In March-July 2026, Dean George Philippidis was invited to conduct his sabbatical at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and share his renewable energy expertise and sustainability experience in both pedagogy and applied research. Founded in 1925, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is the largest University in Greece with globally renowned programs in engineering, agricultural, and medical education and research. During his stay in Greece, Dr. Philippidis was invited to present seminars and give guest lectures at various venues, including the School of Chemical Engineering, the School of Agriculture, and the School of Chemistry, where he had several opportunities to meet with both faculty and students.
Dean Philippidis presents at the 34th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE)
In May 2026, while on his sabbatical, Dean Philippidis was also invited to speak at the 34th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE), which took place in The Hague, Netherlands. His presentation, entitled “Enhancing Salinity Tolerance and Lipid Productivity of Extremophilic Micractiniumspecies using Adaptive Laboratory Evolution and Random Mutagenesis”, was very well received. This applied research in designing novel strains of algae is an international collaboration between USF and Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.
During Dean Philippidis’ meetings with administrators and faculty at AUTH, he discussed future research collaboration focused on development of algae species for production of biomaterials and mitigation of red tide, which increasingly affects coastal areas in both Florida and Greece, as the two regions share similar climates and pollution challenges. At the conclusion of the visit in July, Dean Philippidis (on behalf of USF) and his host Dr. Christos Chatzidoukas (on behalf of AUTH) agreed to renew for an additional 5 years the current collaboration agreement between the two institutions and work towards faculty partnerships and visits across all fields of natural and social sciences.