Draft:Ronalds Gonzalez

Ronalds Gonzalez (born 1980) is a Venezuelan-American engineering researcher specializing in conversion economics and sustainability within the bioeconomy and pulp and paper industry. He was born in Barrio Bolivar, Acarigua, Portuguesa, Venezuela, in 1980. He is an Associate Professor at North Carolina State University (NC State). , including the valorization of alternative fibers and understanding their carbon footprint. He earned bachelor's degrees in Business Administration and Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela). He completed a master's degree in Marketing Forest Products from North Carolina State University in 2008, a Ph.D. in Supply Chain and Conversion Economics from North Carolina State University in 2011, and an MBA in Corporate Finance from Jenkins MBA, USA, in 2012. He also holds a certification in Value Creation for Forest Products and Consumer Goods from the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.

Scientific Work
His research has focused on waste valorization,  , and transforming biomass into value-added products. He has authored over 70 papers in scientific journals, including publications on biomass conversion. One of his most cited research is in the field of risk and financial analysis. . He is Editor of the Journal Forest

At NC State, Gonzalez serves as Co-Director of the Conversion, Economics & Sustainability (ConEcSus) research group. He also leads the Sustainable and Alternative Fibers Initiative (SAFI), a university-industry consortium involving over 28 companies and federal agencies. SAFI's mission is to advance the responsible sourcing, development, and use of sustainable fibers to mitigate climate change impacts. His awards include the Chancellor Innovation Fund Award, being named a Faculty Scholar at NC State University in 2019, and the Best Research Award by the American Cleaning Institute in 2023.

Gonzalez is a consultant and has patents related to the hygiene tissue industry He has contributed to enhancing sustainability metrics for hygiene tissue products and identified the effect of sustainability as a global megatrend in the hygiene tissue industry. Gonzalez is an instructor on sustainability metrics at Aalto University. He serves as a consultant to the US International Trade Commission

The SAFI Consortium collaborates globally with the BioProducts Institute at the University of British Columbia, Auburn University, Georgetown University, private companies (Familia, WestRock, Valmet, Cascades, Adidas, Unilever, Mercer, Kimberly-Clark, Rayonier Advanced Materials, Procter & Gamble, CMPC, Suzano, Eastman, Essity, International Paper, PSF, Genera Energy, Andritz, Treeco, Nalco Water, Tech Trade, Red Leaf Pulp, National Bamboo, Caboo), federal agencies (Sun Grant Initiative, USDA), and non-profit organizations (Rockefeller Foundation, Climate Breakthrough, and Canopy).