Seshadri Ramkumar, Professor, Texas Tech University, USA
Outreach to the entire spectrum of the fiber to fashion supply chain and advanced textiles sector is essential. This month marks a milestone in the annals of the publication of the outreach newsletter, “TexSnips,” from the Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech University. I started writing the TexSnips column just as a hobby to put thoughts to pen in the research areas I work. “Why not I provide visibility on what others in the field are doing and write snippets on interesting happenings in the field, so that global readers would benefit?” Answer to this thought resulted in the arrival of TexSnips.
In September 2010, TexSnips newsletter came into being and today it has about 3500 subscribers. TexSnips articles are archived at: https://www.entx.ttu.edu/sramkumar/texsnips.html
The need to connect students, researchers, and industry people in the field of fiber to fashion, advanced materials and even broader fields arose after the International Cotton Advisory Committee’s Plenary meeting in Lubbock in September 2010. Industry veterans from India in the likes of Mr. Suresh Kotak, Mr. Dhiren Sheth, and others while visiting Lubbock visited my laboratory which is 10 miles away from the main campus. A thought to inform readers in India and elsewhere on timely information on cotton and textile matters from the epicenter of cotton production, Lubbock sparked the initiation of TexSnips. Over the 12-year period, cotton scenario, views of Nobel laureate and colleagues such as Dr. Srinivasan Narasimhan of Asthagiri Herbal Foundation on concepts such as functional finishes, importance of fiber quality, timely developments and advancements in textiles have been reported.
United States’ cotton industry leaders such as Dr. Kater Hake of Cotton Incorporated, leaders of Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers have presented their views on different cotton situations. Indian textile industry people representing the ginning sector, spinning such as Jayalakshmi Textiles, and machinery such as Lakshmi Card Clothing have opined on matters of importance. The outreach newsletter over the years has grown attracting students from India, Bangladesh, etc. and leaders of multinational corporations representing cotton fiber, nonwovens, and advanced textiles. This September the subscription is about 3500 people and still growing. Subscription ranges from Australia to Canada, Bangladesh to South Africa, spanning the entire world. The aim of this newsletter is to connect the global audience in fiber to advanced textile sectors as a way of advancing the industry and knowledge base.
Interested people can contact the publisher Seshadri Ramkumar (s.ramkumar@ttu.edu) to join the TexSnips distribution list, which is free of cost and is undertaken as a service to the textiles and materials fraternity.
