Dr. Violeta Mugica Álvarez is Mexican. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from FES Cuautitlán at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and completed her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering at UNAM. She is a Full Professor (Titular “C”) at the Azcapotzalco Campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) and has served as a visiting professor at four foreign institutions.

She has held several academic leadership positions, including Coordinator of Academic Support and Development at the Azcapotzalco Campus, Research Coordinator of the Division of Basic Sciences and Engineering (CBI), and Coordinator of the Master’s Program in Environmental Science and Engineering, which she founded. She has also led the Academic Body in Nanotechnology and Environmental Quality for the past 20 years.

In 2016, she was recognized as a Distinguished Professor of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana for her career achievements. In 2020, she received the UAM Research Award in Basic Sciences and Engineering. In 2024, she was awarded the Chemistry Professionals Award in Memory of Dr. Mario J. Molina, granted by Unión Química and the Mario Molina Center. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis and is an Emeritus Researcher in Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNII).

She has supervised 49 graduate theses and 50 undergraduate theses. According to Google Scholar, she has an h-index of 32 and more than 3,200 citations. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books, as well as more than 160 full conference proceedings papers, and she is the author of one patent. She has delivered more than 200 presentations, keynote lectures, and plenary talks, and serves as a reviewer of research proposals and manuscripts for more than 20 international journals.

She has led more than 15 research projects funded by CONAHCYT, SEMARNAT, INECC, SEP, SECTEI-CDMX, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Her research focuses on air, water, and soil quality assessment, climate change, and associated health risks. She is an active member of several scientific associations, including the Mexican Academy of Sciences, the Air & Waste Management Association, and the European Geosciences Union, and she served as National Executive Secretary of the Mexican Chemical Society.

She has developed educational materials such as the “Monumental Periodic Table” and the “Digital Periodic Table,” chemistry educational games, and outreach materials on pollution and climate change. She coordinated a PRONACES project involving ten external institutions, which led to the creation of the Megalopolis Air Pollution and Climate Change Network and the website Atmosfera y Salud.