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THE 2016 ASPIRE NOMINEES

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THE 2016 ASPIRE NOMINEES

The APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (“ASPIRE”) is an annual award sponsored by Wiley and Elsevier. The Prize recognizes young scientists who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in scientific research and collaboration with scientists in the region. This year ASPIRE received 12 young scientists as nominees. The young scientists nominated by the 12 APEC economies have impressive backgrounds and research in a wide range of disciplines that contribute to the 2016 ASPIRE theme of “Technologies for Food Security.” Here is an overview of this year’s 12 nominees and their outstanding field of research.

AUSTRALIA

Dr Lee Baumgartner

Field of Research: Fisheries Sustainability

Dr Baumgartner is an associate professor and principle researcher fellow at Charles Sturt University.  He has two Bachelor of Science degrees from Deakin University in Biological Science and Aquatic Science. He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Ecology from the University of Canberra.

CHILE

Dr Javier Parada

Field of Research: Food science and nutritional properties

Dr Parada is an adjunct professor and the Head and Career Coordinator of the Food Engineering School at Austral University of Chile. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Austral University of Chile, and his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Dr Hua Kuang

Field of Research: Food safety and analysis

Dr Kuang is a professor at the School of Food Science and Technology at Jiangnan University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Food Science from Jiangnan University, her Master’s degree in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Veterinary medicine from the Chinese Agricultural University.

HONG KONG, CHINA

Dr Yi Wang

Field of Research: Food Safety, Antimicrobial food packaging, Functional food development, Nanoencapsulation, Drug Delivery

Dr Wang is an assistant professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, and his Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Illinois.

INDONESIA

Dr Mirwan Ushada 

Field of Research: Sustainable Agro-industrial Production System

Dr Ushada is an associate professor at Universitas Gadijah Mada, from which he has a Bachelor’s degree in Agro-Industrial Technology. He earned his Master’sdegree and Ph.D. both in Applied Life Sciences from Osaka Prefecture University in Japan.

JAPAN

Dr Eiichi Kusano 

Field of Research: Agricultural Economics

Dr Kusano is a researcher at the Japan Research International Center for Agricultural Sciences. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Agriculture from Ibaraki University, and his Ph.D. of Agriculture from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Dr Jong-Sik Jin

Field of Research: Functional Food Resources, Human Intestinal Bacteria 

Dr Jin is an assistant professor and vice dean of the College of Environmental & Bioresource Sciences and Chonbuk National University. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at the Department of Oriental Pharmacy at Wonkwang in Korea, and his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science at Toyama University in Japan.

MALAYSIA

Dr Jit Kang Lim

Field of Research: Colloid and Interface Science 

Dr Lim is an associate professor at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Dr Lim earned his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Carnegie Mellon University.

PERU

Carlos Arbizu Berrocal 

Field of Research: Genetic and morphological diversity of carrots

Mr. Arbizu is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina in Peru.

THE PHILIPPINES

Dr Lilia Fernando

Field of Research: Nano biotechnology for agricultural and medical applications

Dr Fernando is a researcher and graduate faculty at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, and an affiliate faculty at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and her Master’s and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños.

RUSSIA

Dr Alexander Malogolovkin

Field of Research: Animal Health and Livestock Welfare

Dr Malogolovkin is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Research Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Microbiology. He has a degree in Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology from Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology, and a Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from the Molecular Biotechnology Centre in Italy and University Joseph Fourier in France. Dr Malogolovkin earned his Ph.D. in virology from All-Russian Institute of Experimental Veterinary (VIEV) in Russia.

THE UNITED STATES

Dr Inbal Becker-Reshef

Field of Research: Global agricultural monitoring using satellite observations

Dr Becker-Reshef is an associate research professor at the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, the Co-Director at the Center for Global Agricultural Monitoring Research, Department of Geographical Sciences, and also the Crops Monitors Lead Program Scientist at the G-20 GEOGLAM Secretariat. Dr Becker-Reshef has a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Geography and a Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland.