Genetu Tesfa | Environmental Science | Research Excellence Award

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Mr. Genetu Tesfa | Environmental Science | Research Excellence Award

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University | Ethiopia

Genetu Tesfa is an Ethiopian postgraduate researcher in Environmental Engineering at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, specializing in water and wastewater treatment with a strong focus on the removal of antibiotics and pharmaceutical contaminants using advanced oxidation processes such as iron slag–based electro-Fenton systems. His research addresses critical challenges related to hospital wastewater pollution, antimicrobial resistance, and sustainable environmental remediation. He has published in SCI and Scopus-indexed international journals and contributed to nature-based treatment methods using vetiver grass, as well as waste valorization through composting and alternative fertilizers. His work emphasizes low-cost, environmentally sustainable solutions tailored to developing-country contexts, supported by active interdisciplinary collaborations in environmental science and engineering.


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Featured Publications

Amin Arzhangi | Environmental Science | Research Excellence Award

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Mr. Amin Arzhangi | Environmental Science | Research Excellence Award

Mr. Amin Arzhangi | University of Bojnord | Iran

Amin Arzhangi is a dedicated Master’s student in Water Engineering and Hydraulic Structures at the University of Bojnord, recognized for academic excellence with a top-class ranking and strong research productivity. His work spans interdisciplinary domains of hydrology, ecohydrology, environmental hydraulics, sedimentology, river engineering, and water quality assessment. He has developed a robust research profile through active involvement in advanced modeling, machine learning applications in environmental systems, and hydro-geomorphic analyses. His research contributions focus on critical issues such as hypoxia prediction in rivers and reservoirs, water quality index modeling, biodegradability assessment, sediment pollution, and river system hydraulics. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed papers in reputable international journals—including Nature Communications Sustainability, Science, and Ecosystem Health and Sustainability—with several manuscripts under review. His publications reflect methodological depth, spanning machine learning models, hydrological process modeling, reaeration estimation, and spatial analysis of riverine and coastal systems. His work has accumulated meaningful citations, demonstrating its contribution to the scientific community. In parallel to his academic research, he has presented at well-regarded international conferences in Turkey, Portugal, and Iran, addressing river morphology, organic carbon dynamics, and land-use impacts on water quality. He also contributes professionally as a reviewer for established journals such as Science of the Total Environment, Journal of Hydrology, Results in Engineering, and others, and serves on an editorial board. His applied skills include machine learning for environmental prediction, hydrodynamic and hydraulic modeling (HEC-RAS, QUAL2K, Hydrus), GIS and remote sensing, and programming in Python and R. He is actively engaged in multiple ongoing projects involving sediment source tracing, coastal ecosystem analysis, turbulence modeling, water quality forecasting, and remote sensing-based hydrological assessments. Through strong academic rigor, interdisciplinary collaborations, and impactful research output, he demonstrates a clear trajectory toward becoming an emerging researcher in water resources engineering and environmental hydro systems.

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Featured Publications

Partani, S., Arzhangi, A., Danandeh Mehr, A., Ezzati, F., & Saber, A. (2025). Integrated hydraulic and reaeration analysis for sustainable water quality management in river systems. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5365496

Arzhangi, A., & Partani, S. (2025, November). A multi-scale framework for BOD5 prediction from water quality to hydro-geomorphic interpolation. iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114177

Arzhangi, A., Partani, S., Danandeh Mehr, A., Ezzati, F., & Saber, A. (2025, September 12). Instant water quality index (WQI) prediction via reaeration process and hydraulic parameters in the river system (Version 1) [Preprint]. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7481412/v1

Partani, S., & Arzhangi, A. (2025, August 17). Developing a reliable predictive model for the biodegradability index in industrial complex effluent. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 30108. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15866-0

Arzhangi, A., & Partani, S. (2025, August 12). Development of a biodegradability index for urban rivers using detergent concentration: A case study from Tehran, Iran. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 458, Article 142521. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.17

Maria Pinelli | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

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Dr. Maria Pinelli | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Dr. Maria Pinelli | Radboud University Medical Center | Italy

Dr. Maria Pinelli is an Assistant Professor Junior (RTDa) at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in the Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering (ING-IND/35). Her academic and research work focuses on technological innovation in healthcare, with particular attention to Health Technology Assessment (HTA), innovation management in hospitals, and the integration of scanning and assessment processes to enhance healthcare value creation. She earned her Ph.D. from Politecnico di Milano in 2025 with a thesis titled “MedTech Innovation in Hospitals: Re-Framing the Integration between Scanning and Assessment and the Determinants of Value.” During her doctoral studies, she was a Visiting Ph.D. Student at Radboud University (Netherlands), collaborating on international research exploring hospital technology strategies. Her academic background also includes a Master’s Degree in Management Engineering with specialization in Sustainable Operations Management and Social Innovation and a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, both completed with honors. Dr. Pinelli has published extensively in high-impact international journals such as Health Policy, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, PLOS ONE, IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, and IJERPH. Her works contribute to understanding the strategic, clinical, and socio-economic evaluation of medical technologies and the role of digital transformation and sustainability in healthcare systems. She has been actively involved in teaching and coordinating courses such as Innovation in Health and Social Care, Healthcare Management, and Economia e Organizzazione Aziendale at Politecnico di Milano and Humanitas University. Her contributions extend to international conferences, including EURAM, ISPOR, IPDMC, and Health Technology Assessment International, where she presented cutting-edge research on hospital innovation, inclusive healthcare technologies, and decision-making frameworks. Dr. Pinelli also serves as a reviewer for several leading journals, including the Journal of Medical Internet Research and Health Services Management Research. Beyond academia, she has contributed to practitioner conferences addressing the impact of AI and MedTech innovation in healthcare. Through her multidisciplinary expertise, international collaboration, and commitment to advancing healthcare innovation, Dr. Maria Pinelli represents a new generation of scholars bridging management engineering and medical technology for sustainable, patient-centered care.

Profiles: Google Scholar

Featured Publications 

Pinelli, M., Moglia, A., Marsilio, L., Rossi, M., Lettieri, E., Mainardi, L., & Manzotti, A. (2023). Mixed reality and artificial intelligence: A holistic approach to multimodal visualization and extended interaction in knee osteotomy. IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, 10. https://doi.org/10.1109/JTEHM.2023.3335608

Pinelli, M., Manetti, S., & Lettieri, E. (2023). Assessing the social and environmental impact of healthcare technologies: Towards an extended social return on investment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(6), 5224. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065224

Di Francesco, A., Pinelli, M., Lettieri, E., Toletti, G., & Galli, M. (2023). Towards a more inclusive society: The social return on investment (SROI) of an innovative ankle–foot orthosis for hemiplegic children. Sustainability, 15(5), 4361. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054361

Pinelli, M., Gerardi, C., Lettieri, E., Maioru, M., Marone, L., Bertoldi, L., Navanteri, G., Costantini, M., Botti, C., & Pellini, F. (2024). Comparison of indocyanine green with conventional tracers for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: A multidisciplinary evaluation of clinical effectiveness, safety, organizational and economic impact. PLOS ONE, 19(8), e0309336. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309336

Pinelli, M., Lettieri, E., Boaretto, A., Casile, C., Citro, G., Zazzaro, B., & Ravazzoni, A. (2022). Glucometer usability for 65+ type 2 diabetes patients: Insights on physical and cognitive issues. Sensors, 22(16), 6202. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22166202

Jimmy Romanos | Energy Sustainability | Excellence in Research

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Dr. Jimmy Romanos | Energy Sustainability | Excellence in Research

Dr. Jimmy Romanos | Lebanese American University | Lebanon

Dr. Jimmy Romanos is an Associate Professor of Physics at the Lebanese American University, with a distinguished record in interdisciplinary research spanning thermal physics, materials science, and energy storage. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Missouri, USA, and has extensive experience in both academia and industry, including leadership roles as a lead materials scientist in the U.S. and as a consultant in the energy sector. His research focuses on atomic-scale thermodynamic processes in gas adsorption, targeting applications such as carbon dioxide capture, methane and hydrogen storage, gas separation, and lead-free ceramics. Dr. Romanos has been recognized with the Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Physics, becoming the first Lebanese physicist to receive this honor. He has led numerous funded projects, both intramural and extramural, and holds multiple patents in advanced carbon materials and gas storage technologies. With over a decade of prolific contributions through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and industrial reports, his work bridges computational, theoretical, and experimental approaches to address critical challenges in energy and environmental technologies.

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Featured Publications

Romanos, J., Beckner, M., Rash, T., Firlej, L., Kuchta, B., Yu, P., Suppes, G., … (2012). Nanospace engineering of KOH activated carbon. Nanotechnology, 23(015401), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/23/1/015401

Kuchta, B., Firlej, L., Mohammadhosseini, A., Boulet, P., Beckner, M., … Romanos, J. (2012). Hypothetical high-surface-area carbons with exceptional hydrogen storage capacities: Open carbon frameworks. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(36), 15130–15137. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja3062439

Romanos, J., Burress, J., Pfeifer, P., Rash, T., Shah, P., Suppes, G. (2012). High surface area carbon and process for its production. US Patent 20130190542A1.

Beckner, M., Romanos, J., Dohnke, E., … (2011). Analysis of hydrogen sorption characteristics of boron-doped activated carbons. Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 56.

Soo, Y. C., Beckner, M., Romanos, J., Wexler, C., Pfeifer, P., Buckley, P., … (2011). A high volume, high throughput volumetric sorption analyzer. Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 56(1), 20003.

Azim Paksa | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

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Dr. Azim Paksa | Research Excellence | Best Researcher Award

Dr. Azim Paksa, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Dr. Azim Paksa holds a Ph.D. in Medical Entomology and Vector Control from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, with over 15 years of academic and field experience in vector biology, insecticide resistance, and mosquito ecology. He has led numerous research projects focused on disease vectors such as Anopheles, Aedes, and Blattella germanica, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed ISI and ISC journals. His work includes gene sequencing contributions to GenBank, active participation in national congresses, and involvement in public health initiatives across Iran. Dr. Paksa is a member of the Iranian Societies of Medical Entomology and Parasitology and is skilled in molecular biology techniques, data analysis (SPSS), and scientific publishing.

Author Profile

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🎓 Early Academic Pursuits

Dr. A. Paksa’s academic journey in the field of medical entomology began with a strong foundation at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, where he pursued and successfully completed a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. in Medical Entomology and Vector Control. His early academic years were marked by a deep interest in public health and vector-borne diseases, which naturally progressed into a lifelong dedication to research and fieldwork. His Master’s thesis focused on detecting resistance mechanisms to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides in Blattella germanica (German cockroach) collected from Tehran hospitals. Later, during his Ph.D., he conducted an extensive study on the genetic diversity, Wolbachia infection, and ecological features of Aedes caspius and Aedes vexans, both of which are significant vectors for arboviruses in Iran. This early research demonstrated his capability in both laboratory and field settings, laying the groundwork for his future contributions to medical entomology and public health.

👨‍🔬 Professional Endeavors

Dr. Paksa has served in multiple academic, research, and public health capacities, working closely with Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, and Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, among others. As an executive director and principal collaborator, he has led and completed over a dozen major research projects addressing critical issues in entomology, such as insecticide resistance, vector identification, and ecological surveys of disease-carrying arthropods. In addition to field studies, Dr. Paksa has been an active member of organizing and scientific committees in several national conferences, including the Vector-Borne Diseases and Climate Change Congress and the Iranian National Congress on Medical Entomology, demonstrating his leadership in scientific community engagement.

🧪 Contributions and Research Focus

Dr. Paksa’s contributions to medical entomology are vast and multifaceted. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed ISI and ISC publications, covering topics from mosquito larvicidal properties of essential oils to biochemical resistance mechanisms in disease vectors. His research often combines molecular biology, field ecology, and applied public health, making it both academically rigorous and practically applicable.  His work has been instrumental in identifying and combating insecticide resistance in Anopheles stephensi and Blattella germanica, two vectors of significant public health concern. He has also made critical gene sequence deposits in GenBank, contributing to the global scientific repository with data from Iranian vector species. Dr. Paksa’s dedication to natural product-based insect control is notable—his investigations into the larvicidal effects of Iranian indigenous plant essential oils have opened new avenues in eco-friendly vector control strategies.

🏆 Accolades and Recognition

Throughout his career, Dr. Paksa has earned recognition for both the quality and breadth of his research. His presence in multiple national scientific conferences, both as a presenter and an organizing committee member, speaks to the high regard in which he is held by peers. He has served as a referee for the Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases and evaluated proposals and books for Zabol University of Medical Sciences, further reflecting his expertise and trustworthiness in scientific evaluation. Moreover, his active membership in the Iranian Society of Medical Entomology and Medical Parasitology for over a decade underscores his commitment to scientific collaboration and advancement within his specialty.

🌍 Impact and Influence

Dr. Paksa’s research has had a direct impact on vector control policies, hospital hygiene practices, and disease prevention strategies in Iran. His work on cockroach and mosquito resistance mechanisms has influenced how hospitals and municipalities approach pest control. Furthermore, his studies on head lice prevalence in schoolchildren and tick infestation in livestock have provided critical insights into zoonotic disease transmission and public health education. By combining field data with molecular insights, Dr. Paksa bridges the gap between lab-based science and real-world applications—making his work especially valuable to policy-makers, healthcare providers, and environmental health professionals.

🔬 Legacy and Future Contributions

With a solid foundation built on two decades of field experience, scientific research, and public health collaboration, Dr. Paksa is well-positioned to continue making influential contributions in the years ahead. His current projects focus on the molecular mechanisms of resistance in vector populations and the development of environmentally sustainable vector control strategies. In the future, Dr. Paksa aims to deepen international collaborations, contribute to global malaria and arboviral control efforts, and mentor the next generation of entomologists in Iran and beyond. His legacy will likely be remembered not only for his extensive publication record and field innovations but also for his dedication to improving public health through evidence-based research.

✍️Notable Publications

Molecular assay on detection of crimean congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus in ixodid ticks collected from livestock in slaughterhouse from south of Iran

Contributors: Salehi-Vaziri, M.; Vatandoost, H.; Sanei-Dehkordi, A.; Fazlalipour, M.; Pouriayevali, M.H.; Jalali, T.; Mohammadi, T.; Tavakoli, M.; Paksa, A.; Abadi, Y.S.

Journal: Arthropod-Borne Diseases

Year:2020

Biodiversity of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) with emphasis on potential arbovirus vectors in East Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran

Contributors: Paksa, A.; Sedaghat, M.M.; Vatandoost, H.; Yaghoobi-Ershadi, M.R.; Moosa-Kazemi, S.H.; Hazratian, T.; Sanei-Dehkordi, A.; Oshaghi, M.A.

Journal: Arthropod-Borne Diseases

Year: 2019

Wild chive oil is an extremely effective larvicide against malaria mosquito vector Anopheles stephensi

Contributors: Sanei-Dehkordi, A.; Soleimani-Ahmadi, M.; Abadi, Y.S.; Paksa, A.
Journal: Tropical Medicine
Year: 2019