Reza Ovissipour - Chile

Ovissipour discussing the collaboration opportunities with Dr. Valencia, and Dr. Almonacid after giving a talk about seafood byproducts utilization at USM, in Valparaiso (Chile) — Ovissipour (left) discussing the collaboration opportunities with Dr. Valencia (middle), and Dr. Almonacid (right) after giving a talk about seafood byproducts utilization at USM, in Valparaiso (Chile)

What I Did

Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María

Dr. Pedro Valenica, researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering, hosted us at USM in Valparaiso in Chile.

Meetings at USM

Dr. Pedro Valencia: Dr. Valencia is working as a research in the Department of Chemical Engineering, however, his office and laboratories are located in the Department of Biotechnology. Dr. Valencia’s main focus is food waste bioprocessing and value added products using enzymatic hydrolysis.

Dr. Beatriz Camara: Dr. Camara is working as a researcher and her main focus is marine biotechnology. During our meeting, Dr. Camara explained one of their projects which is isolating marine organisms for converting food waste biomass to value added products in collaborating with Dr. Valencia.

Dr. Ricardo Simpson and Dr. Sergio Almonacid: professors in the Department of Chemical Engineering are working on thermal processing, and bioprocessing. During the meeting with them, several possible opportunities for collaboration were discussed.

Ms. Karol Trautmann: Director of International Affairs at USM. Student exchange possibilities, and developing collaborative research programs were discussed.

Dr. Andres Cordova, Assistant Professor, School of Food Engineering, at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso.

Dr. Carolina L. Astudillo-Castro, Assistant Professor, School of Food Engineering, at Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso.

Dr. Valencia explaining how marine biotechnology could be used for food waste valorization, for Ovissipour — Dr. Valencia (left) explaining how marine biotechnology could be used for food waste valorization, for Ovissipour (right)

Presentations at USM

Two talks were presented in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UTFSM including Novel Sanitizers for Food Sanitation, and Seafood Wastes to Wealth. At the end of the presentations, general information about Virginia Tech University, CALS and Seafood AREC was provided for audience.

Seafood Market in Vina Del Mar, Chile — Seafood Market (Vina Del Mar, Chile)

Short-term accomplishments and long-term goals

Short-term Outcomes

Visiting different research and educational institutions
Meeting with researchers, and administrative and discuss the possible opportunities for developing student exchange program
Small research project development with Dr. Pedro Valencia

Impacts and longer-term goals for the partnership(s)

Reza Ovissipour, recently has been invited by Dr. Valencia to develop a comprehensive proposal about food wastes and value-added products which will provide opportunity for VT students to travel to Chile, publish several papers, and pursue larger grants. In addition, Dr. Valencia will visit Reza Ovissi lab, in 2020. We are planning to provide a tour from Department of Food Science and Tech at VT, and visit other faculties in the department.