Anniversary Professor dr.ing. Gheorghe MARIA at 65 years old - teacher and scientist

Prof. Dr. Ing. Gheorghe Maria from University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPBuc.), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering is a valuable scientist in Romania, being the successor and continuer of the Romanian school of (bio)chemical reactors and reaction engineering, but also the creator of novel courses in the (bio)chemical engineer curricula at UPBuc. His research interests include a wide range of classic but also modern border fields, namely (bio)chemical reactors, kinetic modelling, bioinformatics, chemical reactors risk analysis, modelling dynamics of cell metabolic processes, of gene regulatory circuits, and of controlled drug release. Following the large number of international cooperations (20), its scientific productivity is impressive, including over 230 papers in ISI journals and intl. Conferences, 11 ISBN books (RO,USA), 5 teaching books (UPBuc., RO), and 6 ISBN book chapters abroad. Their practical realizations include the design and putting into operation of an industrial plant in Romania (at Petrochemical works /Refinery Brazi-Ploiesti, Romania, PWBP,1985), of a lab-scale pilot plant in Switzerland (Paul Scherer Inst., 1992-1998), or a safety-based optimization of a semi-batch (SBR) reactor (at CIBA-Novartis, Basel, 1994-1996). Based on these multiple contributions, it can be stated that Prof. Maria has had a significant impact on the science and the practice of Chemical and Biochemical Reaction Engineering in Romania and world-wide, his publications being well cited (Hirsch index 20, I10 index 49, more than 1400 citations). In 2019 he joined (unanimously by votes) the Romanian Academy. as a correspondent member.