Digitalization of Biological Wastewater Treatment Plants

Dr. Abdul Gaffar Sheik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, FoSTA, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Dr. Gaffar completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada, and the Institute for Water & Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, South Africa, and holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from NIT Warangal. His research focuses on wastewater treatment process modelling, advanced control strategies, and AI applications in environmental systems. He has published over 32 international journal articles, contributed to four book chapters, and is currently involved in book projects with Elsevier and IWA. He is a member of the International Water Association (IWA) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and has received several recognitions for his work. Susana Rodríguez-Couto is a professor in biological water treatment at LUT University, Finland. She got her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemistry (Industrial Chemistry) from the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 from the University of Vigo, obtaining the maximal grade (magna cum laude) and, in addition, she was awarded with the Extraordinary Prize for Doctoral Thesis in Chemistry. She worked as an Associate Professor and an Isidro Parga Pondal Senior Researcher at the University of Vigo (2000-2004), as a Ramón y Cajal Senior Researcher at Rovira i Virgili University (2004-2008) and as an Ikerbasque Research Professor (2009-2019). She has also worked as an Invited Researcher at the Institute from Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology (Austria) and at the Department of Biological Engineering, University of Minho (Portugal). In 2008, she received the I3 Professor from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education to the recognition of an outstanding research activity. She has published more than 140 articles in highly reputed international journals (h index 42). She is editor of several journals (3Biotech, Frontiers) and 14 Elsevier books. Ashutosh Pandey is an assistant professor in the Department of Biotechnology & Bioengineering at Galgotias University, Greater Noida, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India. His doctoral research focused on algae cultivation using dairy wastewater for biofuel production and bioremediation. Dr Pandey also earned an M.Tech in Chemical Technology with a specialization in Biochemical Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute and a B.Tech in Biotechnology Engineering from Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology. With over six years of professional experience, he has held positions as a postdoctoral fellow, assistant professor, and scientist, contributing extensively to environmental technology, biological treatment of industrial wastewater, and algal biotechnology research.