Berkovits obtained his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Physics at Harvard Univ. in 1983, and his PhD in Physics at the Univ. of California at Berkeley in 1988. He moved to São Paulo in 1994, and is a citizen of Brazil since 2002. Berkovits is currently a full professor at the Instituto de Física Teórica of São Paulo State University (UNESP) and Director of the ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP‐SAIFR). He was awarded the 2009 TWAS Physics prize for his significant contributions to superstring theory and its covariant quantization and the 2021 APS John Wheatley Award for exceptional leadership in fundamental physics research in South America. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences, and the International String Theory Advisory Committee.

Cerda is prof. at the College of Business Administration, U. de Talca, Talca, Chile. He obtained his PhD (1991), MSc (1989), and MBA (1991) at Oregon State U., USA. At the U. de Talca, he is Director of The Graduate School (University of Talca) and former dean of Faculty of Economic and Business Administration and served as dir. of the Entrepreneurial Development Center. He was also head of the Department of Economics and director of the Center of Resource Economics and Master Degree Program on Environmental and Resource Economics at the Univ. de Concepción, Chile. He is the leading environmental and resource economist in Latin America. His work on the theory and practice of valuation of environmental and econometrics is world class. He has also been instrumental in building capacity in environmental economics in Latin America and was president of the Latin American and the Caribbean Assoc. of Environmental and Natural Resources Economics (2007-09).

Oliva is a prof. at the Inst. of Physics of São Carlos, U. of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in Protein Crystallography and Structural Bio. at the U. of London in 1988. He was the key leader in the establishment of Protein Crystallography res. in Brazil, including the development of the first protein crystallography beamline at the Braz. Natl. Synchrotron Lab., and has served as pres. of the Braz. Natl. Council for Scientific and Techn. Development - CNPq (2011-2015). He is member of the Braz. Acad. of Sci., the Natl. Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil, Intl. Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Inst. (1997-2001), Fellow of Birkbeck College (2014-) and was profiled by the American magazine Time and CNN (1999) as one of the 50 Latin-American Leaders for the New Millennium. His main res. interests are in structural bio., drug discovery and development against tropical infectious diseases.

Toma is prof., Inst. of Chem., U. of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He obtained his PhD in 1974 in a program sponsored by the US Natl. Acad. of Sci. and the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas, Brazil, under J. M. Malin and H. Taube, and postdoc, CALTECH (1979). His publ. include 360 papers and reviews in intl. j., with +6700 citations, 13 books, 25 patents. He has been responsible for the Supramolecular NanotechLab, and is head of the USP Center on Nanotech. and Nanosci.. He has advised over 60 PhD and MS theses. His honours include: Henrich-Rheinboldt Prize, 1987; TWAS Chem. Prize, 1996; Simao Mathias Medal, 1997; Guggenheim Fellow Awd., 1999; Fritz-Feigl Prize, 2001; Abrafati-Petrobras Prize, 1996; Grã-Cruz Medal, Braz. Pres. of Republic, 2006; Innovation Prize from Petrobras, 2011; Innovation Prize, Braz. Chem. Soc., 2012, Jabuti Literature Prize, 2014. He is member of the Braz. Acad. of Sci., and IUPAC.

Mariscotti is CEO and founder of Tomografia de Hormigón Armado S.A. After his PhD at the University of Buenos Aires, he spent a few years at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Later, he was visiting professor at the University of Manchester, KFA in Julich, Sao Paulo University, ILL at Grenoble and other institutions abroad. He was professor of nuclear physics at the University of Buenos Aires, member of the board of directors of the Buenos Aires Research Council, director of R and D at the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission and president of the National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology. He has been awarded the Konex Award (1983 and 2003), UNIDO (1995), and the Tech Museum Award (2002). He is a former president of the Argentine National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences and a member since 1986.