Manuel Rodrigo

Manuel A. Rodrigo (ORCID: 0000-0003-2518-8436; Scopus Author ID: 34868498800; WoS ResearcherID: I-6112-2013; Google scholar: Manuel Andres Rodrigo) was born in Plasencia in 1970. After completing the first cycle of his degree in Chemical Sciences at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, he specialized in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Valencia, where he graduated with the Extraordinary Award in 1993. He obtained his PhD from the same university in 1997, conducting doctoral research within the Chemical Engineering program on the automation of biological processes for nutrient removal in urban wastewater.

In 1996, he joined the University of Castilla-La Mancha as an Assistant Lecturer at a University School, initiating a research line in Electrochemical Engineering within the Department of Chemical Engineering. In this initial phase, his research focused on studying the treatability of industrial effluents using electrolytic technology. After a first postdoctoral stay at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, he began working with electrically conductive diamond electrodes—one of his most significant research topics—conducting extensive studies on the applicability of this technology to the treatment of real industrial wastewater, with an increasingly advanced level of technological readiness.

In 2000, he secured a position as Associate Professor and began working on electrocoagulation of wastewater and high-temperature PEM fuel cells. Later, his research interests expanded to include the electrolytic production of oxidizing agents for environmental applications, remediation of contaminated soils using electrokinetic technology, and microbial fuel cells.

In 2009, he was awarded a professorship in Chemical Engineering at UCLM. Since then, he has consolidated all the aforementioned research lines with the aim of building a competitive international research group in electrochemical engineering, with expert knowledge in key areas—particularly at the frontiers of electrochemistry-energy and electrochemistry-environment—while maintaining a strong focus on knowledge transfer to the industrial sector.

Over the years, he has maintained a robust consulting activity with numerous companies in the energy and environmental sectors, resulting in significant knowledge transfer reflected in numerous contracts. A pioneer in many areas, he is currently exploring new fields such as electrochemically assisted reactive absorption, electro-refinery, and the development of high-efficiency electrochemical cells using 3D printing.

He has also played an important role in scientific coordination within various organizations, while maintaining a strong commitment to teaching, reflected in his active involvement in undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral education. To date, he has supervised 30 doctoral theses—13 of them during the 2019–2024 six-year period—and has mentored numerous researchers during their pre- and postdoctoral stages (nearly thirty international students in the past three years).