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.