Dr. Rathinam is a Research Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His research activities are focused on bioelectrochemical engineering, biofilm engineering, and nanobiotechnology. Recently, he received the Young Faculty Award in Chemical Engineering for his outstanding accomplishments in teaching and research. He is a recipient of the prestigious Bioenergy-Award for Cutting Edge Research, and the Australian Overseas Award. His accomplishments include more than 30 journal articles, nine book chapters, four books, one patent, and he is a PI for three research grants. Dr. Rathinam is also a panelist for reviewing research grants for federal agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

He is an associate editor for IEEE Access, a guest editor for Bioresource Technology SI Thermophiles, and an editorial board member for some reputed journals. In addition, he has been selected as the U.S. Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology. Dr. Sani is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and the Department of Applied Biological Sciences at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His research expertise includes Extremophilic Bioprocessing, Biocatalysis, Biomaterials, Gas to Liquid Fuels, Genome Editing of Extremophiles, Homo/Heterologous Expression of Genes, and Metabolic Engineering. Over the past 13 years, he has acted as the PI or co-PI on over $18.

39 million in funded research. He has one patent, seven invention disclosures, published over 73 peer-reviewed articles in high impact factor journals, and has contributed to several book chapters. In addition, he has edited five books, and one Proceedings for Springer International Publishing AG. Dr Sani has also been leading a research consortium funded by the NSF with the aid of 69 scientists and engineers.