Nicola Senesi is Professor of Soil Chemistry and Head of the
Department of Agroforestal and Environmental Biology and Chemistry
of the University of Bari, Italy, where he has been actively
involved in research and teaching since 1969. He has taught courses
in Soil Chemistry, Soil Science, Agricultural Chemistry, Wood
Chemistry and technology, Organic Chemistry, Wood Chemistry and
Technology, Organic Chemistry, and General and Inorganic Chemistry.
He has been a visiting professor and/or scientist for various
periods at universities in Canada, USA, Somalia, Indonesia,
Switzerland, Argentina, Brasil, Venezuela and Colombia. Dr. Senesi
is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) since 1995
and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) since 1996, and
received the Gold Medal of the Polish Soil Science Society in 1994.
He was conferred with a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the Institute
National Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT), France, in 2000. Dr.
Senesi is currently President of Division VI: Chemistry and the
Environment and Chair of the Subcommittee on Biophysics-Chemical
Processes in Environmental Systems of IUPAC, President of MESAEP,
and Vice-President of the Italian Soil Science Society (SISS), and
was President of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS)
and Chairman of Division II-Soil Properties and Processes of the
International Union of Soil Science (IUSS). He is currently an
Associate Editor of Geoderma, Soil Science, Pedosphere, Pure and
Applied Chemistry and CLEAN-Soil, Air, Water. Dr. Senesi's research
is focused on fundamental and applied aspects of the chemistry and
biochemistry of organic matter from soils and other systems and
materials, and its interactions with soil-applied organic chemicals
and trace metals, by the use of advanced physico-chemical
techniques and biochemical tools. Specific topics of research
include the abiotic interactions of herbicides and endocrine
disruptors with humic substances, the complexation mechanism
between trace metals of agricultural and environmental importance
and natural and artificial humic materials, the physiological and
antimutagenic effects of humic substances on plants, and the
implications of recycling organic wastes on soil fertility and crop
production. He is also pioneering the application of fractal
geometry to the study of molecular conformation and aggregation
processes of natural soil organic colloids. The results of his
research are documented in about 300 scientific and technical
papers and about 60 book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Senesi
has also co-edited 12 books and Proceedings Volumes.
Kevin J. Wilkinson received a PhD in Environmental
chemistry from the National Water Research Institute of the
University of Quebec (INRS-Eau) in 1993. Following his PhD, he
joined the research group of Professor Jacques Baffle at the
University of Geneva where he began to examine some of the
important biophysical properties of environmental biopolymers and
colloids. Following the establishment of his own research group in
1994, he focused his research onto relating the structure of
environmental colloids and aggregates to their function in addition
to initiating a research programme designed to develop a
fundamental understanding of the chemical mechanisms of contaminant
bioavailability. In 2005, he was appointed Associate Professor of
Chemistry at the University of Montreal. His teaching includes
(bio) analytical and environmental chemistry. His current research
interest include: (i) improving our understanding of the role(s) of
microorganisms on the biophysicochemistry of trace elements and
colloids; (ii) development and optimisation of novel analytical
techniques for quantifying bioavailability and colloidal/aggregate
structure; (iii) characterising environmental biopo9lymers; and
(iv) determining the role of diffusion in complex environmental
media (biofilms, flocs, sediments). He is currently member of the
editorial board of Environmental Chemistry and titular member of
the IUPAC Chemistry and Environment Division. He also was editor
for the previous volume in the IUPAC series on Analytical and
Physical Chemistry of Environmental Systems (vol. 10):
Environmental Colloids and Particles: Behaviour, Separation and
Characterisation.