• Professors Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, Dr. Astrid Oddershede and Dr. Felisa Córdova, who were invited by the International Academic Program, took part in a seminar where they acquired new tools for problem solving through creative thinking. This will considerably benefit the students and will allow improving and updating the Industrial Engineering curricula.

Between January 07th and January 09th, the academics of our University’s Department of Industrial Engineering, Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, Dr. Astrid Oddershede and Dr. Felisa Córdova were invited by the International Academic Program (IAP) to take part in the workshop “Design Thinking and Innovation” at the renowned Harvard University, USA, where they acquired tools to solve problems in an innovating and creative way. They said this will enrich the educational experience of their students.

Specifically, the seminar was given by Professor Srikant Datar to 22 academics from different Latin American universities selected by the IAP and it was held at the Innovation Laboratory of Harvard Business School

Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, the Head of our University’s Department of Industrial Engineering, claimed that this continuing education program for university teachers “is a great progress in updating our teaching methodologies and in adopting thinking and problem solving innovative techniques that we will implement in our classrooms starting this year.”

“The topic that gathered us together in this seminar- Dr. Sepúlveda explained- was ‘Design Thinking’, an approach to develop innovation that is based on the designers and architects’ point of view, which have a very different way of thinking from engineers.”

Dr. Sepúlveda added that Design Thinking is “a very useful methodology to leave behind the conventional paradigms of engineering management, and for us academics, it will be very helpful to show our students that creativity can contribute to solve a large number of problems of our professional lives.”

“After this academic experience, we look for transmitting what we learned to students, so that they dare to break the known models and seek for creative answers to the challenges that they will face in the field of management,” he pointed out.

While, Dr. Felisa Córdova agreed with Dr. Sepúlveda and said that in this visit to Harvard, “we were able to see the learning and teaching methodologies used at this renowned American university and also had access to the researches that professors are now conducting there.”

“After this seminar, the idea is to promote and develop a disruptive way of thinking among our students at Universidad de Santiago de Chile and encourage them to develop a creative thinking, so that they behave out of the ordinary, break the paradigms to implement their innovations then,” Dr Córdova said.

“In the end, this will have an impact on our students, because when they know that their professors are constantly updating their knowledge and that they are taking part in academic activities at Harvard University, for example, they feel supported by teachers of excellence, what in turn makes them more committed with their classes,” she stressed.

For his part, the Head of the Department, Dr. Sepúlveda, concluded that updating knowledge and acquiring new learning and teaching experiences that are world-wide recognized “give our institution a great boost to keep our strong commitment to continue forming world-class professionals.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Claudia Matus and Bárbara Ossandón, both professors at the Physics and Mathematics Teaching program of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, presented a novel initiative for the academic field at the International Educational Summit 2016: XII Conference on Higher Education Management.

Claudia Matus and Bárbara Ossandón, both professors at the Physics and Mathematics Teaching program of Universidad de Santiago, had a remarkable participation at the International Educational Summit 2016: XII Conference on Higher Education Management.

This activity has become one of the most important meetings for exchanging experiences at a management level among higher education institutions in Latin America, with the participation of renowned international experts.

The conference was held at the Casa Central of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and professors Matus and Ossandón presented their work “Comunidad Práctica de Aprendizaje como elemento clave de gestión en el rediseño curricular de una carrera de pedagogía.”

“We designed a new innovative curriculum that based its pedagogical principles on a spiral modular design that involves the integration of theory and practice and is focused on the classroom activity and the student,” professor Ossandón explained.

She highlighted “the need of understanding curriculum management through an interdisciplinary team work and professional management. This means to strengthen the role of the head of the program and
distribute his/her tasks in four coordinations: practice, teaching, laboratories, and outreach and engagement. This last coordination has the purpose of providing feedback on the curriculum.”

“This interdisciplinary learning community that works collaboratively is made up of physics and mathematics teachers focused on didactics; an anthropologist, and other professionals,” she said. It is a group of committed people working in an environment where interdisciplinary collaborative work is usually understood as the sum of individual works,” she said.

“The strength of this initiative is the new design of the curriculum of the Physics and Mathematics Teaching program that allowed us to be accredited for seven years,” she added.

Conclusions

“What we want to share is the idea that, to achieve curriculum innovation, the line-up of collaborative interdisciplinary work teamsis very important in order to make the program management a profesional activity, as well as to encourage constant self-evaluation, what will result in constant improvement,” Professor Ossandón said.

The conference “helped us to validate the pedagogical principles of our program according to the different presentations given that addressed the latest trends in education that, in turn, allowed us to validate our own community, our team made up of the four coordinations. Besides, it enriched even more our pedagogical learning proposal,” she said.

“This activity is also an example of learning practice community,because on this occasion we learned about an education research network. This network is formed by universities in four continents and

it was created by the initiative of different communities, as the most advanced way of distributed leadership in the knowledge society, as Hargreaves said. This conference is a learning practice community
itself,” she added.

“We propose a professional, pro-active approach, where the head of the program can conduct research works with collaborative teams in the medium and long term,” she concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Edmundo Leiva, professor at the Informatics Department of Universidad de Santiago and Jorge Segura, who is pursuing a Master´s Degree in this area, developed a software program that recognizes facial microexpressions that evidence basic emotions more effectively than the human eye does. The program can detect sadness, anger and rage - that are expressed through involuntary expressions - even when they last for less than a second. According to professor Leiva, it could have multiple applications: detecting criminals at airports, selecting and recruiting staff for key positions or helping in psychological virtual therapy on Internet.

Affective computing is a research field that relates to the interpretation of human emotions through technology. It looks like science fiction, but it is more real than it appears, and our University is making progress in this matter.

Dr. Edmundo Leiva, professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering of Universidad de Santiago, together with Jorge Segura, a student at the Master’s Program of that unit, developed a software program that can identify emotions by reading human facial expressions even when someone is trying to hide them.

By means of a camera that captures facial muscles movements, it is possible to identify microexpressions, even those lasting less than a second.

“When a person is trying to deceive someone, this program recognizes his/her facial microexpressions. Microexpressions are brief facial expressions shown according to the basic emotions experienced, like anger, happiness, sadness and disgust,” professor Leiva explained.

Professor Leiva - PhD in Informatics - said that although there are experts who study and get certified in interpreting emotions through the face, their estimation range is only 63%, while “our software program has exceeded 70%.”

“Very few people are able to detect microexpressions, because an evident anger expression could hide or mask sadness, what could show for half a second. This microexpressions detector can read that emotion in a fraction of a second,” he explained.

Apps
 
Professor Leiva explained that this innovative tool has a wide scope of applications, from supporting police work to detecting the truthfulness of data provided in recruitment and selection processes of staff for key positions.

“It could be useful for detecting terrorists at airports, or even for virtual therapy given by some psychologists through Internet and Skype. The therapist could have some indications if the patient is lying or, for example, in case of senior people, if they took their medication or not,” professor Leiva said, betting that the list of possibilities could be very long. He also thinks that in the future, it could become an application for mobile devices.

“We speculate that in the future, even Google Glasses (optical displays connected to Internet networks) could have a microexpression recognition device, so that everyone would be able to detect if a person is trying to hide an underlying emotion,” he stressed.

The psychology field that related to facial expression metrics was developed by the American psychologist Paul Ekman, who is a pioneer in detecting the facial expressions of seven basic emotions considered to be linked to the atavistic part of the brain. “Sadness, anger, happiness, fear, surprise, contempt and disgust, which are emotions that all human beings show as a species heritage and not as a trait of a particular culture,” professor Leiva concluded.

The Department of Informatics Engineering is planning to show its work in this line and other research lines to the University community through different stands displaying related technology. Professor Leiva will participate to show this interesting program to anyone who is interested in knowing better about this matter.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr Paola Arias, together with her research team, will search for signals of new particles in cosmological observations and lab experiments, in the context of a Fondecyt Regular project 2016. Currently, there are independent efforts worldwide oriented to this search; the team’s goal is to propose new and better detection techniques.

The search for new particles has been in the general interest for a long time. The most popular example in this field of study is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle collider that allows studying the elements which are part of the matter that forms the Universe. However, the mysteries hidden in the vastness of the Cosmos are countless, like the ones in the “dark sector”, which is formed by particles that cannot be easily observed, because they do not interact with our detectors; we only see their gravitational effects, as in the case of dark matter.

“Our project will look for particles different from the ones than one may expect to find in the LHC, as they would distinctively have a very little mass. Currently, there are independent efforts worldwide oriented to this search, but our goal is to propose new and better detection techniques,” Dr Arias explains. The research team in charge of this Fondecyt Regular project (1161150) “Looking for signatures of a hidden sector” is made up of scientists from Argentina, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

According to professor Arias, their work is based on observational evidence in this field of study that suggests that the Universe has a higher content of particles if compared to what we see now. She explains that this information has led to the formulation of different theoretical models on the properties of these new particles and predictions about how we could watch them.

“Technological progress has been possible thanks to the knowledge and understanding of the world around us,” she adds. “Particle Physics is a basic science and its purpose is to understand the Universe where we live in. For now, we cannot measure how this will contribute to society. As we still have not learned about the intrinsic nature of these new particles, we do not know how they can be a contribution in the future. Undoubtedly, understanding the Universe is a question that has fascinated mankind since its origins.” 

For Dr Arias, being part of the Department Of Physics at Universidad de Santiago de Chile has been a great experience. "The level of the research work at the university is very high and we expect to continue strengthening it,” she concludes.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Among the different speakers that took part in the Colloquium “Water: a renewable resource?”, one of them, Alfredo Zolezzi, founder of the Advanced Innovation Center, considers that the contrast between technology progress and the poverty and shortage of sanitary resources affecting millions of people is “dramatic”. He says that the solution to this problem is to make sure that innovation reaches people who need it.

The recent celebration of the World Water Day brought again to the national and international agenda the importance of promoting sustainable practices for the good use of water resources in the planet. The Colloquium “Water: a renewable resource?” was held in this context and it was led by the Association of Researchers for Development and Interdisciplinarity (INDI, its Spanish acronym), that groups researchers from the different faculties of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

The activity brought together three speakers that approached the implications and significance of this strategic resource from very different points of view.

Leyla Noriega, journalist of Red Mi Voz*, who has experience in working with indigenous communities in the north of Chile, gave the presentation “Between the Andean world view and the community’s political core”. She explains that “our philosophy understands water like a living being. The resource is distributed according to its ancestral use by common law; that is to say, based on customs or natural rights.”

However, this expert in communications says that this approach is little respected, as a consequence of a series of processes that have affected the native peoples of the north of the country, like “Chileanization and the disassembly of ancestral authorities.”

Then, Alfredo Zolezzi, founder of the Advanced Innovation Center spoke about “Meaningful innovation”, considering it like a concept that has always been present in the history of humankind. “We have never had as much technology available as we do now, but it is dramatic to see this progress without recognizing that there are millions of people living in poverty, without basic sanitary services,” he says.

Effective solutions

In light of this situation that accounts for a complex reality, specific answers are required. According to Zolezzi, the solution lies in changing the way of doing things and he suggests “doing activism with proposals that make sure that innovation will reach people who need it.”
 
In his case, innovation became socially meaningful through the creation of the Plasma Water Sanitation System (PWSS), a water purification system that allows transforming polluted water particles into plasma, making it potable.

This system was implemented in 2011, in Fundo San José, a shanty town in Cerrillos, Santiago, thanks to a partnership with Un Techo Para Mi País**. It is worth to mention that this shanty town’s residents were resettled in June, 2013.

The last presentation was given by Dr. Silvio Montalvo, professor at the Department of Chemistry Engineering of our University, who spoke about his research regarding water resources.

At present, he is working on the treatment of sludge generated at sewage water treatment plants, in order to develop technologies to optimize the anaerobic digestion process that allows breaking down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.

“If we are able to preserve the water that we already have and keep it less polluted, we will be contributing to this matter,” the researcher says.

Translator’s notes: *Red Mi Voz is a digital network that promotes the practice of citizen journalism. **Un Techo Para Mi País is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes youth volunteers to fight extreme poverty in Latin America, by constructing transitional housing and implementing social inclusion programs.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Renato Chávez and biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena were honored at the 5^th Congress of European Microbiologists, in Leipzig (Germany) for their research on bioactive compounds from Antarctic marine sponges, which present a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

The study’s innovation and impact and the results shown were the reasons for giving the Best Poster Presentation Award to the study conducted by a team of researchers from Universidad de Santiago and Universidad de Chile in one of the most important events worldwide in the field of Microbiology: the Federation of European Microbiological Societies Congress, FEMS 2013.

The research team is composed of Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Universidad de Santiago, and the biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena, also from Universidad de Santiago, together with other specialists from Universidad de Chile. They conducted the study for three years.

The study is based on the analysis of new bioactive compounds, present in filamentous fungi of Antarctic marine sponges. These compounds show a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

Discovering these new species and their properties, supported by the required laboratory research, could lead to potential applications in Biotechnology, especially in the field of Pharmacology.

Regarding the study’s development, biochemist Javiera Norambuena says that, in order to find these bioactive compounds, it was necessary to search poorly explored places, as in those places there are more possibilities of finding non-cultured organisms. “That is the reason why we isolated fungi from Antarctic marine sponges, which usually have chemical compounds containing secondary metabolites; that is to say, they are not required for the organism’s survival, but they give it advantages over other members of the population”, she adds.

Regarding the study’s results, biochemist Luis Figueroa notes, “a high percentage of the isolated fungi could not be identified, which suggested the existence of new genera in the microbial community from Antarctic marine sponges; therefore, we can conclude that the fungi community in the Antarctic marine sponges studied is completely different from the one in common marine sponges.”

“We are on the right track”

Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher and professor of Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, says, “The honor awarded confirms that our work with fungi from Antarctic sponges is of international interest.”

“The award confirms that regarding the study of Antarctic marine eukaryotes (fungi and yeasts), we are on the right track, what encourages us to continue in this line. We are aware that we are dealing with new species that have not been described yet, so describing them is among our next goals. Also, we know that these species produce chemicals with very interesting properties that could be used in the Biotechnology field. As for the students participating, this award is most certainly an incentive for them as young researchers,” Dr. Chávez adds.

The full research team that took part in the poster presentation is made up by undergraduate and graduate students from Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile: Marlene Henríquez, Ivanna Araya, Andrea Beiza and Karen Vergara, while the work presented at the Congress is supported by Fondecyt Project 11090192, conducted by Dr. Inmaculada Vaca, from Universidad de Chile.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•     Physical Review Letters (PRL) will publish an article about this important development in the control of chemical reactions using quantum optics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera, researcher at Universidad de Santiago, explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

At the end of the month, the renowned American journal of Physics, Physical Review Letters (PRL) of the American Physical Society (APS), will publish an important discovery in this field made by Dr Felipe Herrera, professor at the Department of Physics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and Dr Francis C. Spano, professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA.

The article (“Cavity-controlled chemistry in molecular ensembles”) will highlight the development made by these researchers in the control of chemical reactions by means of quantum physics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

Graphically, the model consists of an optical cavity surrounded by two mirrors that do not allow light to go through, “so the amount of energy is the minimum possible in an electromagnetic field. That is to say, there is cero or one unit of light energy, which is also called photon,” Dr Herrera explains.

Dr Herrera remembers that, at a first stage, they asked themselves about “the effects that the optical cavity could have on chemical reactions or electron transfers: if the cavity would accelerate them, suppress them or if nothing would happen at all.”

In this context, the researcher says that they finally “found a mechanism through which this quantum optical cavity can dramatically accelerate the reaction and electron transfer in molecules.”

The basics

With regards to this theoretical discovery, Dr Herrera explains the process: “First, there are two players: the electron that is going to be transferred and the vibration of the molecules that, in a way, affect how this electron is going to be transferred from one place to another. If there is too much vibration, the electron will be disturbed and the transfer will be inefficient.”

“When you add another factor, like the optical cavity, there is a third player: the photon, which will now interact with the electron inside the cavity,” he says.  

“We discovered that quantized light plays a game in which the electron becomes a photon and the photon turns again into an electron and vice versa. The game only occurs inside the cavity and it makes the electron to stop interacting with the vibration, eliminating or blocking vibrations,” he explains. 

With regard to what material inside the cavity accelerates or reduces the electron transfer, Dr Herrera says that they have tested organic materials or organic molecules, like the ones that form the human body. “This organic material could also be a protein, according to the experiments conducted by other researchers that have based their studies on our discovery,” he adds.

Physical Review Letters

The article about this development was first published in the online edition of Physical Review Letters and, at the end of June, it will be published in the print edition. Dr Herrera says this is a great honor for them, as this journal is the most prestigious one in the field of Physics.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Universidad de Santiago’s interdisciplinary research team, led by Dr. Silvia Matiacevich from the Technological Faculty, is focused on developing an edible film that could increase the shelf life of fresh foods by 30%.

Improving the way of preserving foods has been a permanent concern in food industry. This is the reason why packaging is essential for the quality and shelf life of the product. But this packaging should be in harmony with the environment.

In light of this situation, a sustainable alternative for food packaging has been developed: food covering edible films, which are being widely used and have become a world trend nowadays. At Universidad de Santiago, an interdisciplinary research team is trying to replicate this development, giving value added to different national byproducts.

This initiative will be viable thanks to the Associative Dicyt Project called “Bioactive Coatings for Foods”, which gathers together experts from different faculties of the University.

“We will use food industry byproducts which are considered as dispensable or waste material. We are going to give them a value added by adding antioxidant and antimicrobial components to them in order to increase the shelf life of fresh food products,” Dr. Daniel López says.

Academics from three different faculties gathered for this purpose: Dr. Rubén Bustos, from the Faculty of Engineering (Department of Chemical Engineering); Dr. Diego Venegas and Dr. Marlén Gutiérrez, from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology (Department of Materials Chemistry); and Dr. Daniel López and Dr. Silvia Matiacevich, from the Technological Faculty (Department of Food Science and Technology), being Dr. Matiacevich the leader of the project.

During the two years scheduled for the project, the researchers plan to study the synergistic effect of this combination of products and they expect to increase food shelf life by over 30%.

Interdisciplinarity

Most of the academics related to this project are part of a larger group created by the end of 2013 called Indi, Asociación de Investigadores por el Desarrollo e Interdisciplinariedad of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, a group of researchers that promotes development and interdisciplinarity at the university.

“All of us have participated in some of these initiatives at some point, seeking for this interdisciplinarity. This is how we have met other people and created contacts. What is good is that more than just admiring the work of others, we have the real possibility of conducting studies together. For this reason, we value this type of projects, as they promote the integration and interdisciplinarity that define a university,” Dr. Matiacevich says.

Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

• The candidacy of the renowned electrochemist for the highest scientific award of the country is supported by our University and different associations and representatives of the national and international scientific world.

With the support of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, through its highest authority, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the candidacy application of the University’s renowned researcher was submitted last week. He has been recognized by his peers and has been honored by international scientific societies that validate the experience and contributions made by this researcher of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology.

The National Award is the maximum prize given by the State to acknowledge the work made by Chileans who stand out by their excellence, creativity and significant contribution to culture and the development of different areas of knowledge and the arts.

In the University’s scientific community nobody has been awarded this prize yet; for this reason, Maritza Páez and Jorge Pavez, both academics at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, did not hesitate to promote Doctor José Zagal’s nomination to the National Award of Natural Sciences 2014, who has been honored both in Chile and abroad.

Contribution to education

Jorge Pavez, a researcher, and Maritza Páez, the Director of the Department of Chemistry of Materials of Universidad de Santiago, were both among Dr. Zagal’s students and they highlight his enormous contribution to teaching, as well as his scientific career. At an academic level, they stress the work he has done directing Master’s degree and doctoral dissertations.

“Dr. Zagal’s contribution is notable, because it has positioned Universidad de Santiago and the country in the electrochemistry research world scene,” Dr. Pavez said. He added that Dr. Zagal’s nomination is based on his career throughout these years contributing to this field, both at a scientific and at an educational level, at training new generations.”

Also, professor Pavez said: “His contribution to electrochemistry has gone beyond the country’s borders and the region. Proofs of this are the two international prizes that were awarded to him this year by the world most renowned scientific societies in this field: the Electrochemical Society (ECS), in the United States, and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE), in Europe, that record the highest-impact publications on electrochemistry.”

In April and June, both societies, ECS and ISE, sent Dr. Zagal letters of recognition appointing him “Fellow”, “for his exceptional contribution to electrochemistry” and “scientific achievements.” The ISE has scheduled its awarding ceremony for September, during its annual meeting in Switzerland, while the ECS has scheduled its ceremony for October, during its bi-annual meeting that will be held in Mexico.

Valuable work

According to the candidate for the National Award of Natural Sciences, this year 2014 has been especially meaningful due to the recognition of his work. On the one hand, he received the recognition of the societies mentioned above, and on the other, he received the support from the University and his peers.

“Curiously, this year I have been honored by two international associations and I think this is important, because they are external organizations that recognize that, at Universidad de Santiago, our work is valuable,” Dr. Zagal said.

In addition, renowned scientists of other universities support him too and so do the editors of noted international publications in which he is part of the editorial board, like the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, International Journal of Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, ISRN Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society and Electrochemical Energy Technology.

At present, Dr. Zagal is working in two lines of research at Universidad de Santiago: The development of electrodes for energy conversion systems and the development of sensors for detecting substances in fluids.

“There are prominent scientists at our University, but none of them has been honored with a National Award and I believe that sometime one of them should be awarded a prize like this; this would be very important for the prestige of our University, because it is one of the universities that conducts more research in Chile,” Dr. Zagal said.

The jury that will decide on the National Award 2014 (according to Law 19.169) is made up by the Minister of Education, Nicolás Eyzaguirre; the President of Universidad de Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; the President of the Chilean Academy of Science of Instituto Chile, Juan Alfonso Asenjo; the President of Universidad de Antofagasta (on behalf of the CRUCH), Alberto Loyola Morales; and the previous award winner (2012), Bernabé Santelices González

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago was appointed representative in Latin America by her peers during the last meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society. “It is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she said.

During the 25^th Meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society (I-APS), Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago, was appointed representative of this society in Latin America. She is the first Chilean to hold this position.

The meeting was held in Chile, for the first time, between May 24^th-27^th, at the Centro de Extensión of Universidad Católica, in Santiago. Carolina Aliaga and Alexis Aspee, both professors at Universidad de Santiago, were part of the organizing committee.

“All the participants were so glad about the high level of the meeting. It was beyond their expectations,” professor Aliaga said. “They all appreciated the level of the works presented.”

The organizing committee had the collaboration of researchers at Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Andrés Bello. More than 150 people attended the activity: undergraduate and graduate students, professors and researchers from USA, Spain, Germany and Argentina, among other countries.

The meeting, which focal point was Photochemistry, included works related to bioenergy, nanocatalysis, photoluminescence, photodynamic therapies, basic chemistry and others.

“I feel glad because everyone can contribute to science development through cooperation and generate new collaboration opportunities among researchers,” professor Aliaga said. “This is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she added.

Regarding her new position, she will act on behalf of the association suggesting speakers for future meetings, awards for experienced researchers and young researchers, among others.

“I think the first challenge I have to face is to position the names of researchers who are just starting in this field and support good students,” she said.

The Inter-American Photochemical Society has more than 600 members in academia, industry, and government throughout North and South America. It promotes collaborative networks among its members, so that they can share their experiences and knowledge.

Translated by Marcela Contreras