This year, the University of La Serena Award went to the civil mining engineer, Simón López Salinas, who received the distinction from the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés.

The two solemn graduation ceremonies of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of La Serena were held in the Aula Magna of the Ignacio Domeyko Campus, where 234 new engineers and architects received their professional degrees.

The 2018 class is made up of 26 new professionals from Architecture, 35 from Mining Execution Engineering, 37 from Mechanical Execution Engineering, 6 from Food Engineering, 15 from Construction Engineering, 3 from Civil Construction, 21 from Civil Engineering, 8 from Environmental Civil Engineering, 59 of Mining Civil Engineering, 12 of Industrial Civil Engineering and 12 of Mechanical Civil Engineering.

During his speech, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the state campus, Dr. Mario Durán Lillo, told the new professionals that “they can say with great pride that they are graduates of an institution that is more than a century old in the training of professionals in our country. . The above is not something minor, we are a state and regional institution that does not date from 1981, but from 1887. We have a history of 131 years and these roots mark an important difference and tradition when comparing us with other universities.

The Dean congratulated the new professionals for having managed to achieve this important goal of obtaining their professional degree and added that the “commitment of the Faculty of Engineering to you is to continue working on the processes of change that will allow us to continue training upright professionals, seeking to generate development strategies in the fields of engineering and architecture, offering them continuous training through postgraduate and postgraduate programs, with the main objective being to form world-class human capital.

Recognitions for graduates

In both events, the Faculty of Engineering of the ULS, represented by its Dean, gave recognition to the best graduates of each degree in this promotion, which went to Alex Vivar Valencia (Architecture), Estefany Maluenda Díaz (Mining Execution Engineering ), Héctor Valenzuela Araneda (Mechanical Execution Engineering), Camila Cortés Herrera (Food Engineering), Felipe Jamett Egaña (Construction Engineering), Yennifer Pérez Rojas (Civil Engineering), Giacomo Baldo Castro (Environmental Civil Engineering), Simón López Salinas (Civil Mining Engineering), Sebastián Ángel Cerda (Mechanical Civil Engineering) and Sebastián Villalba Zepeda (Industrial Civil Engineering).

Meanwhile, the graduate of Civil Mining Engineering, Simón López, obtained the University of La Serena Award, established by the Rector's Office and awarded to the graduate of each Faculty with the highest grade average of his class. The distinction was presented by the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro.

Furthermore, in the first ceremony, Felipe Jamett received the recognitions granted by the College of Civil Builders of Chile AG, the Chilean Chamber of Construction and the INVECC Foundation, represented by Héctor Suazo Illanes (regional treasurer), Sergio Quilodrán Muñoz (regional president ) and Luis Alcayaga Barraza (executive secretary), respectively. While Estefany Maluenda was the distinguished graduate from the College of Execution Engineers AG, represented by Eng. Gustavo Ángel Cortés, and Alex Vivar, the winner of the College of Architects of Chile AG

Likewise, in the second graduation ceremony, Simón López was presented with the award from the College of Engineers of Chile AG and Yennifer Pérez with the INVECC Foundation distinction, recognitions received from the hands of Raúl Vergara Contreras (president of Zonal Coquimbo - College of Engineers ) and Luis Díaz Zamora (director of the INVECC Board of Directors).

The ceremonies concluded with the farewell words of Rocío Andía Astudillo, from Mechanical Execution Engineering, and Gloria Escobar Medina, from Civil Engineering, representing the new professionals who graduated from the ULS.

The graduation ceremonies were attended by university authorities and the Faculty of Engineering, managers, Department and School directors, academics, parents and relatives of the graduates of the class of 2018 and representatives of professional associations, foundations and companies.

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Authorities, academics, families and students joined the program of activities that included talks and guided visits to a series of laboratories that opened their doors to show and teach how science is done at the only state university in the Coquimbo Region.

Very early and with enthusiasm, the community of La Serena arrived at the Andrés Bello Campus of the University of La Serena, to join the activities programmed by the house of higher education to commemorate the first National Day of Science, Technology, Knowledge and the innovation.

The activity was headed by the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and the Regional Ministerial Secretary of Education, Luis Tello.

On the occasion, Rector Avilés pointed out that “our institution, as a state and regional university, through its Strategic Development Plan, has assumed a firm commitment to strengthening scientific development, mainly in the areas associated with the most relevant requirements. research for regional development. Research development in recent years has been marked by the highest financing in the area, and the number of projects in execution and the highest scientific and technological productivity in the history of the institution. All this, despite the scarce contributions from the State to its universities.”

Furthermore, the university authority emphasized that “as a result of the systematization of activities and the definition of mechanisms and guidelines, it has been possible to execute a policy of strong incentives for this activity and scientific productivity. This significant increase in scientific productivity, both in quality and quantity, has allowed us to achieve important achievements in research, highlighted by various international and national rankings and studies, in what we could define as the stage of strengthening and consolidation of institutional research." .

For his part, the Seremi of Education, Luis Tello, representing the Mayor, expressed that “we are celebrating this day with the support of the state universities, who, within the framework of Science Day, have come together to highlight such an important instance. As a Government, we are going to support the development of science because we have the need to strengthen programs that allow us to improve the quality of education.”

Activity program

Among the initiatives programmed by the University of La Serena, there was the talk given by the Director of Research and Development of the ULS, Dr. Amelia Ramírez, who presented the presentation "Science for a smart city." The center of the talk addressed the topic of how scientific development must provide answers to the needs that humanity is raising, and to this end, the universities have worked to develop a series of initiatives that directly benefit the local community.

After Dr. Ramírez's talk, the different tours of the laboratories of the Department of Biology began, spaces where participants could learn about the augmented reality project and an exhibition on the arthropods of the Chilean desert.

Continuing with the activities, the Department of Food Engineering prepared its laboratories around the theme “The route of superfoods”, where the basis was to show how raw materials are transformed into products rich in bioactive compounds.

For its part, the Dentistry program opened the Teaching Assistance Clinic, to present the technological advances around oral medicine, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy prepared the talk “A walk through the universe.”

The Mechanics Department was also part of the tours, where the Intikallpa 4 solar car was on display.

Opinion of the attendees

Jasmín Orrego and Cintia Flores, both from Saint Mery School, came to participate in the activity and after concluding the visit they left their impressions: “we are very happy because we were able to appreciate how they work in the laboratories, we were impressed by the topic of how it can be taught through cell phone applications. “It was very entertaining.”

Likewise, Jaqueline Carvajal, biology teacher at Colegio San Joaquín, came with her family to participate in this event. “It is very interesting and attractive that the University of La Serena opens its spaces to the community, I brought my children because they like science and one of them is about to graduate from fourth grade. This visit also helps to renew our knowledge,” she stated.

It should be noted that this celebration of the National Day of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation was organized by the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies of the University of La Serena and was carried out in conjunction with the State Universities of Chile, who in Together they decided to commemorate this day through the Research Network made up of the Vice-Chancellors and Research Directors.

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The interdisciplinary perspective that this instance fosters allowed students to develop projects with high innovation value.

The Coordination of the Physics II subject of the Civil Engineering major developed the “Electromagnetic Devices” exhibition, a context where students showed their materialized projects to the community.

The interdisciplinary perspective that this instance fosters allowed students to develop projects with high innovation value. In this sense, “Super Alarm” and “Arduino Infrared Thermometer” stand out.

The reflections of students Jeremy Cisternas Díaz, Sebastián Ibacache Ibacache and Anthony Bastías Carmona stand out about the benefits of this type of instances, highlighting the importance of “know-how”, as well as “collaborative work” and the constant “feedback” received when working on this type of project.

The Teaching Improvement Unit emphasizes the importance of this type of instance, among other things, for the possibility of developing transversal skills and materializing the impact of the discipline in a project with great innovation value.

The activity was organized by the Human Resources Directorate and the Inclusion and Gender Table of the University of La Serena.

On October 03, between 14:30 p.m. and 17:30 p.m., in the Isabel Bongard Campus, the workshop “Nutrition in people with disabilities and/or dependency” was held, taught by nutritionist Angélica Hernández Cerna, professional from the Student Health Department.

The workshop was aimed at informing and educating those who are in charge of people with disabilities or are dependent on their families, such as older adults and people with serious illnesses.

Those attending this activity expressed a high appreciation of the topic, the design of the workshop and the excellent human and professional disposition of the nutritionist.

The activity was organized by the Human Resources Directorate and the Inclusion and Gender Table of the University of La Serena.

Entities from various areas committed to the subject participated in the event, which carried out an in-depth analysis of the important advances that the investigations have achieved.

In order to update concepts about Asperger Syndrome and analyze the profound advances that have been established thanks to research by INFOAUSTIMO, a team of academics and professionals met in the Andrés Vásquez Hall of the Department of Education from the U. of La Serena, with researcher Arlett Krause, PhD in Psychology from the University of Salamanca.

Professionals from the General Directorate of Student Affairs, Student Health Center, Information and Computing Center, Directorate of Services, Disability Support Program and teachers from the Department of Education of the University of La Serena were present at the work table; all with the purpose of combining criteria and establishing ways of working on an issue that exists in society and that, according to those involved, they do not always know how to address.

Seminar

There were two instances of work: the first, the aforementioned workshop, which featured team reflection work in the morning; while in the afternoon, at the Gabriela Mistral Regional Museum, the Seminar called “Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Challenges in Higher Education” was held, where the coordinator of Inclusion and Diversity of the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Education of Coquimbo spoke. , Valeria Martí, who announced the general framework of the Inclusion Policy in Chile with the presentation “Inclusive Educational Community, A Learning Space.”

The academic of the Department of Education, in charge of the Disability Support Program of the University of La Serena and in charge of the Network of Chilean Universities for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities, Dr. Georgina García, was also present. Escala, and the Differential Education teacher, Alejandra Galleguillos Carrasco, support professional of the Disability Support Program.

Both professionals spoke about the Program that the university has and indicated that this instance is the generator of inclusive education processes inside and outside the university community, financed by the Strengthening of the Institutional Model of Comprehensive Support for students of the University of La Serena, in a framework of inclusion and universal accessibility, ULS Project 1799.

In addition, there was the presence of Lorena Figueroa, representative of the La Tribu Occupational House, a comprehensive development space for people with disabilities, who told those present about her “Life Experience.”

To conclude the seminar, and as a guest expert, specialist Krause spoke about Autism Spectrum Disorder and the challenges that currently exist in Higher Education, who analyzed the evolution of the concept and the new tools to make improvements in diagnoses, emphasizing the importance of detection in the first years of life to provide relevant early care to improve the living conditions of subjects who present this condition, also providing suggestions so that the educational system can incorporate relevant adjustments in each case.

The activity had a high turnout, as it had around 180 attendees, including teachers from the regular education system and students from the ULS pedagogy courses.

The event was broadcast to Chile and Latin America thanks to the collaboration of the team from the Informatics and Computing Center of the university, CICULS.

In a year marked by the creation of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, and ad-porta to the appointment of who will be at its head, the First National Science Day in Chile is celebrated this Sunday, October 7. The creation of the Ministry is not the only thing that marks the context of the historic celebration that will take place this Sunday. Despite the growing Chilean scientific productivity and the increasing global notoriety that our scientists are achieving, the contingency has been marked by the organization of Chilean scientists both in Chile and abroad to give visibility to the precarious working conditions they face. the sector; the enormous inequalities of gender opportunities to pursue a career in research; the low possibilities of job placement for young researchers; and the limited increase in the budget to finance new research projects. This, added to CONICYT data that shows that a good part of Chileans do not understand why scientific work is relevant both for their daily life and the development of the country, makes it imperative to have a discussion about what we want to do with our scientific development. , giving it the space it deserves on the national agenda.

Given that the State Universities in Chile constitute one of the most important pillars for national scientific development, they will be main protagonists of the celebrations that will take place throughout the country. The University of La Serena carries out research in various areas of knowledge and is a driving force in the Coquimbo Region in the training of high-level professionals and specialists. Among its postgraduate programs, it has four doctoral programs accredited by the National Commission of CNA accreditation and a fifth doctoral program in the accreditation process. The ULS has become a scientific hub in the north of Chile and therefore will be one of the most important points of the celebrations in the region, an opportunity in which it will open its doors to the entire community, both to publicize its different areas research as well as the equipment that some of the laboratories have.
The activities will begin at the Andrés Bello Campus from 10 a.m. with words from the authorities and a talk titled “Science for a Smart City” by Dr. Amelia Ramírez, Director of Research and Development of the University.

We reiterate that this is an open invitation to all audiences. We invite our university community to be the protagonist of the celebrations by actively sharing audiovisual material and comments on social networks by tagging the University accounts on Twitter (@userena) and Instagram (u_de_laserena).

Thanking you for your attention, we bid you a cordial farewell.

Dr. Eduardo Notte Cuello
Vice President for Research and Graduate
University of La Serena