Wastewater Treatment Residues as Resources for Biorefinery Products and Biofuels

Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Algal Research and the current Chair of the International Conference for Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts (AlgalBBB), which he has helped organize since its inception in 2010. He retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2015 where he last served as Division Leader for the Bioscience Division. In this position, Dr. Olivares provided strategic, technical and operational management for all activities within the Division. Major focus areas for the 150 staff within the Division included a long-standing efforts in biosecurity, biosurveillance, and public health security. New areas of growth included bioenergy and biome science. He also served as the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts, a consortium of over 30 institutions awarded a $49M program by DOE-EERE along with $20M of cost share from industry and academia. Previously he served in several program and technical management positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including Biofuels Program Manager and acting Division Leader for Chemistry. In these positions he was responsible for developing strategic direction for science programs, operations, and leading specific program development efforts. Dr. Olivares has extensive experience with private industry and has served as a consultant for several small companies and government agencies. Dr. Olivares continues to serve as a program reviewer and consultant on a call basis. In 2017, he served as guest scientist with IMDEA Energy and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos under a six month "Catedra de Excelencia funded by the Community of Madrid, Spain.He is postdoctoral researcher in the University Rey Juan Carlos (URJC). He was holder of a Fulbright fellowship during two years in the University of Arizona (USA). He has also conducted Research in the University Autonoma of Madrid (Spain) for eight years and in the Advanced Water Management Centre of the University of Queensland (Australia) for one year. He is an active member of the International Water Association (IWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ). He is Associate Editor of Frontiers In Microbiology, Frontiers In Environmental Science and Frontiers In Bioengineering and Biotechnology, and expert referee of the H2020 Program and of the Spanish National Agency of Evaluation and Prospective (ANEP). His research is focused on the application of novel biotechnologies for energy and resource recovery from wastewater and solid waste. He is scientific leader of two research lines in the URJC related to resource recovery from wastewater using purple phototrophic bacteria and energy recovery by anaerobic digestion processes. He has been a researcher in 18 projects, 4 of them as principal investigator, has published more than 38 scientific papers and participated in more than 32 conferences and congresses (H Index of 12).