Kenier Castillo received the BSc. degree in Mathematics (a five-year program) with a GPA of 7.13/5.0, the highest academic record in Cuba at the time. He later obtained an MSc. degree in Applied Mathematics (two-year program) with a GPA of 5.0/5.0, as part of the Cuban Educational Program for High Achieving Students (AAA). He was recognized with the National Award in Natural Sciences from the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, as well as the Evaristo Galois Prize from the Cuban Mathematics and Computer Science Society. Castillo earned an MSc. in Mathematical Engineering from Charles III University of Madrid (Spain) with a GPA of 9.25/10 (“19 valores” in Portugal, Decreto-Lei 66/2018) and the “Premio Extraordinario de Máster y Mejor Expediente Académico”. In 2012, he completed his PhD in Mathematics at the same university, supported by a FPU Scholarship, Spain’s most prestigious scholarship. His dissertation on spectral problems in orthogonal polynomials on the complex plane received the “Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado”. After completing his PhD, Castillo worked as a Young Talent Researcher (top 25%, Level A) at São Paulo State University (Brazil). Later, he became a Junior Researcher at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), starting in 2015 as an FCT Postdoctoral Fellow (ranked 1st). In 2023, Castillo was one of two mathematicians to be awarded a contract as FCT Assistant Researcher in the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (5th Edition), having attained the highest score among them (9.0/10) in the "Merit of the Candidate" category. Castillo has published over 55 papers in leading international journals on special functions and approximation theory, including Constr. Approx., Math. Comp., Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., Pacific J. Math., Adv. in Appl. Math., J. Approx. Theory, J. Math. Phys., Linear Algebra Appl., and J. Math. Anal. Appl., and authored a book: K. Castillo and J. Petronilho, A First Course on Orthogonal Polynomials: Classical Orthogonal Polynomials and Related Topics, CRC Press, Chapman & Hall, New York, 2024. Many of his papers, including some of his most significant results, are single-authored. He has collaborated with 24 co-authors from 10 research groups and participated in major international projects. He has delivered invited talks at over 45 conferences, colloquia, and seminars. He has also visited prestigious institutions such as the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), the University of Warsaw (Poland), the University of Cape Town (South Africa), and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Spain), delivering lectures and engaging in collaborative research. In 2021, Castillo co-supervised D. Mbouna’s doctoral thesis at the University of Coimbra. In 2024, he completed the supervision of J. Ribero-Dones’ doctoral thesis at the University of Cádiz (Spain). Currently, he supervises two PhD students at the University of Coimbra, A. Suzuki and G. Gordillo-Núñez, both funded by FCT. Since 2016, he has been a faculty member in two doctoral programs in mathematics in Portugal and Spain, teaching advanced courses on orthogonal polynomials, special functions, and their applications in number theory. He has served on the jury for four doctoral examinations and as an International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) commissioner in Portugal. Castillo also serves as Associate Editor of Integral Transform and Special Functions (Taylor & Francis) and Guest Editor of Journal of Mathematical Sciences (Springer), in addition to acting as Guest Editor for Coimbra Mathematical Texts (Springer). He recently founded the Portuguese Group on Special Functions, Orthogonal Polynomials, and Applications, organizing two monthly seminars and an annual course for a broader audience.