Dr. Juan de Dios Figueroa Cárdenas
Summary, Curriculum vitae 2004.

Dr Juan de Dios Figueroa studied his doctorate in Applied Agricultural Science at North Dakota State University from 1987 to 1990. His areas of specialization are Cereal Chemistry and Technology, Biochemistry and Statistics. From 1992 to 1995 Dr. Figueroa worked in the Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at CINVESTAV-IPN (Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional: Center for Advanced Studies and Research of the National Polytechnic Institute). Today Dr. Figueroa is a national level III researcher in the Mexican National System of Researchers (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, SIN) and works full time at the Queretaro campus of CINVESTAV-IPN. He is also director of the Project for Ecological Tortilla Production Technology, an area in which CINVESTAV plays a leading role in the world. His work in this area has achieved world-wide recognition in such prestigious journals as Science and National Geographic. Several newspapers in the United Status and Mexico have reported on his work, including La Jornada, Reforma, Excelsior, and the San Diego Union Tribune. His work received first place for Technological Development in Queretaro in 1996, 1997, and 2002, as well as receiving the Coca Cola award for professionals in 1994.

Dr. Figueroa has published a book and has written chapters in 4 other books. He has also published more than 30 scientific articles, written 41 articles in national magazines, and contributed 67 reports on his work to the published reports of different congresses. He has also instructed a dozen undergraduate engineering students, 4 master's students, and 3 students who received their doctorate in fields related to the study of corn and tortillas. He has worked together with a multidisciplinary group of physicists, chemists, engineers, and electronic specialists that have registered 6 international patents and 6 Mexican patents, some of which are now in industrial use. He has also contributed technological developments like the use of impedance and ohmic equipment for the characterization of biological materials that have been well received by many users. His areas of research include the modernization of the nixtamalization process for masa and tortilla production; nutritional fortification of tortillas; nutritional, dielectrical, and thermal properties, as well as dehydration phenomena in masa, instant corn flour, and corn tortillas; development of thermoconductive and ultrasound technologies for the characterization of biological materials and the identification of high value added grain. Dr. Figueroa was invited to speak on the last mentioned topic at a conference of the US Grain Council.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

DOCTORATE 1987-1990.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Cereal Science, Department of Cereal Science and Food Technology, College of Agriculture, area of Applied Agricultural Science, North Dakota State University. Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

MASTER’S DEGREE 1984-1987
Master's in Cereal Science, Department of Cereal Science and Food Technology, College of Agriculture, area of Applied Agricultural Science, North Dakota State University. Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

BACHELOR'S DEGREE 1970-1975
Industrial Chemist, Department of Chemical Science, Autonomous University of Tamaulipas (Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas). Cd. Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Bachelor's thesis on Optimizing Germination Time in Triticale Malt.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Full research scientist in 1995 for the Central Wheat Chemistry Laboratory, National Institute for Agricultural Research (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrícolas, INIA), of the Mexican government Department of Agricultura and Cattle Raising. Head of Research from 1976 to 1984 at the Central Laboratories for Barley and Oats, INIA. Department of Agricultural and Water Resources in Chapingo, Mexico. Full research scientist. Head of the Barley and Oat Laboratories of the National Institute for Forest, Agricultural, and Cattle Research (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias, INIFAP) from 1990 to 1992. Responsible for malt barley Industrial Quality Control and development for 18 years under an agreement between the Beer-Malt organism of the INIFAP and the Mexican beer brewing industry.

Level 3-A research professor from november 1992 to 1995, Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Food Section, Center for Advanced Studies and Research, National Polytechnic Institute (Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Insituto Politécnico Nacional, CINVESTAV-IPN), and commissioner of the Project for the Technological Modernization of the Tortilla and Masa Industry and of the Mexican Materials Research Corporation (Corporación Mexicana de Investigación en Materiales S.A., COMIMSA).

Level 3-C research professor from 1995 to the present, Materials Research Laboratory, Queretaro campus of the CINVESTAV-IPN.

National System of Researchers Level: National Research Scientist III

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