Luis Alejandro Vergara is an Ecuadorean PhD researcher at University College Dublin. He obtained his bachelors of science in Environmental Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. In addition, he holds two masters of science in Energy Engineering and Environmental Management granted by KTH Royal Institute of Technology and The Technical University of Madrid, respectively. Throughout work experiences in Ecuador, United States, The Netherlands, and Ireland, Alejandro has focused his career over the valorization of diverse types of biomass such as water hyacinth, algae, biochar, and grass. His main area of interest is the application of these feedstocks over sustainable transitions in the electricity, fuels, food, and feed industries. He has expertise over processing technologies such as enzymatic hydrolysis, microbial fuel cells, and green biorefineries as well as over softwares such as GaBi and ASPEN.

At UCD, Alejandro is working for the EU LIFE Farm4More project which focuses on maximizing animal performance while mitigating the climate change impacts of the dairy farming industry. For such he is working over the techno-economic development of novel animal feed additives based on grass-silage, algae, and biochar. His research includes the incorporation of life cycle assessments for process optimization, products certification, and business development through schemes such as the carbon offsets market.