Students of the IES Santa Clara (Santander) visited the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department. Prof. Raquel Ibáñez, responsible of the Chemical Engineering Studies, welcomed the students and presented a summary on several attractive and challenging projects that involve the participation of chemical engineers. Next, the students did a guided tour to the laboratories and had the opportunity to speak to the academic staff about the research topics that are developed in the Department. The visit took place on January 31st, 2019.

Beatriz Gómez defended her doctorate thesis “Advanced electrochemical and photochemical technologies for the treatment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) in water”, developed under the supervision of Prof. Ane Urtiaga and Dr. Nazely Diban. The defense took place on January 28th, 2019 , in the University of Cantabria. The evaluation committee was formed by Prof. Aurora Santos (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Prof. Raquel Ibáñez (Universidad de Cantabria) and Prof. Karine Serrano (Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, Francia).

On January 28, 2019, Professor Ignacio E.Grossmann received the “Honoris Causa” doctorate from the university of Alicante in Spain. Professor Grossmann, currently working at the Chemical Engineering Department in Carnegie Mellon University, is one of the most relevant scientists and academics in Chemical Engineering and more specifically in Process  Systems Engineering of our time. He has transferred his knowledge to a wide number of universities in different countries. In his speech, Prof . Grossmann highlighted the groups that have  established strong networking connections with him, among them the group in the chemical and biochemical engineering department  of the university of Cantabria.

Being a cornerstone and a reference to young scientists and students he devoted the last part of his speech to encourage future generations in the discovery of their PASSION and its achievement through PERSEVERANCE.

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The academic celebration of St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of the university, was held last January 25. In the morning session, the recent doctors in Chemical, Energy and Process Engineering who graduated in the academic year 2017-2018 received the recognition of the University of Cantabria. Raul Zarca, Sara Dominguez, Ana Fernandez, Paula Ribao and Andres del Castillo attended the celebration.

In the evening session, the outstanding doctorate in the area of Engineering for thesis defended in the academic year 2016 were awarded to Lucia Gómez, German Santos and Gabriel Zarca. Salvador Asensio received the award to the best academic achievement in the degree of Chemical Engineering in the academic year 2017-2018.

Beatriz Gómez Ruiz will defend her doctoral thesis “Advanced electrochemical and photochemical technologies for the treatment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) in water”, developed in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department under the supervision of Prof. Ana María Urtiaga and Dr. Nazely Diban. The academic event will take place on January 28th, 2018 at 11:30h, in the main conference room of the ETSIIT of the University of Cantabria.

María Yáñez is currently developing a pre-doctoral research stay at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (Portugal). During this period (January 14th – April 19th, 2019) she will work in an experimental and modeling study for producing hydrogen of fuel cell quality from industrial waste was mixtures based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA), under the supervision of Prof. Adélio Mendes.

Dr. Gastón Merlet, coming from the University of Santiago de Chile, is developing a research stay at the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department of the University of Cantabria, in the frame of the postdoctoral proyect FONDECYT Nº 3180143. During the period, January 7th – February 13th, 2019, he will work in a methodology for the quantification of OCDD in commercial bovine milk samples by means of microextraction using ionic liquids enhanced with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2), under the supervision of Dr. María Fresnedo San Román.

Dr. Manuel Álvarez was proposed for promotion to a permanent position as Associate Professor in the area of Chemical Engineering of the University of Cantabria. The evaluation committee was formed by Dr. Mario Mañana, Prof. Ángel Irabien, Prof. Raquel Ibáñez, Dr. Ignacio Fernández and Dr. María Fresnedo San Román. The event took place on January 11th, 2019.

Claudia Solá comes back from her predoctoral research stay at the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutants Dynamics, Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zürich, where she has been working under the supervision of Prof. Kristopher McNeill, from September to December 2018. During this period she has been studying the reaction mechanisms occurring during the advanced oxidation of triclosan in aqueous matrixes.

Dr. Alfredo Ortiz was proposed for promotion to a permanent position as Associate Professor in the area of Chemical Engineering of the University of Cantabria. The evaluation committee formed by Dr. Mario Mañana, Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz, Prof. Ane Urtiaga, Dr. María José Rivero and Dr. Rubén Aldaco. The event took place on January 8^th, 2019.