TAPPI Nanotechnology Student Committee Coffee Break

The Student Committee coffee breaks are a live interactive session where students can learn valuable career focused information from established Career Professionals. These seminars often provide useful tips, motivation and pertinent information to students pursuing a career in renewable nanomaterials. Joint this free and interactive coffee break session to hear from two professional speakers: Diego Gomez-Maldonado, a PhD graduate from Auburn University, and Professor Mohamed Naceur Belgacem, a   nominated full professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France.

Diego Gomez-Maldonado will present his career path in the field of Forestry and will share a summary of his research. Professor Mohamed Naceur Belgacem will share his career path and some insight on how innovation is the key to technological and economical success.

Diego Gomez-Maldonado

Diego Gomez-Maldonado is a Mexican-born researcher at the Materials for Tissue Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston in the U.S. His research focuses on the sustainable use and design of bioproducts for water treatment, biosensors, slow-release systems, and tissue engineering. He is particularly interested in the effects of surface properties, material processing and cellular response. Equally important is his interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion and how this can help achieve a more sustainable future.

Diego got his undergraduate in Biological Engineering (2015) and master’s degree in Material Design and Engineering (2017) from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and was awarded his PhD from Auburn University (2021) in Forestry. He served as Co-vice chair of the TAPPI Nano Student Committee from 2018-2021, and currently is the chair of the Products and Applications: CNC, Lignin, and Other Renewable Nanomaterials subcommittee.  

Naceur Belgacem

Professor Belgacem received his Engineer diploma in wood science at the Saint Petersburg’s Forest Academy in 1986 (Russia). He then got a PhD in Material Engineering and Science from the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France in 1991. He was then awarded a fellowship from the National Research Council of Canada to carry out a post-doctoral training for two years in Polytechnic School of Montreal (Canada) as a researcher in the field of surface and interface phenomena in cellulose-based composite materials. On his return, he worked in R&D department in industry for 5 years, before moving to University of Beira Interior in Portugal where he spent three years (from 1997 to 2000) as an associate professor. Dr. Belgacem was nominated full professor in 2000 at the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France.

He has published over 350 scientific papers, including 3 books and ~ 25 book chapters with around 20000 citations (H-Index ~ 70).

Professor Belgacem was one of the three Editors-in-chief of an Elsevier Journal: "Industrial Crops and Products". This task was performed from 2007 to 2020.