Carsten Sievers
Georgia Institute of Technology – School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Carsten Sievers obtained his Diplom and Dr. rer nat. degrees in Technical Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Under the guidance of Prof. Johannes A. Lercher, he worked on heterogeneous catalysts for various processes in oil refining including hydrogenation of aromatics in Diesel fuel, alkylation, alkane activation, and catalytic cracking. Additional projects included novel catalytic system, such as supported ionic liquids. In 2007, he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology to work with Profs. Christopher W. Jones and Pradeep K. Agrawal as a postdoctoral fellow. His primary focus was the development of catalytic processes for biomass depolymerization and synthesis of biofuels. He joined the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009. His research group is developing catalytic processes for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Specific foci are on the stability and reactivity of solid catalysts in aqueous phase, surface chemistry of oxygenates in water, production of value-added chemicals from biomass, applied spectroscopy, catalyst deactivation and regeneration, methane conversion, mechanocatalysis, CO2 capture, and valorization of waste plastics. He is Director of the Southeastern Catalysis Society and Editor of Applied Catalysis A: General.
Elton Sitta
Departamento de Quimica- Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos - UFSCar
Prof. Elton Sitta received the B.S. in Chemistry (2005), Master in Science (2007) and PhD in Chemistry (2012) from the Sao Paulo University at the Sao Carlos Chemistry Institute. He was a post-doc researcher in Alicante University – Spain (2012-2013) and since 2014, he is professor in the Chemistry Department of the Federal University of Sao Carlos. With experience in electrochemistry, he has worked with the electrocatalysis of small molecules, mainly focusing on the dynamic stabilities provided by these systems.
Carmen Claver
Professor of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry Department Faculty of Chemistry, University Rovira i Virgili
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona (Spain) since 1991. Member of the Scientific Council IFPEN (from 2016). Collaborator in the Chemistry Technology Unit, Eurecat (2020). Her research focuses on sustainable aspects of catalysis: Selectivity through catalyst design. Recycling of supported homogeneous catalysts and nanocatalysts. Processes in continuous flow. Development of efficient catalysis for CO2 and biomass transformation. Research leader from 1985, with continued involvement in competitive projects, industrial contracts and European projects and 30 supervised PhD. Vice-Rector of Research URV 1993-1997, Scientific Director of the "Technological Centre of Chemistry of Catalonia" and Director of the “Unit of Technology Chemistry” Eurecat from 2009 until 2020. Recognized as Distinguished Researcher by the Catalan Government (2003), Distinguished University Professor "Rovira i Virgili" (2004). Medal "Narcis Monturiol" for its contribution to scientific and technological development in Catalonia (2007). Chair of excellence Pierre de Fermat in France (2009-2011). Member of the Scientific Council of the National Council of Scientific Research (CNRS) France (2009-2014). Correspondent member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain (2010) Member of the Academia Europea (2012), "Ciamician-Gonzalez" Lecturer Award by "Real Sociedad Española de Química" (RSEQ) and "Società Chimica Italiana" (SCI) (2014) Gold Medal for Research Organometallic (2015) 'Miguel Catalán-Paul Sabatier' Price, Societé Chimie Française (2016) Doctor “Honoris Causa”, University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse (2019).
Giovanni Agostini
ALBA Spanish Synchrotron - NOTOS beamline
Giovanni Agostini obtained his master's degree in physics in 2006 and his doctorate in materials science in 2010 at the University of Turin, under the supervision of Prof. Carlo Lamberti. He was the Scientist Responsible for the chemistry and catalysis areas of the BM23/ID24 beamlines at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) from 09/2013 to 09/2016. Then, he joined the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (Rostock – Germany) as a Senior Scientist during the period from 10/2016 to 04/2018. He is currently beamline scientist of the NOTOS beamline at the Spanish ALBA Synchrotron Light Source. His main research line consists on the electronic and structural characterization of catalytic materials by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Also, he has experience in the characterization of nanostructured materials using a multi-technique approach based on the combination of TEM, XRPD, and EXAFS. Giovanni is co-author of more than 90 publications in international journals indexed in the SCI with an H-index of 30.