**About the Editors**

#### **Carlos Vilas**

Carlos Vilas, Ph.D., has been a Tenured Scientist at the IIM-CSIC (Vigo, Spain) since 2022. He received the B.Sc. degree in Chemistry in 2001 and his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 2008, both from University of Vigo. After that, in 2008, he started a postdoctoral research stay at the Automatic Control Laboratory of University of Mons (Belgium). In 2010, he moved back to the IIM-CSIC with a grant from the regional government (Xunta de Galicia). His research focuses on mathematical modelling, simulation, advanced control and optimization of processes, mainly from the biotechnological and food industries. In particular, he is interested in distributed process systems described by partial differential equations, in the evolution of quality and safety indicators in fish and shellfish, and in the development of digital twins for the processes of the food industry. He was also a teacher in Masters programs at different institutions, such as the University of Valladolid, University of Vigo, and Polytechnic University of Madrid.

#### **M´ıriam R. Garc´ıa**

M´ıriam R. Garc´ıa, Ph.D., is a Tenured Scientist at the BioSystems and BioProcess Engineering group (Bio2Eng) at the IIM-CSIC (Vigo, Spain). Her training is in chemistry (MSc) and applied mathematics (Ph.D. 2008 held at Bio2Eng) from the University of Vigo. After her PhD, she moved to Ireland to study the mathematics of systems biology for Parkinson's Disease at the Hamilton Institute (Maynooth University). After a five-year postdoctoral program, she came back to Bio2Eng and obtained a permanent position (2021) thanks to a new research line on modelling bacterial resistance to chemical stresses, like antimicrobials, which is of relevance to the food industry. Her research's main interest is to develop mathematical models in microbiology with sufficient predictive capabilities (i.e., not too complex or simple) to be used as tools in the food industry, together with proper optimization and control algorithms.

#### **Jose A. Egea**

Jose A. Egea, Ph.D., has been a Tenured Scientist at the CEBAS-CSIC (Murcia, Spain) since 2018. He received the M.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering in 2003 (University of Murcia, Spain) and he developed his Ph.D Thesis on mathematical methods for complex process optimization at the Bioprocess Engineering Group at IIM-CSIC (Vigo, Spain), obtaining his Ph.D. degree by the University of Vigo in 2008 (Chemical Engineering Program). He was a member of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the Technical University of Cartagena (Spain) from 2009 to 2018, as an Assistant Professor and later as an Associated Professor. Furthermore, he completed his research record with several pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research stays (e.g., KU Leuven, PUC Chile or EBI at UK) and the Master of Bioinformatics at the University of Murcia in 2015. In 2018, he obtained a permanent position at CEBAS-CSIC, joining the Plant Breeding Department. His research focuses on mathematical modelling, simulation, optimization and data analysis in agricultural and food sciences. He has scientific contributions in microbial inactivation in foods that include model development, optimal experimental design and optimization. His most recent research lines are related to modelling and analysis of phenology in Prunus species from an agro-meteorological point of view.
