Zanotto holds a PhD in Glass Technology from Sheffield University, UK (1982). He is a professor of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the Center for Research, Technology and Education in Glass at UFSCar. He is interested in fundamental studies of glass crystallization and development of glass-ceramics with improved functionalities. He has published about 400 original and review papers, 30 book chapters, 2 books and deposited 29 patents. He is an editor of the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, and board member of nine other scientific journals. He is a member of the World Academy of Ceramics, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the SGT (UK), American Ceramic Society, Brazilian Ceramic Society, and TWAS. He has received over 50 awards, including the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit, Grã-Cruz, A^3 Prize, TWAS Engineering Prize, and six important glass research awards: Zachariasen Award 1990, Gottardi Prize 1993, George W. Morey Award 2012, A. Cooper Lecture, Turner Lecture and S. Schooles Lecture. Zanotto is in the Council of seven research institutions.

Alencar da Silva obtained his PhD in 1988 at IMPA-Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics in Rio de Janeiro. Currently, he is a professor at UFAL-Federal University of Alagoas in Maceió, State of Alagoas, member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the president of the Brazilian Mathematical Society, coordinator of the Center for Research in Computational Mathematics in Maceió, member of the Scientific Council of the Research Foundation of the State of Alagoas, member of the Council for Basic Education of CAPES (Brazil’s Graduate Studies Agency), and member of the Scientific of IMPA. He was vice-rector for Research and Graduate Studies at UFAL and he was honored with the Grand Croix of the Order of Scientific Merit, granted by the President of Brazil in 2010.

Ohara Augusto is a Full Professor at the Biochemistry Department, Chemistry Institute, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Augusto´s research interests always focused on the understanding of the multiple roles of radicals and oxidants in physiology and pathophysiology. She received several prizes for her contributions to the redox area and supervised many students. Presently, she is the Director of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma) (http://redoxoma.iq.usp.br/) in São Paulo, Brazil.