ABOUT ME
Dr. Erika Iveth Cedillo-González
Since childhood, my passion has been caring for the environment. In Mexico, at the age of 16, adolescents decide what they want to dedicate their whole lives to, or, in other words, Mexicans decide which professional career they want to study at 16. As my father saw me very confused, one day, while we were watching the sunset, he told me, "You like science. It would help if you used it to take care of the environment. Why don't you study something related to science?" As I loved my chemistry science course in high school, I decided to take care of the environment through chemistry and its related disciplines. |
I received my B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry (2008) from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL, Mexico). My thesis involved the modification of soda-lime glass formulations to reduce their fabrication temperature. Afterward, I got my M.Sc. in Materials Chemistry in 2010 at the same University. In my Master's thesis, I investigated the reuse of waste metallurgical slags as secondary raw materials for developing glass and glass-ceramics materials for building applications.
In 2011, I realized one of my biggest dreams (up to then). I moved to Italy (with my backpack full of dreams, one suitcase and 100 EUR in my wallet) to get a Ph.D. in Modelling, Computational Simulation, and Multiscale Characterization for the Materials and Life Sciences in the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMoRe, Italy). I really enjoyed my research topic: photocatalysis. During my Ph.D. journey, I investigated the influence of several anthropogenic and atmospheric factors on the performance of TiO2-based self-cleaning glasses for building applications. I received my Ph.D. degree in 2014. After a two-year post-doctoral period in which I continued working in photocatalysis and other side projects related to materials science, I returned to Mexico. From 2016-2021, I served as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UANL. During that period, in addition to my teaching activities at the B.Sc. program of Chemical Engineering and the graduate program in Sustainable Processes, I served as the Principal Investigator of two research projects granted by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP). On those projects, my research team and I worked on a topic that I consider one of the most pressing problems of the 21st century: microplastic pollution. Then, in those years and with the support of such grants, we developed different processes to photocatalytically remove microplastics and nanoplastics from aqueous environments using green semiconductors.
Now, I live again in Italy and am a Research Associate in the Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari" at UniMoRe. My research focuses on developing sustainable engineered processes and materials for construction and environmental remediation. I continue to focus most of my research on protecting the environment using different disciplines and points of view.
Outside University, I also communicate science to children, focusing on microplastic pollution and women in STEM. Additionally, I host a podcast for the Spanish-speaking M.Sc. and Ph.D. student community, examining topics of interest for early carrier researchers.
In 2011, I realized one of my biggest dreams (up to then). I moved to Italy (with my backpack full of dreams, one suitcase and 100 EUR in my wallet) to get a Ph.D. in Modelling, Computational Simulation, and Multiscale Characterization for the Materials and Life Sciences in the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMoRe, Italy). I really enjoyed my research topic: photocatalysis. During my Ph.D. journey, I investigated the influence of several anthropogenic and atmospheric factors on the performance of TiO2-based self-cleaning glasses for building applications. I received my Ph.D. degree in 2014. After a two-year post-doctoral period in which I continued working in photocatalysis and other side projects related to materials science, I returned to Mexico. From 2016-2021, I served as an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UANL. During that period, in addition to my teaching activities at the B.Sc. program of Chemical Engineering and the graduate program in Sustainable Processes, I served as the Principal Investigator of two research projects granted by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP). On those projects, my research team and I worked on a topic that I consider one of the most pressing problems of the 21st century: microplastic pollution. Then, in those years and with the support of such grants, we developed different processes to photocatalytically remove microplastics and nanoplastics from aqueous environments using green semiconductors.
Now, I live again in Italy and am a Research Associate in the Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari" at UniMoRe. My research focuses on developing sustainable engineered processes and materials for construction and environmental remediation. I continue to focus most of my research on protecting the environment using different disciplines and points of view.
Outside University, I also communicate science to children, focusing on microplastic pollution and women in STEM. Additionally, I host a podcast for the Spanish-speaking M.Sc. and Ph.D. student community, examining topics of interest for early carrier researchers.