Spain's University of Valencia Seeks
Collaborative Programs
Professors Rosa Puchades and. Rosa Belda from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain met with UF and UF/IFAS faculty from October 20 – 24, 2007 to discuss collaborative faculty and student exchange programs. Their visit yielded a formal, signed Cooperative Agreement that will allow the academic exchanges to take place.
While at UF, Puchades and Belda met with Dr. L. Gene Albrigo of the UF/IFAS Citrus REC, as there is a keen interest in citrus in Valencia, which gave its name to a world-famous variety of orange. They also met with Dr. Walter Bowen, Assistant Director of the UF/IFAS International Programs Office and toured the Genetics Institute with Dr. Maria Gallo, a geneticist with the UF/IFAS Agronomy Department.
The Spanish professors met with Sharon Norton, who is the Scientific Education Coordinator at the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and toured the UF/IFAS Aquatic Food Products Lab with Mr. Victor Garrido, the Lab’s Research Program Coordinator. Dr. Mark Rieger, Associate Dean, UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, met with them to discuss student exchange details. Puchades and Belda also met with Dr. Dorota Haman, who is the chair of the UF/IFAS Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) Department and with Dr. Rafael Muñoz-Carpena, also of ABE. Finally, they met with Dr. Dennis Jett, Dean of the UF International Center, who oversees all cooperative agreements with institutions in other countries.
Rosa M. Belda is a Senior Lecturer at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. She received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Biology from the University of Salamanca in 1984 and 1989, respectively. She held a post-doc position from 1989 to 1992 at HRI International, UK. From 1993 she is a lecturer at the Department of Plant Biology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, where she lecturers for Plant Biology and Cell Biology.
Her research interests include plant nutrition and the use of substrates for plant growth. She has worked on wheat, tomato, rose for cut flowers and pot ornamentals. Currently, she is involved in studies on modelling for nitrate uptake of rose plants grown in glasshouses for cut flower production and on the use of composts of agricultural waste origin for ornamental plant production.
Rosa Puchades was born in Valencia, Spain, on November 30, 1955. She received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Valencia in 1977 and 1982, respectively. Since 1979, she has been with the Department of Chemistry at Polytechnic University of Valencia, where she is currently Professor of Analytical Chemistry and member of the SYM research Group (Institute of Applied Molecular Chemistry).
Her research interests mainly include automation of analytical methods, sample treatment methodology, development of immunochemical reagents, set-up immunoanalytical methods, screening methodologies for organic pollutants and biosensors, behaviour of bioreagents in organic media, microarraying, development of new supports for microarrays, study of new tracers for biosensing. She is currently participating in several research projects in the analytical and bioanalytical field.
Dr. Puchades has co-authored more than 100 papers in international journals and conferences. She has participated as reviewer for Talanta, Analytica Chimica Acta, Food Technology and Biotechnology Review, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry. She is also member of the Spanish Society of Analytical Chemistry and the American Chemical Society. At present she is the Coordinator of International Relations in the ETSIA School (UPV).
Contact: David Sammons
