Engineering Director

R SUM of Francesc Giralt

CURRENT POSITIONS

Distinguished a nd Emeritus Professor with Chair, Departament d'Enginyeria Qu mica,

Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Av. dels Pa sos Catalans, 26, 43007 Tarragona, Catalunya,

Spain (Tel. +34-977-***-***; Fax +34-977-***-***; *******@***.***); Distinguished

Researcher, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; Researcher at BioCENIT, Bioinformatics &

Computational Environmental Engineering Research Team at URV; Coordinator of City Protocol;

Member of ATIC, Advanced Technology & Innovation Center at URV; Researcher at the

Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN), UCLA.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Chemical Engineering, Institut Qu mic de Sarri, Barcelona, Spain, 1970; Bachelor

of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Spain, 1976; Master of Applied

Science (Chemical Engineering), University of Toronto, Canada, 1973; Ph. D. (Chemical

Engineering), University of Toronto, Canada, 1976; Sc. D. (Chemistry), University of Barcelona,

Spain, 1977; M. B. A., Institute of Chemical Technology, Barcelona, Spain, 1991.

AWARDS

Distinguished Researcher, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, 2004; Distinguished Professor of

the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in recognition to excellence in teaching, research, transfer of

technology and university service, Spain, 2003; Quality Improvement Award in the 2nd Spanish

a ction to improve quality in higher education, granted by the Spanish University Council in

recognition to the project Towards the Global Engineer implemented at the ETSEQ, Ministry

of Education, Culture and Sports, Spain, 2002; Jaume Vicens Vives Award in recognition to the

project-based cooperative learning project implemented at the ETSEQ to develop social and

coaching competencies in students, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, 2001; Honorable

Mention of the CAST Director s awards from the Computing and the Systems Technology

Division of the AIChE for the work Estimation of diverse physical properties of organic

compounds with a modified Fuzzy ARTMAP neural system, Los Angeles, 2000; Diploma of

Distinguished Services to the City of Tarragona, City Hall of Tarragona, Spain, 1999; Narcis

Monturiol Medal, Award for Scientific and Technological Achievement in Catalonia, Generalitat

de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, 1993; Best Student Paper Presentation Award, CSChE

Conference, Montreal, Canada, 1974; Salvador Gil Award to the best Bachelor Thesis, Institut

Qu mic de Sarri, Barcelona, Spain, 1971.

FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS

Gaspar de Portol Fellowship, University of California at Berkeley, 1993; Spanish Research

Fellowship for Visiting Professors (Visiting Scholar, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara; Sep-

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Dec 1993); British Council Travel Fellowship (Imperial College of London, 1987; Univ. of

Reading, 1988; University of Cambridge, 1989); CIRIT Institutional Research Award (Univ. of

Barcelona, 1983); CIRIT Research Awards (Univ. of Barcelona, 1981 & 1982); Univ. of

Barcelona Research Awards (1980, 1981, 1983 & 1984); 1978 & 1981: Univ. of Barcelona Travel

Fellowship (Visiting Professor, Univ. of Toronto, 1978 &1981); Nato Science Postdoctoral

Fellowship (Institut de M canique Statistique de la Turbulence, Marsella, 1976/77); National

Research Council of Canada Fellowship (Univ. of Toronto, 1973/76); Province of Ontario

Graduate Fellowship (Univ. of Toronto, 1972/73); Norman Stuart Robertson Fellowship (Univ.

of Toronto, 1971/72).

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

Professor Emeritus with Chair, Departament d'Enginyeria Qu mica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili,

Tarragona (2009-); Full Professor with Chair, Departament d'Enginyeria Qu mica, Universitat

Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona (1992/09); Full Professor with Chair, University of Barcelona,

Campus Tarragona, Tarragona (1986/92); Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering,

University of Barcelona, Campus Tarragona, Tarragona (1977/86); Adjunct Professor,

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto (1983/86

& 1995/01); Research Associate, Institut de la M canique Statistique de la Turbulence (CNRS),

Reader

Marseille, France (1976/77); of Transport Phenomena, Chemical Engineering

Department, University of Toronto, Toronto (1974/76); Teaching Assistant of Thermodynamics

and Chemical Reactors, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto

(1971/74); Teaching Assistant of Chemical Engineering, Institut Qu mic de Sarri, Barcelona

(1970/71).

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Director of the Centers of Innovation SIMPPLE & CiTQ, Tarragona (1999/09); Patron of the

University Foundation URV, Tarragona (2000/02); Member of the Social Council, Rovira

Virgili, Tarragona (1998/99); Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department, Univ. Rovira

Virgili, Tarragona (1996/99); Member of the Governing Council, Univ. Rovira Virgili, Tarragona

(1996/99); Dean of Engineering, Univ. Rovira Virgili, Tarragona (1992); Coordinator of the

UETP PROJECTT, COMETT II EU Program, Univ. of Barcelona (1991/92); Director of APQUA,

Univ. of Barcelona (1988/91); Patron of the University Foundation "Bosch i Gimpera", Univ. of

Barcelona (1985/91); Member of the Social Council, Univ. of Barcelona (1985/89); Director of

the Chemical Technology Transfer Service STQ, Univ. of Barcelona & Rovira Virgili, Tarragona

(1983/01); Chairman of the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department, Univ. of

Barcelona, Tarragona (1987/91); Chairman of the Industrial Chemistry Department, Univ. of

Barcelona, Tarragona (1981/87); Dean of the College of Chemistry, Univ. of Barcelona,

Tarragona (1977/1981); Member of the Governing Council of the Univ. of Barcelona, Barcelona

(1977/89); Member and President of Several economic, academic and presidential committees

of the University of Barcelona (1977/91).

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SOCIETIES

American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; American

Physical Society; American Society for Engineering Education, Associaci d'Enginyers

Industrials de Catalunya; Institut d'Estudis Catalans.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Director of the Centre of Innovation CiTQ (2005/09); Member of the Board of Directors of

the Catalan Agency for Waste Management (1994/08); Director of the Center of Innovation

SIMPPLE (1999/04); Director of the Chemical Technology Transfer Service STQ (1983/01);

Associate Editor of the Journal of Fluids Engineering (ASME, 1995/98); Member of the

Scientific Committee of National and International Symposia; Reviewer of Journal of Fluid

Mechanics, Physics of Fluids, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, AIChE Journal,

Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Experiments in Fluids, Computers and Chemical

Engineering, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, etc.), and Research Agencies;

Scientific and Engineering Consulting; Creation of two Spin-Off Companies.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Areas of Interest: Experimental and computational environmental engineering & chemistry;

Environmental/Ecological risk assessment; Nanoinformatics; (Q)SARs/nano-(Q)SARs and

(Q)SPRs/nano-(Q)SPRs; Pattern recognition and classification; Physics of fluids and turbulent

flows; Experimental and computational transport phenomena; Reaction engineering;

Computational analysis of nanofiltration & reverse osmosis; Cooperative education in engineering.

Master and Doctoral Thesis: Supervision of 23 master theses and 34 Doctoral theses in the

aforementioned areas of interest.

Projects and contracts: Direction of 193 research projects, 151 founded by industry and 42 by

Local, Regional, National and European Administrations and Research Agencies. Realization of 67

consulting jobs.

Conference Presentations: Presentation of 249 papers at scientific meetings, 16 of which as

invited keynote lectures.

Scientific Publications: 147 papers published in archival form in the top scientific and education

journals.

Patents

Roberto Coll Frances; Francesc Giralt; Jos Luis Pe a D ez. Bases lubricantes sint ticas por

oligomerizaci n de alfaolefinas con catalizadores metalocenos. Spain Patent P200700763, Issued

March 22, 2007.

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Cohen Y; Christofides PD; Giralt-Prat F. Advanced Monitoring, Optimization and Control of

Membrane Desalination Processes. UC CASE NO. 2009-079.

Selected Archival Publications

Strebel K; Espinosa G; Giralt F; Kindler A; Rallo R; Richter M; Schlink U. Modeling airborne

benzene in space and time with Self-Organizing Maps and Bayesian techniques. Environmental

Modelling and Software. 41: 151-162 (2013).

Fern ndez A; Lombardo A; Rallo R; Roncaglioni A; Giralt F; Benfenati E. Quantitative consensus

of bioaccumulation models for integrated testing strategies. Environment International. 45: 51-

58 (2012).

Rallo R; France B; Liu R; Nair S; George S; Damoiseaux R; Giralt F; Nel A; Bradley K; Cohen Y.

Self-Organizing Map Analysis of Toxicity-Related Cell Signaling Pathways for Metal and Metal

Oxide Nanoparticles. Environmental Science & Technology. 45: 1695 1702 (2011).

Puigjaner D; Herrero J; Sim C; Giralt F. From steady solutions to chaotic flows in a Rayleigh

B nard problem at moderate Rayleigh numbers. Physica D. 240: 920-934 (2011).

Mart nez I; Grifoll J; Giralt F; Rallo R. Multimedia environmental chemical partitioning from

molecular information, Science of the Total Environment 409: 412 422 (2010).

Nendza M; Aldenberg T; Benfenati E; Benigni R; Cronin M; Escher S; Fernandez A; Gabbert S;

Giralt F; et al. Data quality assessment for in silico methods: A survey of approaches and needs.

In: Cronin M, Madden J (eds): In Silico Toxicology. Principles and Applications, RSC Publishing,

Cambridge, UK, 2010. [ISBN: 978-1849730044]

Sorensen PB; Giralt F; Rallo R; Espinosa G; M nier B; Gyldenkaerne S; Thomsen M. Conscious

worst case definition for risk assessment, part II: A methodological case study for pesticide

risk assessment, Science of the Total Environment 408: 3860-3870 (2010)

Mandava VSR; Kopp GA; Herrero J; Giralt F. Experimental Investigation of the Wake of a

Discontinuous Cylinder. Proceedings ASME 3rd Joint US-European Fluids Engineering Summer

Meeting, FEDSM2010-ICNMM2010 Conference, ASME Press, Conference FEDSM2010-

ICNMM2010) Paper No. 30498 (2010).

Sim C; Puigjaner D; Herrero J; Giralt F. Dynamics of particle trajectories in a Rayleigh-B nard

problem, Comm. in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 15: 24-39 (2010)

Herrero J; Giralt F; Puigjaner D; Simo C. Mixing by thermal convection in a biochemical reactor.

Proceedings of the 2nd WSEAS International Conference on Finite Differences, Finite

Elements, Finite Volumes, Boundary Elements (F-and-B 09), Eds. Botchorishvili R; Davitashvili T;

Sirbiladze G; Sikharulidze A. WSEAS Press, Athens, Greece, pp. 45-50 (2009). [SBN: 978-960-

474-089-5; INSPEC: 10798736]

Lyster E., Au J., Rallo R., Giralt F., Cohen Y. Coupled 3-D Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer

Analysis of Mineral Scaling-Induced Flux Decline in a Laboratory Plate-and-Frame. Reverse

Osmosis Membrane Module, Journal of Membrane Science 339: 39-48 (2009)

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Fernandez A; Rallo R; Giralt F. Uncertainty Reduction in Environmental Data with Conflicting

Information, Environmental Science & Technology 43(13): 5001-5006 (2009)

Gavalda X; Ferrer-Gener J; Kopp GA; Giralt F; Galsworthy J. Simulating Pressure Coefficients

on a Circular Cylinder at Re = 106 by Cognitive Classifiers, Comp. & Struct. 87: 838-846 (2009)

Libotean D; Giralt J; Giralt F; Rallo R; Wolfe T; Cohen Y. Neural Network Approach for Modeling

the Performance of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Desalting, J. Memb. Sci. 326: 408-419 (2009)

Al-Shannag M; Al-Qodah Z; Herrero J; Humphrey JAC; Giralt F. Using a wall-driven flow to

reduce the external mass-transfer resistance of a bio-reaction system, Biochemical Engineering

Journal 39: 554 565 (2008)

Libotean D; Giralt J; Rallo R; Cohen Y; Giralt F; Ridgway HF; Rodriguez G; Phipps D. Organic

Compounds Passage through RO Membranes, Journal of Membrane Science 313: 23 43 (2008)

Puigjaner D; Herrero J; Simo C; Giralt F. Bifurcation analysis of steady Rayleigh B nard

convection in a cubical cavity with conducting sidewalls, J. Fluid Mech. 598: 393-427 (2008)

Valencia C; Espinosa G; Giralt J; Giralt F. Optimization of invertase production in a fed-batch

bioreactor using simulation based dynamic programming coupled with a neural classifier,

Computers & Chemical Engineering 31: 1131-1140 (2007)

Guimera R; Danon L; Diaz-Guilera A; Giralt F; Arenas A. The real communication network behind

the formal chart: Community structure in organizations, Journal of Economic Behavior &

Organization 61: 653-657 (2006)

Puigjaner D; Herrero J; Giralt F; Simo C. Bifurcation analysis of multiple steady flow patterns

for Rayleigh B nard convection in a cubical cavity at Pr = 130, Phy. Review E 73(4): 46304

(2006)

Rallo R; Espinosa E; Giralt F. Prediction of Modes of Toxic Action and toxicity of phenols with

feature selection algorithms coupled with fuzzy ARTMAP, Proceedings of the Joint Meeting on

Medicinal Chemistry, Vienna, Eds. P. Ettmayer and G. Ecker, Medimont SRL, F620C0176: 27-33

(2005). (ISBN 88-7587-163-9)

Rallo R; Espinosa G; Giralt F. Using an ensemble of neural based QSARs for the prediction of

toxicological properties of chemical contaminants, Trans IChemE Part B. Process Safety and

Environmental Protection 83(B4): 387-392 (2005)

Giralt F; Espinosa G; Arenas A; Ferre-Gine J; Amat L; Girones X; Carbo-Dorca R; Cohen Y.

Extraction of molecular features with self-organizing maps to estimate infinite dilution activity

coefficients of organic compounds in water by a fuzzy ARTMAP neural classifier, AIChE Journal

50(6): 1315-1343 (2004)

Guimera R; Danon L; D az-Guilera A; Giralt F; Arenas A. Self-similar community structure in a

network of human interactions, Physical Review E 68: 065103 (R) (2003)

Tarragona, January 2013

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