The former student of this study house, Ms. Valentina Paz Ojeda, was one of those selected worldwide by the PIA/REU program of the Cerro Tololo International Observatory.

Carrying out internships in world-class research centers is one of the dreams of any scientist in training. Being able to learn about the most modern techniques, participate in new discoveries, and be part of the world's leading research groups, mark the present and outline the future of the new breed of scientists that our country so needs.

Thinking about the importance of training young scientists, in 1995 the Cerro Tololo International Observatory (CTIO) created the “Research Practices in Astronomy (PIA/REU)” program, with the purpose of inserting young scientists in training into programs research in direct collaboration with members of the CTIO scientific staff.

In its new edition, and after an international call that sought to fill only 8 places, the PIA/REU 2016 program has selected the former Bachelor of Physics student and current assistant researcher of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of La Serena , Valentina Paz Ojeda Gálvez.

“I am very happy and grateful for this great opportunity. I feel that it will be an experience that I should make the most of to enrich my knowledge and begin to develop my career as a scientist,” she commented upon hearing the news.

Ms. Ojeda completed her undergraduate studies at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the ULS, where she graduated in 2014 under the direction of Dr. José Luis Nilo Castellón, academic of the unit and researcher associated with the Research Directorate of the ULS. University of La Serena (DIULS), with whom he also works today as a research assistant in an international project, co-financed by the Research Directorate through a DIULS Scientific Initiation project. "At the moment, I am analyzing data from a sample of low-mass galaxy clusters at high 'redshift', in order to measure the effects of the decoupling between dark matter and baryonic matter in the component population of the clusters of galaxies with low luminosity in X-rays,” explains the one currently selected for the PÏA/REU program.

It should be noted that participants in the PIA/REU program who complete their projects outstandingly will have the opportunity to travel to the United States to present the results obtained at a congress of the American Astronomical Society. Regarding her scientific future, Ms. Ojeda comments that “I am currently in the process of applying for the Master of Science at the University of Concepción, to specialize in the area of ​​extragalactic astronomy, later I would like to pursue a postgraduate degree abroad. I hope to return to La Serena in the future to be able to contribute to the science that is developed in our university, and thus also help the training of new generations of scientists in the country."