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CurriculumVitae
FranciscoJ.Cervantes
Summary
FranciscoJ.CervanteswasbornonFebruary19,1972inSonora,Mexico.In1995,heobtainedtheBachelor
ofSciencedegreeinBiotechnologyEngineeringfromTechnologicalInstituteofSonora(ITSON,Mexico)with
MagnacumLauda.HisMasterofSciencedegree(inBiotechnology)wasgrantedin1998fromDepartment
of Biotechnology of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa (UAM-I). He obtained the award
“UniversityMerit” fromUAM-I as the best student of cohort (1995-1997). From July 1997 till the end of
1998hewasanassistantresearcherofDepartmentofBiotechnologyatUAM-I.InJanuary2002,heobtained
his PhD in Environmental Sciences from Department of Environmental Technology at Wageningen
University(TheNetherlands).Healsodidapost-docworkingindifferentprojectsfortheLettingaAssociates
Foundation(LEAF)fromOctober2001toMay2002.FromJune2002untilAugust2006hewasProfessorof
DepartmentofWater&EnvironmentalSciencesatITSON.SinceSeptember2006heassumedapositionas
Professor of Environmental Biotechnology at Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
(IPICYT,Mexico).Hehasreceivedseveralgrantsforbasicandappliedresearchfundedbydifferentscientific
institutions and private companies. He has supervised over 60 theses from different institutions (27
Bachelors,30Mastersand8PhDs).HeismemberoftheeditorialboardofReviewsinEnvironmentalScience
andBioTechnology(Springer),andAssociateEditorofIWAPublishing.Heisalsoanactiverefereeofover70
scientific journals, including top-ranking journals, such as Nature Geoscience, Water Res., Environ. Sci.
Technol., Appl. Environ.Microbiol., Global Change Biology, Chemical Eng. J., amongmany others. He has
authored over 100 peer-reviewed research papers, several book chapters and has given several lectures
aroundtheworld.Hehasreceivedaround2500citations(withoutself-citations,accordingtoScopus)tohis
scientificcontributions(morethan4300accordingtoGoogleScholar)andhisH-indexis34.Heisconsultant
withmorethan20yearsofexperienceonwastewatertreatmentprojectsfromdifferentindustrialsectors.
There are several wastewater treatment plants, designed by Dr. Cervantes, currently in operation in
different industrial sectors of Latin America. He has received several distinctions in his scientific career,
including the prestigious Lettinga Award 2007, the National Research Award 2008 (in Engineering and
Technology,MexicanAcademyofSciences),andtheMarcosMoshinskyFellow.
TeachingandAcademicExperience
Dr.Cervanteshasalargeexperienceonteaching.HewaslecturerofDepartmentofBiotechnologyatUAM-I
in 1997-1998. The courses he offered during this period (for Biochemical Engineers) include Bioreactors
Design,GeneralMicrobiologyandEnzymology.DuringhisparticipationasProfessorofDepartmentofWater
andEnvironmentalSciencesatITSON,heeducatedintheprogramsofBiotechnologyEngineerandMasterin
Science inNaturalResources.Hedesignedandoffered several courses atBachelor andMaster level. The
coursesincludeScientificMethods,MicrobialMetabolism,TreatmentandDisposalofHazardousMaterials,
Transport and Fate of Contaminants in the Environment, Enzymology, BiologicalWastewater Treatment,
Environmental Biotechnology, Thermodynamics for Environmental Sciences, among others.Moreover, he
participated in the creation of new educational programs, such as the PhD program in Environmental
Sciences and the career of Environmental Engineer at ITSON. He was Leader of the Academic Group of
Biotechnology at ITSON, composed of 10 associate professors, who educated in the programs of
BiotechnologyEngineer,ChemicalEngineer,EnvironmentalEngineer,BachelorinFoodChemistry,aswellas
a Master Program in Environmental Sciences. Since his incorporation at Department of Environmental
Sciences of IPICYT he has lectured several courses dealing with Biological Wastewater Treatment,
Bioremediation,GlobalBiogeochemicalCycles,Thermodynamics,amongothertopics.HewastheAcademic
CoordinatoroftheMasterandPhDprogramsinEnvironmentalSciencesatIPICYT(2009-2011).Ofparticular
importance is his recently publishedbook “Biological treatmentofwastewaters: Principles,modeling and
design (Spanish edition, IWA Publishing)”, which constitutes the basic literature for the educational
programsoftheUNESCOindevelopingcountries.Hehasalsobeenrecognizedforexcellenceinteachingby
theMexicancertifyingagency(PROMEP).
SupervisionofTheses
Duringhisscientificcareer,Dr.Cervanteshassupervisedthethesisof27Bachelors,30Mastersand8PhD
students.Moreover, 4post-docs have participated in his research group. Currently, he is supervising the
thesis of 3 PhD candidates at IPICYT. The vast majority of supervised Bachelor andMaster Theses have
generated at least one scientific publication in peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, PhD theses have
generated at least 4 scientific publications each. Graduated students include Biotechnological Engineers,
ChemicalEngineers,BiochemicalEngineers,EnvironmentalEngineers,aswellasMasterandPhDstudentsin
Environmental Sciences andBiotechnology fromdifferent institutions (ITSON,UAM-I, IPICYT,Wageningen
University,NTNU-Trondheim,amongothers).
ScientificandTechnologicalContributions
Scientificcontributions
The first scientificcontributionsofDr.CervantescameafterhismasterstudiesatUAM-I.Hewas the first
demonstratingthecouplingbetweenadenitrifyingprocesswithanammoxinabioreactor(Cervantesetal
1999;2001).Afterwards,healsoreportedthecouplingbetweendenitrificationandanammoxforachieving
theremovalofnitrogenandphenoliccompoundsfrompetrochemicalwastewaters(González-Blancoetal.
2012;2013).He isalsopioneerof researchworks relatedwith theapplicationofelectron shuttles (redox
mediators) on anaerobic treatment processes for the conversion of different priority pollutants
(hydrocarbons, phenolic compounds, azo dyes, poly-halogenated solvents, andpharmaceuticals) (Vander
ZeeandCervantes2009).Oneofhismajorcontributionswastoelucidatetheroleofhumicsubstanceson
theredox(bio)transformationofseveraldistinctcontaminantsunderanaerobicconditions(forareviewsee
Martinezetal2013).Morerecently,hehaspublishedtheanaerobicmethaneoxidation(AOM)linkedtothe
microbialreductionofhumicsubstancesinatropicalwetland,amajormethanesinkmitigatingtheemission
of1300Tgmethaneyear-1fromthiskindofecosystems(Valenzuelaetal.2017).Hehasalsodescribedthe
important contribution of anaerobic ammonium oxidation linked to the reduction of nitrite (anammox),
sulfate(Sulfammox),Fe(III)(Feammox),andhumus(NOM-dependentanammox)inmarinebiogeochemical
cycles (Rios-DelToroandCervantes2016;Rios-DelToroetal.2018).Anotheremergingtopic is relatedto
thecapacityofmicroorganismstoreducepreciousmetals(Pd,Pt,Ni,etc.)torecoverthemasnano-catalysts
fromwastestreams(Pat-Espadasetal.2013;2014;2016;Ramírezetal.2018).Hisscientificcontributions
havebeenpublishedinover30differentjournalswithintheJournalCitationReports(JCR).Morethan2500
citations(withoutself-citations)arecurrentlyregisteredinScopustohisscientificcontributions(morethan
4300accordingtoGoogleScholar)andhish-index is34nowadays.Hehaspublishedmorethan100peer-
reviewed articles, 12 book chapters for international editorials andhas given several lectures around the
world. Several of his publications have been top-cited or have been selected as spotlight in prestigious
journals,suchasAppliedandEnvironmentalMicrobiology,BioresourceTechnology,amongothers.Severalof
hisworkshavealsobeenawardedasbestpresentationsininternationalconferences.
Technologicalcontributions
HereceivedtheLettingaAward2007,whichisconsideredthemostprestigiousprizeworldwideinanaerobic
wastewater treatment developments for his project proposal “Immobilization of redox mediators in
nanostructuresfortheanaerobictreatmentofindustrialwastewaters”.Thisproject,whichwasfinancedby
3 Dutch companies (PaquesNatural Solutions B.V., Royal Haskoning and Biothane Systems International)
through the Lettinga associates Foundation, allowed Dr. Cervantes to develop an anaerobic wastewater
treatmentsystem inwhichredoxmediatorshavebeen immobilizedtoaccelerate theredoxconversionof
recalcitrant pollutants. Such technology has derived in the international patent “Immobilized redox
mediatorsforthetreatmentofcontaminatedwatersandgasemissions”(USpatentWO2010/024655).
Technological innovations for anaerobicwastewater treatment systems have also been developed byDr.
Cervantesandimplementedatfull-scaleinseveralindustrialsectorsofLatinAmerica.Oneofhisinnovations
isaninletdistributiondeviceappliedinanaerobicdigesters,whichallowsthepropermixingtoachievehigh
removal efficiencies. He is currently developing a novel bioreactor configuration to recover metals from
metallurgiceffluents.Healsodevelopedanovelfermentativeprocessfortheinsiturecoveryofalcoholsand
hydrogen from bioreactors. More recently, he has also developed a new reactor configuration (up-flow
anaerobic sediment trapped (UAST) reactor) for the enrichment of anammox biomass from marine
sedimentsforthetreatmentofaquacultureeffluents(Rios-DelToroetal.2017).
AssociationwithIndustry
Dr.Cervanteshasdirectedseveralresearchprojectsforthedevelopmentofwastewatertreatmentsystems
with different companies from distinct industrial sectors.Moreover, he has designed severalwastewater
treatment plants currently in operation in different places of Latin America. The wastewater treatment
systems designed by Dr. Cervantes perform high efficiency, so that the quality of the treated effluent
obtained fits legislation to allow water recycle for different purposes. Currently, these wastewater
treatment plants achieve over 4,000,000 m3 of water recycle annually for different industrial sectors.
Wastewatertreatmentsystemsdesignedincludehigh-rateanaerobictreatmentsystems,suchasUASBand
biofilters,whichoperateathydraulicresidencetimesasshortas1hour.Hehasalsoco-directedaresearch
project focused on the development of a wastewater treatment system to be integrated in washing
machines to achievewater recycle in laundries (financedby theMexican companyMABE).Healsohada
major consultancy project with piggery producers from the state of Sonora in Mexico. Strategies were
implemented to produce biogas from piggerywastes inmore than 120 farms. Currently these anaerobic
bioprocesses produce electricity from biogas in rural areas of Sonora. He is currently developing a novel
bioreactorconfigurationtorecovermetalsfromametallurgicfactory.
NationalandInternationalCollaboration
The vast majority of his research projects have been conducted in association with several distinct
institutionsfromMexico,USA,Brazil,Portugal,Spain,TheNetherlands,GermanyandNorway.Particularly,
hehascooperatedwiththefollowinginstitutions:
- ITSON,IPICYT,UAM-I,UNAM,CINVESTAV,amongothers(Mexico)
- UniversityofArizona(USA)
- WageningenUniversity(TheNetherlands)
- FederalUniversityofCeará(Brazil)
- StateUniversityofWesternofParaná-UNIOESTE(Brazil)
- UniversityofMinho(Portugal)
- NTNU-Trondheim(Norway)
- UniversityofTübingen(Germany)
- NationalInstituteofCarbon(Spain)
- NationalMuseumofNaturalSciences-CSIC(Spain)
EditorialandPeer-ReviewExperience
Dr. Cervantes is member of the Editorial Board of Reviews in Environmental Science & Biotechnology
(Springer)sinceJanuary2007.HehasalsoeditedthreebooksforIWAPublishing.Thesebooksarecurrently
used as basic literature for several academic programs around the world. Furthermore, he is an active
refereeofover70different journalsoftheJCR, includingtop-rankingjournals,suchasNatureGeoscience,
Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Applied &
Environmental Microbiology, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, among many others. He has also refereed
researchprojectsfromseveraldifferentorganizationsfromMexico(CONACYT),Chile(FONDECYT),Colombia
(ColCiencias),USA (National Science Foundation) andTheNetherlands (Council for Earthand Life Science,
ALW).
Distinctions
Alonghisscientificcareer,Dr.Cervanteshasreceivedseveral importantdistinctions.For instance,hewon
the National Award of Biotechnology (“Carlos Casas Campillo” Award) in 2006, the most important
recognition given by the Mexican Society of Biotechnology & Bioengineering. He obtained the Lettinga
Award 2007 (Lettinga Associates Foundation), which is considered the most prestigious prize of the
specialistgroupofAnaerobicDigestion(InternationalWaterAssociation).Moreover,Dr.Cervantesreceived
theNationalResearchAward2008inTechnologyandEngineering(MexicanAcademyofSciences),whichis
considered themostprestigiousaward for young scientists inMexico. TheMarcosMoshinskyFellowwas
grantedin2014intheareaofBiologicalSciences.Morerecently,hereceivedanHonorificMentiononthe
Prize“EcologicalMerit2017”, themostprestigiousaward inEcology inMexico.Otherdistinctions include
MagnaCumLaude forhisBachelor inScience inBiotechnologyEngineering, fellowshipfromCONACYTfor
his Master and PhD studies, recognition for his excellence in teaching at ITSON, Top-Cited author in
BioresourceTechnology,amongothers.HeismemberoftheMexicanAcademyofSciences,MexicanSociety
ofBiotechnology&Bioengineeringand the InternationalWaterAssociation.Hehasalsobeenmemberof
numerousScientificCommitteesininternationalconferences.