Dr. María de los Angeles Valdés Ramírez is from Matamoros, State of Tamaulipas, in México. She studied  soil sciences in France at the Research Institute ofr Development and obtained her doctoral degree from the School of Sciences of the University of Caen in France.

Forty years ago she founded the Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology of the National School of Biological Sciences of the National Polytechnic Institute and has been its head since then. She has also been a member of the faculty at this school at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Her research has focused on the study of the interaction of soil microorganisms that foster  plant development and production, and she is considered to be an authority in this field at the international level. She has developed forestry technologies and made significant contributions in the field of molecular ecology of forests.

In rcognition of her work she has received the following distinctions and awards: Ecology Award from the Mexican Academy of Sciences, 1986; “Lázaro Cárdenas” Medal as an Outstanding Researcher of the Polytechnic, 1992; Research prize of the Environmental and Sustainable Development Program from the Polytechnic, 1996-1997; Research Award “Polytechnic Merit”, 1999; and the National Prize for Merit in Forestry (2002). She was selected as a story case for Latin America on the 25th anniversary of the International Foundation for Science and has been a candidate to receive the UNESCO/H. Rubinstein award from France, the Women in Science award (1998), the Sven Brohult award from Sweden in 1998 and 2003. She was also granted the National Prize of Science and the Arts in 2008.

She is a member of the Mexican  Science Advisory Council of the Presidency of the Republic and belongs to the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores.