Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering

Prof Duu-Jong Lee is currently a Life-Time Specially Appointed Professor of National Taiwan University (NTU) and Chair Professor and Vice President of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST). He obtained his Bachelor (1984) and PhD (1989) degrees both at Chemical Engineering Department, NTU. Professor Lee has strong research interest in the area of industrial wastewater treatment, biomass to energy and environmental management, especially in microscale transport/reaction process in biomass matrix. During the past 27 years of his career, he has completed several projects successfully and developed various processes with full-scale applications. The research carried out till-date has credited him with more than 1000 publications/communications. The citations in SCOPUS on Dr Lee's work has exceeded 14000 with h=57. Professor Lee is the recipient of many national and international awards and fellowships. He was also the President of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers with 3500 members in Taiwan and overseas. Prof Patrick C. Hallenbeck, microbiologist, obtained a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California Berkeley (USA) and held post-doctoral positions at the French Nuclear Energy Center, Grenoble (France), and the University of California, Davis (USA) before taking up a position as professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Montreal and a Senior Scientist at the US Air Force Academy Life Sciences Research Center. Dr. Hallenbeck's research interests are in microbial physiology, applied microbiology and biotechnology, biological energy production, anaerobic metabolism, and nitrogen fixation. Dr. Hallenbeck is President of the Biohydrogen subdivision of the International Hydrogen Association. He has served on the organizing committees of numerous international conferences, was chair of ISPP2009, and was chair of BioH2 2013. He is author of over sixty original research publications, twenty-two reviews and book chapters, and numerous abstracts in conference proceedings. He is editor of two books. Prof. Hallenbeck won Outstanding Scientist award for 2012 from the IFIBiop (www.ifibiop.org). He is currently researching the role of metabolite sensing and signaling in the regulation of microbial metabolism, and using metabolic engineering to increase biofuels production. He is editorial board member in Bioresource Technology, Journal of Bacteriology, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Marine Biotechnology and Section Editor of Biotechnology for Biofuels. Prof. Huu Hao Ngo is currently a Professor of Environmental Engineering and serving as Deputy Director of Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, Co-Director of Joint Research Centre for Protective Infrastructure Technology and Environmental Green Bioprocess, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney. Ngo is internationally well-known for his activities in the areas of advanced biological waste treatment technologies and membrane technologies. His expertise and practical experience also covers the areas of water and wastewater quality monitoring and management, water and wastewater treatment reuse technology and assessment, desalination, and solid waste management. Currently, his activities focuses more on the development of specific green bioprocessing technologies: resource recovery, water-waste-bioenergy nexus and greenhouse gas emission control. Ngo has published more than 500 technical papers and a number of patents while receiving several highly recognized honors/awards. Prof Veeriah Jegatheesan (Jega) received his PhD in Water Engineering and has 20 years of experience in water research. He has worked as a consultant at Sydney Water Corporation and has collaborated with several other water authorities in Australia. Currently he is attached to the School of Engineering at RMIT University, Australia. His research focuses on sustainable catchment management through the application of novel treatment processes, resource recovery and mathematical modelling. He has co-edited four books and was managing guest editor for 15 special issues in peer reviewed journals and has published 90 journal articles. He is the chief editor of a book series entitled Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future published by Springer. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Water Sustainability and an Editorial Board Member of a number of journals. His core expertise are Membrane system design, Aquaculture, Desalination, Forward osmosis, Resource recovery and Water distribution maintenance management. Professor Jegatheesan is the co-founder and the chair of an international conference on the Challenges in Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE) which is held annually since 2008 around the world. Prof. Ashok Pandey is currently Distinguished Scientist at the Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India and Executive Director (Honorary) at the Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability - India. His major research and technological development interests are industrial & environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels & chemicals, waste to wealth & energy, industrial enzymes, etc. Professor Pandey is Adjunct/Visiting Professor/Scientist in universities in France, Brazil, Canada, China, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, etc and also in several universities several in India. He has ~ 1300 publications/communications, which include 16 patents, 83 books, ~ 700 papers and book chapters, etc with h index of 93 and > 38,000 citations (Goggle scholar). Professor Pandey is Editor-in-chief of Bioresource Technology, Honorary Executive Advisor of Journal of Water Sustainability and Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Subject Editor of Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, India.