Óscar J. Sánchez is a full professor at the Department of Engineering at Universidad de Caldas, Colombia. He received a chemical engineering degree and an M.Sc. degree in biotechnology with the highest honors from the Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology M.V. Lomonosov (Russian Federation) and a Ph.D. degree from the National University of Colombia at Manizales. He joined the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad de Caldas in 1997. His research focuses on the valorization of agro-industrial waste, bioprocess systems engineering, biofuel production, industrial microbiology, and enzyme technology. Dr. Sánchez has authored or co-authored over 57 research papers in the area of biotechnological processes as well as 4 research books and 11 book chapters. He was granted a patent on a novel bioreactor for solid-state fermentation. In 2005, Dr. Sánchez was awarded the Elizabeth Grose Prize in the field of microbiology applied to the industry. He was an honorary research fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London in 2006. Since 2009, he has led the research group on foods and agro-industry at the University of Caldas and works at the CTD – Bioprocess and Agro-industry Plant as coordinator of the Research Area on Industrial Biotechnology. He has been an FAO consultant in the field of technologies for sustainable fuel ethanol production. Currently, Dr. Sánchez is the head of the Ph.D. program in engineering at Universidad de Caldas.