• While visiting Chile for the presidential hand-over ceremony, the highest authority of this Mexican institution, José Alfonso Esparza, met with Universidad de Santiago’s President, Juan Manuel Zolezzi and expressed his interest in creating academic partnerships in the fields of mining, engineering and social sciences.

On Monday 10th, Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi was visited by José Alfonso Esparza, President of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), Mexico, and by other representatives from that university, who showed their deep interest in creating formal links between both institutions in order to allow academic collaboration and student exchange.

President Esparza came to Chile to take part in the presidential hand-over ceremony and he seized the opportunity to visit our University, with which he has kept in contact thanks to our Department of International and Inter-University Relations.

During the meeting held at the Casa Central building, the two Presidents shared experiences regarding the higher education systems in Mexico and Chile and they agreed to foster the establishment of these academic partnerships that will benefit both institutions.

After the meeting, BUAP’s President highlighted the willingness that our University has shown to develop agreements, particularly in the fields of mining, engineering and social sciences.

“It was a very interesting meeting that exceeded our expectations. I think that this University has many experiences to share and we are very likely to settle an agreement in the short term, because we are very interested in this and Universidad de Santiago’s President showed his interest too. We will probably be signing a frame agreement soon to start with student exchanges,” Esparza said.

BUAP´s highest authority said that Puebla, Mexico, is starting to extract mineral resources, but it does not have any university program related to this field. This is why he thinks it is an area in which they could start learning from other experiences.

“Also, our researchers in the field of social sciences expressed their interest in forging links with this University. The engineering programs are equally interested,” he said.

The Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla is an independent, decentralized higher-education institution, located at Puebla City. It was founded 435 years ago and it has 65,685 students in undergraduate and graduate programs (2010). Today, it has shown its willingness to strengthen links with our renowned University.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• On February 28th, the University’s President submitted the statutory documents to Paula Beale, the Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Commission. The dossier was delivered previous to the Institutional Self-Evaluation Report, which will be submitted by the end of this month, to subsequently have the visit of the external peer reviewers. President Zolezzi invited the University’s community to face this process with the maximum commitment and to stress our University’s strengths, both quantitatively and in terms of values.

On February 28th, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi arrived into the National Accreditation Commission (CNA, in Spanish) offices to submit to Paula Beale, its Executive Secretary, the documents included in the “institutional file” of our University.

Submitting the dossier is the starting point for the process through which our University seeks to renew the institutional accreditation, which is valid until October, for the maximum period of seven years.

“That is what I expect and many people at the University expect it too. We do not see any obstacles to proudly consider that possibility,” President Zolezzi said.

President Zolezzi invited the University’s community to participate in the process and to wait for the visit of the external peer reviewers that could be scheduled for the beginning of the second term. “No matter what the circumstances may be, the University’s community spirit should be the best and we would expect that the academics, the administrative staff and the students consider the University as a priority,” he said.

“We are entering the last stretch (of the process); there is no way back. We have been working for a while and the deadlines have been met,” he added. The goal is to focus the efforts “for the University to be the best institution possible.”

The institutional file contains a letter of introduction by the University’s President, the University’s Strategic Plan, the balances of assets and liabilities for the past three years and the organization chart, besides basic statutory definitions regarding the Institution’s statute, the way of appointing the University’s President, the University’s constitution and several productivity indicators regarding the number of students and academics and the proportion between them.

The purpose of all this quantitative information is to offer a picture of the different dimensions of Universidad de Santiago. The next step is the submission of the Self-Evaluation Report, on March 28th, so that the CNA calls the external peer reviewers that will visit our University.

The time for the visit

Although 2013 was marked by the institutional work towards renewing the accreditation, this year there will be an election process at the University: something that could affect the peer reviewers’ visit.

“We think that elections days are not a good time for the visit of peer reviewers. And in case that we have a new President and new authorities, we think that a visit after those changes is not optimum either. Therefore, the best time would be July-August this year. We have pointed out this situation and I think that the CNA will take it into consideration, due to the changes in the University’s environment,” President Zolezzi said.

Strengths of our Institution

President Zolezzi explained that, even though it is still necessary to fix some details of the Self-Evaluation Report, there are important strengths that should be stressed, like the University’s social commitment, and in this regard, the defense of public education that defines Universidad de Santiago’s spirit through its institutional management. He also highlighted the University’s competitiveness in the field of research, particularly in innovation and patenting, and in the area of outreach and engagement, “in which, for example, our radio station has shared the University’s way of feeling with the community that listens to it,” he said.

President Zolezzi concluded by emphasizing the University’s performance regarding our undergraduate and graduate programs, considering that the students of our Institution graduate in a reasonable time and become part of the world of work a few months after graduating, getting paid accordingly. “This is an example of the design and the product that the University is developing, including all our support to students, not only from the technocratic point of view but also from the human one, what allows us to say that we will have positive data regarding this aspects.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Universidad de Santiago was among the four national universities that will receive more funds from the National Fund for the Scientific and Technological Development (Fondecyt, its acronym in Spanish), according to the results of the 2014 Contest. Universidad de Chile, Universidad Católica and Universidad de Concepción were the other three universities.

• In recognition of his extensive career in the area of electrochemistry, Dr. José Zagal, professor at the Department of Chemistry of Materials, was invited to be part of the editorial board of Electrochemistry Communications, an international journal with the higher impact index in its field.

Dr. José Zagal, professor at the Department of Chemistry of Materials of our university, was selected to be part of the editorial board of Electrochemistry Communications, the renowned scientific journal partnered with Elsevier that has the higher impact index in the field of electrochemistry.

In a conversation with UdeSantiago al Día, the academic said that he understood his inclusion in the board as “recognition of my work over many years; but most important, the recognition of a work that has mainly been done by a team.”

Professor Zagal has a vast experience in the scientific research field, particularly in the study of oxygen and reactivity. He started to work at Universidad de Santiago 40 years ago and he has kept on publishing specialized articles in his field of interest since then.

Besides, he has been part of editorial boards of different scientific journals, like the International Journal of Electrochemistry of Hindawi Publishing Corporation, since 2011 and the International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry (IJBB), since 2012.

Zagal said that it is very important that both students and academics produce publications in their fields and get involved in different creative processes “to contribute not only to this University’s development but to all the country.”

“I think that it is necessary that students in any program should take part in creative and practical processes, that is to say, they should get involved in laboratory work since their first years at the university, so that they produce new knowledge that can reach most of the people through renowned publications,” he said.

“Publishing research results is essential. When you make public the work you do, your work becomes recognized in that field and, at the same time, you spread new knowledge,” he added.

For this reason, professor Zagal expects that his role at the Electrochemistry Communications’ editorial board means a contribution to the promotion of sciences and to the better positioning of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

“You stay at this university because you love it and not for the money. Many researchers here might well be working at private sector companies, but they stay here because they feel a real bond with this institution,” he said.

“For the love that I have for this University, I expect that my inclusion in the editorial board will benefit the institution and will contribute to spread knowledge among society,” Dr. Zagal concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Food Science and Technology Research Center of Universidad de Santiago was accredited as a laboratory for 4 years by the National Institute for Standardization, an agency that is in charge of certifying infrastructure, equipment and qualified staff, in this case, to perform scientific tests in the areas of chemistry and microbiology. President Juan Manuel Zolezzi congratulated the Center’s managers, academics and students for this achievement, stressing that “the commitment of our University to science, technology and innovation is faithfully reflected in this laboratory, so we will continue making it stronger.”

On Wednesday 8th, the President of Universidad de Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi arrived in the facilities of the Food Science and Technology Research Center (CECTA, its acronym in Spanish) to congratulate its managing team, academics and students for the accreditation of CECTA by the National Institute for Standardization (INN, its acronym in Spanish).

The INN is an autonomous foundation created by the Chilean Economic Development Agency (Corfo) that is in charge of promoting the creation and use of Chilean standards and accrediting conformity assessment institutions like CECTA of Universidad de Santiago, which was certified for the maximum period of 4 years.

After a process started in 2009, with more emphasis as of 2011, the INN finally informed in December, 2013, that the CECTA has the infrastructure, equipment and qualified staff to run scientific tests as a test laboratory in the areas of chemistry and microbiology.

During his visit, President Zolezzi said that he was aware of “the great job done by everyone who is part of CECTA in an accreditation process that is not easy.”

“I know the efforts that CECTA has made to get accredited. These are not simple processes, but the excellent results obtained are worthy. Also, this certification significantly backs not only the Center but the University, that has contributed to this achievement with funds and will continue doing it,” President Zolezzi said.

“The commitment of our University to science, technology and innovation is faithfully reflected in this laboratory; this is why we are interested in continuing to make this type of organization stronger and we expect this to attract researchers from the University and other institutions,” he said.

For his part, Claudio Martínez, director of CECTA, described CECTA’s accreditation by the INN as “a milestone in the history of our Center.”

“This decision recognizes our very professional way of working and it open doors for us to undertake more complex projects, together with companies, exporting ones mainly, which we were not able to access before. It is a great opportunity and it is our challenge to make the most of it,” Martínez said.

“For example now, we can have access to other types of certification, through SAG (Agricultural and Livestock Service) or Sernapesca (Fishing National Service), which are agencies that require previous accreditations,” he added.

“This means that the accreditation was the first big step; now, our mission is to keep CECTA moving forward in the same way it has advanced up to now: meeting standards and regulations to the greatest possible degree,” concluded Claudio Martínez, director of this accredited Center.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The first meeting was held by the end of November at our University, with a delegation of University College London (UCL), which agreed to put in contact its experts with academics of the Faculty of Engineering and the Advanced Studies Institute of our University before the end of the year.

With the presence of a group of academics of the University College London, United Kingdom, our University’s authorities signed an agreement of collaboration and student mobility between both higher education institutions.

The three UCL representatives were the Pro-Provost for the Americas, Alejandro Madrigal; the Director of the Centre for Languages and International Education, Christine Hoffman; and the Director of the Office for International Affairs, Nigel Percival. Universidad de Santiago representatives who enabled the agreement were the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Ramón Blasco; the Head of the Department of Scientific Research Projects Management, Pablo Vera; the Head of the Department of International and Inter-University Relations, Carol Johnson; the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Engineering, Ricardo Vega; the Vice Dean for Research of the Faculty of Humanities, Miguel Farías and professor Gastón Herrera, from the School of Architecture.

Although it was the first meeting, it was very fruitful. Carol Johnson, Head of the Department of International and Inter-University Relations said, “Some agreements were already set, like the one regarding the collaboration between the UCL and the Faculty of Engineering to support or participate in ongoing projects, like Ingeniería 2030. We also agreed to put in contact UCL’s Centre for Latin American Studies with our Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA, in Spanish). At the same time, we will work on a student mobility agreement.”

During the meeting, the delegations agreed on the main areas of interest for both institutions where some joint projects could be started and for which this British University has some funds awarded by the Santander Scholarship. “They offered these funds to us in case our academics and theirs are interested in starting some collaboration project,” Carol Johnson said.

History and quality

The possibility of finding common interests between UCL and Universidad de Santiago was enabled by the British Council, organization that already knew our university’s interest in creating bonds with other universities in the United Kingdom.

“Our Corporation, through its internationalization policy, has the purpose of building links with universities of excellence. University College London is a diverse and complete institution, with a great development in research, and it is in the fourth place in the QS Rankings,” Carol Johnson said.

The Engineering academics were going to contact each other before the British delegation left the country, while the contact between IDEA and the UCL’s Centre for Latin American Studies should be made before the end of this year. “And soon we will be working on a student mobility collaboration agreement and we expect it to yield results during 2014,” she added.

During the meeting where the agreements were signed, the three academics from the British institution showed themselves willing to broaden the areas of mutual collaboration. They learned about the history behind the 164 years of our University, its spirit, hallmark and culture; the quality of its academics, alumni, and its contribution to society.

Over more than 180 years of existence, the UCL has contributed to the scientific and social development through achievements and discoveries that have marked its legacy. Among its former students, there are several Nobel Prize winners and famous alumni. Besides, it has cooperation agreements with several universities around the world, with integrating and multicultural projects, from the point of view of a global university that to provides the world with solutions.

• To take part in the commemoration of Universidad de Santiago’s anniversary, the Sello Editorial Usach registered 165 publications up to July this year. The catalogue includes editions of the highest level that cover all areas of knowledge. Besides reflecting the scientific and literary work done at the University, the publications are an effective contribution to society in general.

As a contribution to the commemoration of the anniversary of Universidad de Santiago, the Sello Editorial Usach, the university press, registered 165 publications available in its catalogue, up to July this year.

These publications cover all areas of knowledge and reflect the scientific and literary work of the University and also external production. All these works are part of different collections, which are an effective aid to students and teachers and a contribution to spreading different areas of knowledge and to recovering the University’s historical memory, its protagonists and its more important events.

Recently, to make the access to reading resources easier, the Sello Editorial Usach started a new stage through editing books in digital format (PDF and ePub) that can be accessed online at www.e-libro.net through different electronic devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Through this development, “we achieve one of the aspirations that we expressed in our press development plan, we fulfill the commitment to our writers, and respond to the efforts of our Institution,” Dr. Luis Felipe Figueroa, Director of the University Press, explained.

Dr. Figueroa confirmed that, as of this year, all new editions will be available in printed and in the new digital formats. “We will gradually include in this new system all our work production since the foundation of this press,” he added.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Out of 532 valid votes cast in the ballot, candidate Rafael Labarca polled 13.5%; Víctor Parada, 10.5%; Ubaldo Zúñiga, 10.3%, and Ricardo Santander, 4.8%.
• After the vote counting, Juan Manuel Zolezzi Cid, who will assume the highest institutional position between 2014 and 2018, highlighted the “fair campaign process” and he confirmed his commitment to “taking the University from its current good status to a higher one.”
• Gustavo Robles, Universidad de Santiago’s General Secretary and President of the Electoral Board stressed that the Election Day was conducted in complete normality and respecting institutional policies.

A few minutes after 18:00 hours, Gustavo Robles, Universidad de Santiago’s General Secretary and President of the Electoral Board, made public the official results of the elections for Universidad de Santiago’s President that occurred on Tuesday 8th. In this process, Dr. Juan Manuel Zolezzi was the winner for the period 2014-2018.

The elected president will assume the highest institutional position for a third consecutive term after polling 232 votes, a 60.7% of the 532 valid votes cast in the ballot.

Candidate Rafael Labarca polled 13.5% of the vote (72 votes); Víctor Parada, 10.5% (56 votes); Ubaldo Zúñiga, 10.3% (55 votes); and Ricardo Santander, 4.8% (26 votes).

Following the vote counting and after an Election Day that strengthened the democratic and pluralistic principles that characterize this state and public university, Juan Manuel Zolezzi thanked his campaign team and said that the support he had in this election process “allows us to think big and take the University from its current good status to a higher one.”

“We hope that each member of this community feels part of the new administration that I will lead,” Dr. Zolezzi said.

The challenges of a new presidential term

When asked by U. the Santiago al Día about the main challenges of his new term as the University’s President, Juan Manuel Zolezzi said that the first task is to get “the institution accredited for the maximum possible period,” as the University is in the middle of the visit of the external peer reviewers and it aspires to the highest certification.

“We want to continue improving our facilities and our academic staff through new hiring, participation and projects, and to have a prominent role in strengthening public education in Chile,” Dr. Zolezzi added.

An organized and transparent election process

Gustavo Robles, Universidad de Santiago’s General Secretary and President of the Electoral Board, said the Election Day was “successful” and he assured that “it was developed in strict accordance with the law and the current applicable regulations governing internal elections.”

“This was an impeccable polling day, with no complaints and as an Electoral Board, we played our role as observers of this important democratic process,” Robles concluded.

Finally, the president of the Tricel, the Election Review Board, thanked everyone who made this election process at Universidad de Santiago “organized and transparent.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The anniversary program provides a wide variety of activities organized to reflect on the present times and to plan the future of the University.
• The activities, scheduled for July and August, were started with a set of conferences devoted to the topic “Amores Indígenas” and the award ceremony for the University Social Responsibility certification.
• “In this program for the 165th Anniversary, we would like to highlight the contribution that our University has made to the country and to our culture. For this reason, we are focused on outreach activities, in which the community is invited to actively participate,” Sergio González, Vice President of Outreach and Engagement, said.

With more than twenty reflection, academic and artistic activities, our University readies itself to celebrate as of this week its 165 years of history contributing to our country.

The program for the anniversary, coordinated by the Vice Presidency of Outreach and Engagement, includes several activities starting on July the 1st until the end of August.

 “We want this occasion to be emblematic for all the community as it is a positive key moment for our University, not only because we celebrate 165 years of the foundation of the School of Arts and Crafts, but also because this anniversary coincides with the institutional accreditation process and the University President election process,” Vice President González said.

In the campus, it is possible to perceive a feeling of interest in the future of our University, what provides a favorable context to develop reflection and discussion activities about future plans.

“The activities are arranged in the context of our institutional reflection and are concentrated in a program that will be developed in July and August and maybe part of September; they are artistic and cultural activities of recollection and reflection,” Vice President González said. He added that idea is that these actions help to value our University’s historical heritage and its contribution since its foundation to the development of our country.

“This why the program is focused on outreach activities, in which we invite the community to actively participate,” the Vice President said.

For his part, Jorge Montealegre, Director of the Outreach Department and Coordinator of the Anniversary Program, explained that the schedule for the activities was built from the proposals submitted by the different academic units.

“We offer an outlook of the University’s activities that range from the debate on our hallmark in our research activities; to the traditional artistic expressions of musical groups, and to seminars like the set of conferences devoted to the analysis of indigenous people love expressions,” Director Montealegre said.

“It is not a nostalgic program- Director Montealegre explained- but a live one, that faces this 165 years looking at the present times and planning the future based on our reflections. The program is an invitation for people to get involved and participate.”

Director Montealegre added that, among the anniversary activities, there are two contests to which all the university community is invited to participate: The “Nuestra Historia en 165 Imágenes” Photography Contest and the “Tenemos Cuento” Micro-fiction Story Contest. In the latter, our University community’s children are also invited to participate.

We invite you to check the program and celebrate the 165 years of our University.

165th Anniversary Program.
http://www.usach.cl/aniversario

Photography Contest.
http://www.usach.cl/165imagenes

Micro-fiction Contest.
http://www.usach.cl/tenemoscuento


Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

• Dr. Gonzalo Acuña was elected president of the Chilean representation at the Computational Intelligence Society, which is part of the world’s largest professional and technical association in this field. Also, professor Acuña became Chile’s representative at the Latin American Computational Intelligence Society.

An academic of Universidad de Santiago’s Department of Informatics Engineering, Dr. Gonzalo Acuña Leiva, will preside for two years the Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Chile Chapter, which is part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest professional and technical association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.

Dr. Acuña was elected president of the Chilean representation of the IEEE-CIS, one of the world´s most renowned and traditional organizations, as it was the first organization founded in this field after the American chapters of computational intelligence and is made up of, at least, sixty academic members from different universities.

“Computational Intelligence relates to the ability developed by computers, for example, to imitate nature or biological processes,” Dr. Acuña says, pointing out that this field includes neural networks and genetic algorithms inspired by biological processes or the animal world, like the ants’ methods to solve problems or the flight of birds.

Although the IC concept seems to be related to Informatics, Dr. Acuña says that it has to do with dynamical systems and mathematical models and not necessarily with programming.

Computational Intelligence is not Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Acuña says that the concept of Computational Intelligence should not be taken for Artificial Intelligence, as the former refers to “mathematically modeled ideas that help to solve optimization problems and other engineering works. It refers to mathematical tools that are commonly used by computer programmers to solve different problems, as they can be applied to all imaginable fields.”

Dr. Acuña has been working in this field for several years and he has specialized in the study of neural networks, interconnection systems inspired by the animal nervous system functioning and SVM (Support Vector Machines), a group of supervised learning algorithms that can be applied to different areas.

At present, the academic is leading a Fondef project where he is applying this knowledge to mining industry.

“With this Computational Intelligence tools we are building predictive models for the availability of physical assets in mining industry, like shovels, large trucks or the enormous equipment required for mining operations that involve high maintenance costs. Therefore, if we are able to anticipate the equipment availability, mining industry can improve preventive maintenance and reduce costs,” Dr. Acuña explains.

Youngsters and Latin America

About his recent nomination as president of the IEEE-CIS Chile Chapter, Dr. Acuña says that the efforts are oriented to promote the Chapter and to motivate young people through CI Summer Schools, which are “the ideal opportunity for students preparing their dissertation work to participate, as leading figures in this field give presentations and many of our members offer tutorial sessions. It is the occasion when we meet as a community.”

Finally, there is also news about this field at a regional level, as two weeks ago, in a congress held at Bariloche, the Latin American Computational Intelligence Society was founded, where Dr. Acuña and an investigator from Universidad de la Frontera were appointed national representatives.


Translated by Marcela Contreras