Magdi El Messiry, PhD, is currently Professor of Textile Composite Material Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at Alexandria University, Egypt. He held the position of Vice Dean for Community Services and Environmental Affairs at Alexandria University from 1994 to 1998 and was the Head of the Textile Department (2000–2002 and 2005-2011). For his experience in the textile field, he was appointed as a member of the Directing Board of Spinning and Weaving Holding Company, the main Textile Company in Egypt, and is also a technical adviser to the Owner Board. His list of publications exceeds 150 papers in the different fields of textile and materials science. He has participated in the establishment of a several textile departments in Egypt and in Arab countries and has carried out several granted projects at the international level with the colleagues from UK, France, Spain, USA, Czech Republic, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. He also participates in scientific boards of several journals. In the last five years he has acted as an international expert in innovation and technology transfer. In 1999, Dr. El Messiry received the Alexandria University Award for Scientific Achievements and in 2008 the AU Achievement Award. He is the author of several books in the field of braiding, textile technology, and industrial innovation. He was a visiting professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nonwovens Research Lab at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Dr. El Messiry has supervised more than 40 theses for master and doctor degrees. Dr. El Messiry was awarded a scholarship by the Egyptian government to one of the famous textile institutes in Russia (Moscow Textile University), where he obtained a PhD degree in the Design of Textile Machinery.
Dr. Magdi El Messiry, in a very interesting way, thoroughly analyzes natural fiber properties, design of natural fiber polymer composites, testing methods, and manufacturing techniques. Agricultural waste is one of the problems of modern intensive agriculture, which needs innovative methods for useful industrial applications, and that is why Professor El Messiry points out the potentials of using the agricultural waste as a reinforcement of composites. This original book is comprehensive, with numerous examples from practice, and its content is highly useful for teachers, students, and textile engineers. --Dr. Gordana Colovic, Head, Department of Management in Textile Industry, The College of Textile - Design, Technology and Management (DTM), Serbia