Dr. Benavides studies the energy and environmental effects of conversion technologies used to produce fuels and chemicals from, fossil-based, bio-based and waste feedstocks, including waste plastic conversion to fuels and products. She has also studied catalyst production, their impact on the life cycle of biofuels, and the fate of catalyst waste materials from catalyst production and use. She has been studying bio-based plastic production pathways to quantify the life cycle GHG emissions and fossil fuel consumption of bioplastics, considering end-of-life (EOL) tradeoffs between biodegradability and carbon sequestration. She works closely with colleagues at other national laboratories on relevant projects supported by the U.S. Department of Energy including sustainability analysis of biofuels and bioproducts through the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC), Agile BioFoundry (ABF), and Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) consortia. Dr. Benavides’ work is used to update and enhance Argonne’s Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model. She earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operation Research from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from National University of Colombia. Her PhD thesis focused on the improvement of biodiesel production through implementing optimal production strategies and operating policies. At UIC, she worked for the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy (SISE) Program and received the Alumni of the Year Award from that program in 2014.