Yessica Castro

Yessica Castro is an accomplished academic and researcher specializing in biological engineering, with extensive experience in environmental projects and food safety management. Currently serving as a Research Professor at Universidad Federico Henríquez y Carvajal and a Faculty Lecturer at Universidad APEC, Yessica leads research on anaerobic co-digestion of sargassum and food waste for biogas production. Previous roles include Associate Researcher at IEESL, where Yessica secured funding for environmental bioconversion projects and collaborated on multidisciplinary research, and Graduate Research Assistant at Utah State University, where Yessica contributed to high-impact research on wastewater microalgae fermentation. Yessica also has a solid background in food safety and quality management systems, having worked as a Manufacturing Project Engineer at Alimentos Fortuna and as a Junior Consultant for multiple Dominican companies. Academic qualifications include a PhD and Master's degree in Biological Engineering from Utah State University and a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.