Prof. Delia Rodriguez Amaya Honored by Unicamp

The Rector (President) of the University of Campinas in Campinas, Brazil has conferred the title of Professor Emeritus (although approved in 2016)  on Professor Delia Rodriguez Amaya in a Ceremony on 6 April 2017. This title is rarely given: in its 50 years of existence, the Faculty of Food Engineering had only conferred one Professor Emeritus, to one of the Faculty’s founders. The Director of the Faculty of Food Engineering organised a Round Table Discussion of her contributions to Food Science and Technology on 12 April 2017.

In his speech, the Rector highlighted 3 points:

·      The approval of the title was unanimous, which is not common. The University Council is composed of some 60 members, who rarely agree with each other;

·      Delia is one of the top 3 (if not the top) Unicamp professors most cited in the international literature; and

·      the only Unicamp professor who received the Zeferino Vaz Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research 3 times.

Prof. Delia Rodriguez Amaya is an internationally renowned researcher in food analysis and chemistry, especially in relation to carotenoids, bioactive compounds found in foods with beneficial effects on health. She is the author of more than 250 publications (books, book chapters, review and research papers in indexed journals), the majority in international circulation. She is the sole author of the book Food Carotenoids: Chemistry, Biology and Technology, published in 2016 by IFT Press – John Wiley. She is cited 8423 times (as of 30 March 2017) in the international literature. Her 3 books published in Washington DC have a total of 1956 citations. She has given 250 invited lectures in more than 30 countries.

She was a professor of the Faculty of Food Engineering (1977-2010) where she was Chairman of the Department of Food Science, General Coordinator of the Graduate Commission and Coordinator of the Academic Commission. She was adviser of 48 defended Master and Doctoral theses and gave graduate and undergraduate classes in Food Analysis and Food Chemistry. She was the Honored Professor of four graduating classes of Food Engineering at the Commencement Ceremonies. She coordinated financed research projects, including two projects financed through the Brazilian Program for Research Centers of Excellence. She was a research fellow of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Advancement, category 1A, for 20 years. She was Representative of Food Science and Technology in the Commission for Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, a member of the Advisory Committee of Food Science and Technology of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Advancement of the Ministry of Science and Technology, one of the founders of the Latin American Symposium of Food Science, and Scientific Chair of the 16^th World Congress of Food Science and Technology held in Iguazzu Falls in 2012.  She was also invited to participate in technical committees of the Ministry of Health.

She has been Scientific Adviser of the International Foundation for Science, based in Sweden, since 2002 and Scientific Adviser of the International Biofortification Project and Vitamin A-Africa. She was invited to Joint FAO-WHO Expert Consultation Meetings held in São Paulo, New Delhi, Rome and Belgrade. She was Coordinator or Member of Organising or Scientific Committees of many national and international congresses. She presented more than 240 papers in congresses of 25 countries, and has given short courses to professors and researchers of various countries, such as the Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Tanzania and China, sponsored principally by FAO and HarvestPlus.

Even after her retirement from UNICAMP in 2010, she continued her professional activities. She was President (2014-16) of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) and a Member of the Governing Council of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST, 2014-16). She has been a Member of the Executive Council of the Academy since 2008 and of various committees of the Union since 2003. She is presently a member of the Editorial Boards of six international and two Brazilian journals, and was a member of the Editorial Boards of six other national and international journals. She is Senior Visiting Professor of the Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul.

She has received many awards and titles. She was honored by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Advancement in 2015, with the title of Researcher Emeritus, and received from President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines the Presidential Award in 2012. She received from UNICAMP the Zeferino Vaz Recognition Award 3 times (1994, 1997, 2003) and is in the list of the 100 most influential Filipinas in the world. She received the East West Center Outstanding Alumni Award (Hawaii) in 2010 and the De La Salle – Araneta University (Philippines) Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2016. She was honored with the Andre Tosello Award by the Brazilian Society of Food Science and Technology in 2005,  and the International Recognition Award by the Philippine Association of Food Technologists in 2010.