At the meeting, joint work was defined in the areas of academic, scientific and cultural exchange, with a view to strengthening the international ties of the house of higher education.

A productive meeting was held by the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and the Italian Ambassador to Chile, Dr. Mauro Battocchi, visiting the Coquimbo Region.

At the meeting, both authorities decided to formalize a working alliance that will allow addressing the field of student exchange between the ULS and Italian universities, as well as a cultural program defined in the area of ​​links with the environment and extension, to commemorate in La Serena, the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci.

In this regard, the Rector of the University of La Serena, stated: “we will work to value the contribution that the Italian colony has made to the development of our region, addressing through academic and cultural lines, an exchange that allows us to strengthen the relationship between both countries, but mainly, between the city ​​of La Serena and Trento. “We will work to be a link for the promotion of culture and language.”

Meanwhile, the Italian ambassador, Mauro Battocchi, emphasized that “we seek to develop projects that allow an academic and research relationship through joint work that materializes in the signing of a work agreement where agronomy, engineering in Food, among other topics, will be of great interest to us.”

The ambassador's delegation was made up of the head of the school area of ​​the Italian Embassy, ​​Gianfranco Rosso, the Italian consul in La Serena, Franco Dalbosco, and the Rector of the Scuola Italiana Alcide de Gasperi, Carlos Slomp.

Written by Karina Damke, Rectory

The student is participating in the fourth season of the culinary program on Channel 13.

At 23 years old and in the final stretch of her degree in Environmental Civil Engineering, Antonia Figueroa Alvarado aims to win the culinary program “MasterChef”, broadcast on Channel 13 screens on Fridays and Sundays in prime time. And the student from the University of La Serena has stood out in the fourth version of the television space thanks to her talent and personality.

“I want to thank the University because they are activities that have nothing to do with the degree, but with me as a person and they have supported me in everything. My career is very important to me and I am going to finish it no matter what,” the young woman told Diario El Día, since she is making the recordings of the program compatible with her studies.

In addition to her passion for cooking, Antonia is recognized for having been the winner of two national beauty pageants, such as “Miss World” 2016 and “Miss Earth” 2018, which allowed her to represent the country in international competitions.

The virtues of this talented young woman do not end there, as she has been playing the violin since she was 5 years old, being a member of the “La Antena” youth symphony orchestra and the “Musas” violin quartet. In addition, she has been a national taekwondo champion in her category, she practices volleyball, judo and speaks 4 languages: Spanish, English, German and Portuguese.

Read article published by Diario El Día

Written by Ignacio Aguilar, Journalism student

Dr. Pablo Castro's publication tells the story of a boy with autism named Thales and his experience of school inclusion.

The social and school inclusion of children with autism is the central theme of the children's book entitled "He was my friend”, published in Brazil by the academic of the University of La Serena, Dr. Pablo Castro, together with Dr. Luciene Tognetta, from the Paulista State University, and which is part of a series of school coexistence of the Adonis Publishing.

The professor from the Department of Psychology commented that the book, which tells the story of a boy with autism named Thales and his experience of school inclusion, “was published in February of this year and has been widely accepted and disseminated; to date, 3.700 copies have already been sold and it has also been acquired by Brazilian municipalities for all fifth-year students in their schools, and by private schools in the state of Sao Paulo and Bahia”.

The book illustrated by cartoonist Paulo R. Masserani was presented at the Gostinho de Leitura space of the Adonis Publishing, in the city of Americana, opportunity in which Dr. Castro participated in the signing of texts. In said event, the story was told to the boys, girls and adults in attendance, by the storytellers Vanessa Aranha Morimoto and Alyssa Tomiyama. Plus, there was live music and popcorn for everyone to enjoy while listening to the book's narration.

Visit to educational establishments

During his stay in Brazil, the ULS academic visited schools, signing books, talking with students from more than a dozen courses, and interacting with teachers, administrators, and parents. The schools visited in the state of Sao Paulo were the Augusta Ravagnani Basso school, in the Cruzeiro neighborhood, and Neusa de Souza Campos, in Rosa e Silva Park, both in the city of Sumaré. He also visited the Biocentric Inclusive College, in the city of Nova Odessa.

Written by Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department

The process aims to develop and enhance basic knowledge in the fundamental areas of each career that students who entered Via Quota PACE or PSU PACE will take.

The Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education Program (PACE) of the University of La Serena, in its Higher Education Accompaniment (AES) component, began this week the Early Leveling Process for the new generation of students entering the university. house of higher education, made up of more than a hundred students.

The process, whose objective is to develop and enhance basic knowledge in the fundamental areas of each career that students who entered Via Quota PACE or PSU PACE will take, is divided into two stages: Initial Online Leveling and Early Face-to-Face Leveling.

The Coordinator of Support in Higher Education - PACE ULS, Claudia Toledo, explained this process, “initial leveling via online is a commitment to carrying out individual work, reinforcing those areas that will be the basis of your career with guidance from academics and using a space for consultation via email.”

Regarding the Initial Online Leveling, which takes place from March 11 to 15, the AES English mentor, Javiera Contreras, stated that the areas in which the students work are English, mathematics, language, biology, chemistry and music, where “ Each academic mentor guides the work to be carried out during the week, with a space for consultations via email and ending with an online diagnosis by area.

On the other hand, the AES psychologist, María de Los Ángeles Bonilla, highlighted the number of students participating in this Leveling, pointing out that “this year, at the University of La Serena, 116 students were integrated via Quota or PSU PACE; However, they will be joined by 14 students who completed the career change process, as well as 3 transfers from other Higher Education institutions assigned to the Program, therefore, the total number of students is 133, which means a great challenge for the PACE ULS team of professionals.”

The second stage of this process is called Early Face-to-Face Leveling, which will take place from March 18 to 22. The AES Academic Manager, María Fernanda Fuentealba, indicated that the purpose of this Leveling “is to generate a device for detecting and leveling specific competencies by faculty or careers that our students will face in the most critical subjects of the first year, as well as provide initial transversal tools to support the process of insertion into university life.”

Finally, the AES psychologist, Paula Vargas, mentioned that the psychoeducational area aims to address topics that contribute to adaptation and university challenges, such as motivational talks, academic coaches, frustration management and tolerance workshops, and spaces where They can learn about the extracurricular activities offered by the school, culminating this week with a bonding day between peer tutors and 2019 cohort students.

Written by Daniel Aguayo, PACE ULS Program

Positioning the Coquimbo Region as a hub of youth entrepreneurship and innovation by organizing a pioneering event, in festival format, is the objective of Future Young Fest, a free initiative that will bring together young people between 15 and 24 years old.

Representatives of academic institutions, municipalities, business leaders and authorities of the region met to constitute the board of directors of the Future Young Fest, a project that is supported by Corfo and its Support Program for Entrepreneurship and Regional Innovation (PAEIR), and which is financed by the Regional Government and the participation of the University of La Serena, a pioneer institution in promoting entrepreneurship through different student events such as the Business Ideas Fairs, Entrepreneur Congresses and the Fénix Fest, which have been an inspiring source for interesting productive initiatives, even of international scope.

The idea is that more than 5 thousand young people share experiences and dreams around the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity, with a familiar language and with the topics of interest of this segment, which will undoubtedly generate impact initiatives in the future.

“We can deliver what we are doing in innovation and entrepreneurship. This is an initiative that undoubtedly benefits our young people in the region, the future of our country and will be an important contribution for us to continue growing,” indicated the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés  who attended accompanied by the Director of the Information and Computing Center, Mg. Luis Andres Moya.

Future Young Fest It will also have space for music, presentations by prominent mentors, technology, robotics, project competitions and other instances that seek to generate impact and openness to new ideas and the generation of an innovation ecosystem linked to the needs of the environment.

The meeting, scheduled for June 22 and 23, will take place in Peñuelas Space.

Written by: Claudia Farías, Communications Department 

During a visit to the University of La Serena, Dr. David Crowther, from the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), highlighted the technological developments of LIITEC-ULS.

Some 57 thousand teachers who make up the National Science Teachers Association of the United States (NSTA), they will learn about the technological resources that support science teaching developed by the University of La Serena, through its Laboratory of Research and Technological Innovation for Science Education (LIITEC-ULS), after the former president of said association, professor of Science Education and Director of the Raggio Research Center for STEM Education (University of Nevada), Dr David Crowther, learned about these applications in detail during his visit to the state campus of the Coquimbo Region.

In a meeting with the LIITEC team, led by the academic of the Department of Biology, Francisco López, Dr. Crowther was presented with the augmented reality applications of “3D Mitotic Cell Division” y “3D meiosis”, and a collaborative repository “Cellfie-ULS”, a support system for capturing, labeling, managing and publishing photographs taken through an optical microscope using a mobile device.

“I learned about technologies that make it much easier to learn about difficult concepts such as Meiosis and Mitosis (…) All of this is very important for children to understand and comprehend science,” highlighted Dr. Crowther, who also indicated that these technological developments of the University of La Serena will share them with the teachers who make up the NSTA for their implementation and, in the future, merge with those that already operate in the United States.

The American expert added that these types of applications are very beneficial for children, since they allow them not only to learn science from a book, but also by using apps on a smartphone, tablet or computer. “They have much more access to be able to develop this knowledge. That is something that the association is taking into consideration and it is something very relevant for us, creating applications to improve scientific teaching,” he pointed out.  

Regarding ULS technological developments, the Executive Director of LIITEC, Francisco López, mentioned that “today these applications are used in classes of undergraduate subjects at the University; However, they can be used by anyone, they are free and available in virtual stores, and that is the experience we share with Dr. Crowther and his colleagues.”

Workshop "Teach Earth Sciences"

Another of the activities carried out by Dr. David Crowther, who visits Chile thanks to the collaboration between the Fondecyt 1161812 project (Dr. Claudia Vergara, U. Alberto Hurtado), the University of La Serena and the Chilean Society of Scientific Education (SChEC), was the Workshop: "Teaching Earth Sciences: from activities to content through inquiry", aimed at in-service science teachers, head teachers of educational establishments, and ULS academics.

Written by: Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department