Prof. Yujiro Hayashi
Tohoku University, Japan

Yujiro Hayashi is a professor of Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University. He received his B.S. degree(1984), M.S. degree(1986) , Ph. D. degree(1992) from Tokyo University, Japan, and his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He worked as assistant professor in Tokyo University in 1987, then he was promoted as associate professor in 1998. After that, he joined Tokyo University of Science as full professor. In 2012, Prof. Yujiro Hayashi joined Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Japan. His research interests include: Organic synthesis. Development of new synthetic methods. Synthesis of biologically active natural products.
He is the in international advisory board of Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry, Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, The Open Organic Chemistry Journal, and The Open Natural Products Journal. Prof. Yujiro Hayashi is also the editor of Chemistry Letters, The Chemical Society of Japan.

 

Prof. José Miguel Aguilera
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

Professor Emeritus José Miguel Aguilera is a food engineer based at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He was Chair of the Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering Department for several years and served as Vice-Dean of Engineering. During 2010-2013, Aguilera was President of CONICYT, Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (the equivalent of the U.S. National Science Foundation, NSF), agency responsible for funding most science and technology research, with an annual budget exceeding US$ 560 million. He retired from PUC in 2012, becoming Honorary Emeritus Professor of Food Engineering, and continued leading research at the Laboratory of Food Microstructure and the Gastronomic Engineering Unit and supervising graduate students.
Prof. Aguilera has made outstanding and breakthrough contributions to food research and development, education, and internationalization. In particular, he pioneered work to establish food microstructure and food materials science as a foundation of food processing and product engineering resulting in a better understanding of the science and engineering of food. His current work centers on the innovative design of healthy food products for the elderly and the utilization of native seaweeds and berries in gastronomy. He has authored or co-authored over 220 refereed papers and 13 books, and has served as a consultant to major food companies (Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo, Kellogg’s, Mars), local entrepreneurs, international organizations and international research centers (University of Wageningen, The Netherlands), Riddet Institute, New Zealand) .
Professor Aguilera’s contributions to food engineering have been recognized by an impressive number of awards and distinctions in his native country and worldwide. In 2008, he received the highest award bestowed by Chile to a scientist or engineer, the National Award for Applied Science and Technology. In the late 1900s, the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation (NY) and Fulbright Commission distinguished him with research scholarships. In 2010 he became the first Chilean elected as a foreign member of the U.S. Academy of Engineering (election to NAE is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded to a scientist or an engineer in the United States), and in 2014 he joined the Academie d’Agriculture de France. He was awarded the important Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize (Berlin, 2002), and the Life Achievement Award of the International Association of Engineering and Food, IAEF (Athens, 2011). Recently, he received the 2019 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize in Nanjing, China, and the 2020 Nicolas Appert Award, the highest recognition of the Institute of Food Technologists (USA).