Associate Professor
mgian@chemeng.ntua.gr
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS
Dr Maria C. Giannakourou is a PhD Chemical Engineer and her PhD Thesis title was “Prediction of shelf life of foods with reduced water activity: application on frozen vegetables”, focusing especially on: (a) the application of mild, non-thermal techniques (osmotic dehydration) on food tissues in order to produce novel products, with improved attributes and extended shelf life, (b) the implementation of shelf life studies based on ASLT methodology and (c) mathematical modeling as a prediction tool for estimating quality status. She is currently working as an Associate Professor in the area of “Food Engineering”, in National Technical University of Athens, School of Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Athens, Greece. She has a long experience on food science and technology, and she has systematically worked in several research projects. Additionally, she possesses an expertise of high level in analytical and instrumental techniques of food analysis, based on her 8year employment in an analytical chemical laboratory in the General Chemical State Laboratory. Her main areas of scientific interest, as revealed by her published work, include methods of food processing, shelf life studies and quality assessment, non thermal processes, osmotic pretreatment of animal (meat and fish products) and vegetable tissues for shelf life extension, smart packaging (Time temperature Indicators), hurdle technology application, novel food production, sensory evaluation etc.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
(current position) 07/2022 -now: Associate Professor, National Technical University of Athens, School of Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Food Science and Technology
02.2012 – 07.2022: Academic staff, Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology, University of West Attica (former Technological Educational Institute of Athens)
12.2004 – 02.2012: Analyst (Grade A), General State Chemical Laboratory (food and beverage analysis, participation and organization of interlaboratory schemes SCHEMA (Scheme for CHEmical Measurement Assessment), Chemical Metrology, training and practice for numerous analytical procedures in food analysis (HPLC, GC-MS, IR-MS, LC-MS, etc), responsible of quality assurance procedures, method validation, etc)
2003-2004: Post-doctoral researcher in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, Division IV, National Technical University of Athens, Department of Chemical Engineering
EDUCATION
11.1997 – 03.2003: PhD diploma in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, National Technical University of Athens, Department of Chemical Engineering, Thesis title: “Prediction of shelf life of foods with reduced water activity: application on frozen vegetables” (Supervisor: Pr. Petros S. Taoukis).
09.1992 – 11.1997: BSc Chemical Engineering: 8,79/10 (top 3%), National Technical University of Athens, Department of Chemical Engineering.
Supervisor of (5) PhD candidates, (13) Master students and more than 30 undergraduate students
PUBLICATIONS: 52 publications, Citations: (A) (total): 1588: (B) (excluding self citations of all authors): 1223 (SCOPUS), h-index: 18, 12 chapters in scientific volumes, >70 works presented in National and International Congresses from 1997-now.
Linguistic abilities: English (Cambridge Proficiency), French (Sorbonne II) and Spanish (Superior)
Computer/programming skills: Windows, MS Office, Statistica, MATLAB, Fortran, Minitab