death globally in 2019. Furthermore, the World Bank stated that communicable diseases comprise six of the top 10 leading causes of death in low-income countries. People in these countries are far more likely to die of a communicable disease than a non-communicable one. The emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 and the potential for more infectious diseases in the future make this a pressing topic for mankind.

Therefore, it is important to find potent, cost-effective ways to sterilize these healthcare facilities. Dr. Sharma’s research found that Ferrate(VI) can eliminate chlorine-resistant pathogens and viruses from surfaces in public health settings using a breakthrough approach that generates a stable liquid ferrate solution.

Research Impact Area: Foodborne Illness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) become sick from foodborne illnesses each year. Of those, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. There are currently 31 pathogens known to cause foodborne illnesses, but there are also numerous agents that may be problematic.

Realizing these issues, Dr. Sharma has had initial success using the Activated Ferrate(VI) technology to disinfect fruits and vegetables. This process holds promise for increasing sustainability of produce, thus safeguarding the food supply through an environmentally friendly solution. Dr. Sharma’s technology can be used in the field, in a processing facility, and in a supermarket or grocery store. The activated Ferrate can be applied to the food to remove pesticides, other chemicals, and microorganisms such as Listeria monocyte gene or Salmonella.

Research Impact Area: Energy and Climate Change

Worldwide, there has been a big push to find alternatives to fossil fuels with some researchers working on hydrogen as a renewable and clean energy. Water-splitting electrolysis has emerged as a promising method to obtain efficient hydrogen production in terms of storage. Electrocatalysts have a critical role in water splitting that produces efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER)—and Dr. Sharma has initiated the application of high-valent metal species like ferrate and ruthenium to provide an environmentally friendly solution to water splitting.

Research Impact Area: Fate of Pollutants

Dr. Sharma has studied the fate of any emerging pollutants that historically has affected public health, which included arsenic, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes, and nanoparticles).6, 8-10 Lately his work has focused on the fate of microplastics and nanoplastics in water, air, soil, and food. This mechanistic approach to understanding such emerging pollutants will lead Dr. Sharma to find practical solutions to protect human and ecological health.

Publications

Dr. Sharma has published over 460 peer-reviewed journal publications (Citations > 42,500 and H-Index: 99) according to Google Scholar. He has authored one book, Oxidation of Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins: Kinetics and Mechanism, and edited seven books.

His efforts have led to his recognition as:
 * A Highly Cited Researcher (Top 1%) by Clarivate Analytics Web of Science in 2023, 2022, and 2020.
 * Globally ranked in the top 25 in citations in the fields of environmental science, environmental chemistry, water treatment, and environmental health (Source: Google Scholar).
 * Among the top 13 expert in Water Pollutants in the world during the years 2013-2023 (Expertscape’s PubMed-Based Algorithms)

Patents

Dr. Sharma currently holds five patents nationally and internationally. He has five additional patent applications under examination.

Recognition

Dr. Sharma is a current fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the European Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the International Association of Advanced Materials. He previously was a fellow with Texas A&M University’s Center for Health Systems and Design from 2020-23 and held the President Initiative International Fellowship from the Chinese Academy of Science in 2019 and 2017. He also held the Indian Institute of Technology Fellowship in 1982-84 while earning his Master of Technology degree.

He has received the following awards:
 * 2024 The Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for its Alternative Water Resources category
 * 2023 Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Award from Royal Society of Chemistry Publications.
 * 2023 Environmental Science & Technology Excellence in Review Award from American Chemical Society Publications.
 * 2023 Environmental Chemistry Lettes ECL Distinguished Editor from The European Association of Chemistry and Environment.
 * 2023 Excellence in Review Award from Environmental Science & Technology.
 * 2022 ACS ES&T Engineering Excellence in Review Award from American Chemical Society Publications.
 * 2022 ACS ES&T Water Excellence in Review Award from American Chemical Society Publications.
 * 2020 Steven K. Dentel AEESP Award for Global Outreach from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors.
 * 2019 Bush Excellence Award for International Research from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
 * 2019 Sigma Xi Outstanding Distinguished Scientist Award from Texas A&M University Chapter of Sigma Xi.
 * 2012 Excellence in Review Award from Environmental Science & Technology.
 * 2010 Paper Review Award, Journal of Sulfur Chemistry.
 * 2008 Faculty Excellence in Research Award from Florida Institute of Technology.
 * 2008 Faculty of the Year Award from the Florida Institute of Technology’s student affiliation of the American Chemical Society.
 * 2006 Outstanding Chemist Award from the Orlando Section of the American Chemical Society.

Honors


 * Program Chair – Environmental Chemistry Division, Fall National American Chemical Society Meeting (2021-Present).
 * Journal Associate Editor (Environmental Chemistry Letter, 2017-Present
 * Journal’s Editorial Board Members (Sustainable Chemistry One World, Journal of Water Process Engineering, Eco-Environment & Health, Environmental Functional Materials, Chemical Engineering Journal Advances, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Chemosphere, Water-Energy Nexus, Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring and Management (ENMM), Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering).

Memberships

Dr. Sharma is a member of the American Association of Advancement of Sciences, American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Association of Environmental Engineers and Science Professors, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, International Water Association, Sigma Xi, and the International Association of Advanced Materials.