Workshop by BRICS Delegates

Prof. Dr. José Carlos Escobar Palacio graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidad del Atlántico, Colombia (2003), Master in Energy Efficiency from the University of Cienfuegos, Cuba (2004) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Itajubá (2010). He is an Associated professor at the Federal University of Itajubá and a researcher at the Excellence Group in Thermal Power and Distributed Generation (NEST). He has experience in mechanical engineering with an emphasis on thermoelectric and distributed generation, working mainly on the following topics: Energy use of biomass, cogeneration, biofuels, Thermoeconomics, and Thermoelectric Power Plants. He has several publications on these topics in international conferences and journals and is a Productivity Fellow – Level 2 in Research at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-CNPq.

Prof. Osvaldo J. Venturini graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Federal University of Itajuba – UNIFEI (Brazil), in 1993, and received his Ph.D. degree from UNIFEI in the field of Energy Conversion. Currently is Full Professor of Thermal Science at UNIFEI, where he has been developing research activities and coordinating projects in areas activities and coordinating projects related to alternative energy sources; modeling and optimization of thermal systems; hybrid biomass-solar systems; LCA; biomass carbonization, waste valorization, oil sludge gasification; sewage sludge drying and gasification, etc. He has published 63 papers in journals, 03 books, 23 chapters in books, supervised 10 Ph.D. and 32 master’s theses. Since, 2017 Prof. Osvaldo has been acting as the president of the Support Foundation for Teaching, Research and Development of Itajuba (FAPEPE). He also is a Productivity Fellow of the Brazilian National Research Council – CNPq

Prof.  Electo Eduardo Silva Lora is a Researcher 1A of the National Research Council of Brazil. Mechanical Engineer with a specialization in Thermoelectric Power Plants from the Odessa Polytechnic University (1981), in Ukraine, and a PhD from the Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University (1988), in Russia. Visiting professor in 2014 at Washington State University (USA). Full Professor at the Federal University of Itajubá- UNIFEI, in Brazil. Coordinator of the Excellence Group in Thermal Power and Distributed Generation – NEST of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of UNIFEI, created in 1998. He has published 162 articles, 15 books and supervised 30 doctoral and 71 master’s theses.

Prof. Diego M Y Maya has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Católica de Oriente. Colombia (1998), equivalent to Production Engineering from the Universidade Federal Fluminense – UFF, Niterói, (2016). Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Mining Faculty of the National University of Colombia (2012), equivalent to a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro (2016). PhD in Mechanical Engineering in the area of thermal, fluids and flow machines from the Federal University of Itajubá (2016). In 2020 he worked as a visiting professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon in Portugal. He is currently a Professor at the Federal University of Itajubá and a researcher at the Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric and Distributed Generation – NEST. collaborates as a researcher in the Integrated Technologies and Sustainable Engineering group – TIES. He has experience in the area of thermochemical conversion of biomass, numerical simulation and CFD of thermochemical processes, processes and design of small-scale and laboratory-scale reactors.