The Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Valladolid, María José Cocero, has been distinguished with the 2022 Social Council Award in recognition of her career of excellence in both teaching and research.
In its decision, the jury highlighted the quantity and relevance of Cocero’s merits, especially in the number of projects directed and contracts and patents achieved, which, in its opinion, in addition to enriching the heritage of knowledge, contributes decisively to fostering relations between the University and Society.
Promoter in 2018 of the Bioeconomy Institute of the University of Valladolid that she currently directs, María José Cocero is also head of the High Pressure Research Group, which in 2013 received the Social Council Research Award.
President of the Working Party High Pressure Technology of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering and editor for Europe of the Journal of Supercritical Fluids, Cocero has participated in 5 European projects, being coordinator of the project “Intensification of the extraction and formulation processes of active compounds from wine processing (WineSense)”.
In the field of research, her main lines of work focus on the development of processes and products in the field of Bioeconomy, the process intensification through the implementation of new technologies and the development of new materials through the use of supercritical fluids, which have also earned her other awards such as the IChemE received in London in 2003.
In addition, as part of her extensive teaching work, she has supervised 41 theses and since 2018, she is a visiting professor at the International Research Organization for Advanced Science and Technology (IROAST) at the University of Kumamoto (Japan).
She has also participated in different educational programs and international courses and has been a member of the scientific committees of several international reference conferences in the field of supercritical fluids, pressure process technology and chemical engineering.
She has also been a member of the Accreditation Commission for Engineering and Architecture Professors and the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA), and is the coordinator of Chemical Engineering for FPU predoctoral contracts.
The jury for the 2022 edition of the Social Council Award was chaired by the president of this body, Óscar Campillo, and composed of the rector of the UVa, Antonio Largo; the former rector Evaristo Abril, the presidents of the Academic and Social Relations committees of the Social Council, César Milano, and José Ramón Echevarría, respectively, and José María Eiros Bouza, full professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the UVa, as the winner of the 2021 edition.
With this award, established in 1998, the Social Council wants to honor those professors of the University of Valladolid who, being in an active situation, have distinguished themselves for their relevant teaching or research merits, and have contributed to enrich the heritage of knowledge or to promote relations between the University and Society.
The award consists of a sculpture that reproduces one of the columns of the historical façade of the University of Valladolid and a gold pin that accredits and identifies the winner.
As is traditional, the Social Council Award will be presented during the solemn ceremony of the Opening of the Academic Year 2022-2023 to be held in September.
