Federico Aulenta is a Research Director at the Institute of Water Research (IRSA) of the National Research Council (CNR) and head of the Laboratory of Bioprocesses. He graduated, summa cum laude, in Industrial Chemistry (1999) from Sapienza University of Rome and received his PhD in Industrial Chemical Processes (2003) from the same university. He has been a visiting scientist at Cornell University (Ithaca, USA) and at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission (Ispra, Italy). In 2020, he was awarded the National Scientific Qualification as full professor in Chemical Industrial Plants and Processes.
His main research interests are in the broad area of industrial and environmental biotechnology for contaminated site remediation, wastewater treatment, bioenergy and chemicals production. The research combines concepts and methodologies of chemical engineering with those of (bio)chemistry, electrochemistry and microbiology. On these topics he has published over 140 papers in ISI peer-reviewed journals and international book chapters that have received over 7300 citations, resulting in an H index of 43 (Google Scholar®, March 2024). He serves on the Editorial Board of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (RSC), Process Biochemistry (Elsevier); Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology (Springer); Microbial Biotechnology (Wiley); New Biotechnology (Elsevier); Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (Elsevier). From 2013 to 2016, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (ISMET).