• Rodrigo Vargas Vergara, a sixth year student at the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago de Chile designed a concert hall for the South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, in the context of an international architectural competition, in which he was awarded the first prize.

Rodrigo Alexis Vargas Vergara, a sixth year student at the School of Architecture of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, won the first place in the ModulArch 2016 competition. The challenge was to design a concert hall with a capacity of up to 1,000 seats for the South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the city of České Budějovice, 120 kms south from the Prague, the capital city.

The Orchestra was founded in 1981, and together with performing music by classical composers and pieces suitable for small places, it also devotes time to contemporary music of different genres. 

In the competition, Rodrigo’s design was the best out of 30 proposals presented by young architects from countries all over the world, like France, Czech Republic and Japan. The design is part of Rodrigo’s degree project, so he will have to continue improving it until the end of this year, when he completes his program.

“Although I was confident in my proposal, winning was actually surprising. This cheers me up, because receiving an award like this is very flattering,” the 25-year-old student said. 

The first prize offered by the competition was 2,500 euros, but Rodrigo said that he decided to participate for his taste for good music.

“It was the music that called my attention. It is an element that is part of our daily lives and that can be addressed from an architectural point of view,” he said.

The jury was made up of international architects and musicians, headed by the Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale. They said Rodrigo’s design was a very good proposal and appreciated that he considered České Budějovice’s historical layout. The city’s surrounding walls in the medieval period were Rodrigo’s inspiration.

“Using modular structures and containers, I proposed a sort of wall alongside the concert hall, where notice boards with information about all complementary activities can be displayed. At the same time, this wall protects the hall,” he said. 

The competition was organized by Koma Modular, a Czech company specialized in containers and modular structures for architectural uses.

The awarding ceremony will be held at the end of July. To make Rodrigo’s proposal a reality, Koma will have to raise funds to construct the building.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Paula Núñez, a professor at the School of Obstetrics and Child Care of Universidad de Santiago has effectively contributed to midwifery students training: she learned to make vinyl-based reborn babies which are so real that it is difficult to distinguish them from real newborn babies and which help students to develop professional and soft skills.

Paula Núñez, professor at the School of Obstetrics and Child Care, has pioneered the “reborning” technique to make vinyl dolls with realistic features in our country. These dolls are used by the Faculty of Medical Sciences’ students to facilitate their practice and their approach to neonatology and pediatrics.

“Having these baby simulators will allow our students to become more reliable and empathic professionals in the future,” she says. She thinks that the experience allows the students to approach the reality that they will face every day when delivering babies.

“These dolls have all the features to resemble a real newborn baby: nerve endings, the color of veins, and even their weight is similar to the one of a baby, what makes the students to be as careful as if they were handling a real baby and develop more skills,” she explains.

Students at the Obstetrics and Child Care program have benefited the most from these baby simulators; however, Núñez makes dolls for other institutions too.

She has been making these reborn dolls for four years. She learned about the technique on the Internet, when almost nobody knew about it, but then someone who had learned it in Spain taught her how to make them.

Núñez felt that learning the reborning method involved much more than only learning this German artcraft: she could create more real simulators that would be useful to train professionals whose work required getting familiar with babies and little children.

Making simulators more human

Together with a business partner, Núñez created the company Pequeñas Maravillas (Little Wonders), where they make customized dolls for different purposes. “People believe that dolls are only for girls, but they can also be used for academic purposes. For me, learning this technique gave me the possibility of making simulators more human and, at the same time, contributing to students training,” she says.

In the future, Núñez intends to continue improving her technique to make these dolls. Now she is working to create with dolls with different conditions like cleft palate and other inherited disorders. “These simulators will allow our students to acquire specific skills to work with babies with congenital conditions and to get used to the specific care that they need,” she concludes.

Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

•  Judoka Thomas Briceño, a student at the Mechanical Civil Engineering program of Universidad de Santiago, is ready to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

When Thomas Briceño Gonzáles was seven, he was 150 cm tall and weighed 80 kg. Being overweight was the reason why he started practicing judo. His first club was the Escuela de Carabineros Club, until 2009. “At first, I could not understand the rules or the Japanese terms used during the combats, so I lost several times. This is why the first medal I got was a gift from my father and it was for my effort,” Briceño says.

In 2005, when he was 11, he participated in his first South American championship for children, where he won a silver medal. His family had to cover all his expenses. Since then, he was constantly part of the judo national team.

In 2013, he faced a new challenge: he had to prepare himself for the PSU, the university selection test. It was then when he was offered the possibility of entering the university by means of an athletic scholarship. “I discussed this with my family and I chose Universidad de Santiago de Chile, not only for the full scholarship but also for its academic quality,” he says. He decided to enter the Mechanical Civil Engineering program.

“My professors and classmates have really supported me, so I have been able to focus on judo. I am proud of having represented the university in national and Latin American competitions,” he says.

First Chilean judoka to win a medal in Europe

22-year-old Thomas remembers that he has participated in championships almost in every country of the Americas and also in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He has been South American and Pan American champion and runner-up. “I was the first Chilean (judoka) to win a medal in a world-class European championship. It was in Bulgaria, where I got the third place out of 56 competitors,” he says.

Besides being part of the Chilean team, he is a member of DAR Chile, the Chilean association of top-class athletes.

His training and preparation in Chile has already finished and today he is in Brazil, ready to be an Olympian in Rio 2016, on August 10^th. “My goal in Rio is to be placed among the first seven competitors in my category and I am planning to win a medal in Tokyo 2020,” Thomas says.

He also says that he will come back to the university to continue his studies in March 2017. “Maybe completing my program will take me longer, but judo will not last forever,” he concludes.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• In order to meet the goals set by Universidad de Santiago in the context of the “Sustainable Campus” Clean Production Agreement, the University Social Responsibility program developed the first training workshop on this matter, oriented to students, academics and administrative staff.
• The initiative is one of the institutional actions to promote the knowledge on sustainability and to meet the goal of reducing the use of energy by 5% in the campus before March 2015, according to Santiago Peredo, RSU program’s alternate Director.
• The next workshop- on composting and vegetable gardens management- is scheduled for August. Also, the RSU program will hold seminars on the topics stemmed from the Institutional Sustainability Reports: human rights, decent work conditions, universal access to people with different skills, healthy eating and energy efficiency.

“People have become aware of environmental or sustainability matters. What we must manage now is to change some behaviors and develop some habits to be consistent with this already existing awareness,” Santiago Peredo, alternate Director of the University Social Responsibility (RSU, in Spanish) program said at the end of the first training workshop, “Self-diagnosis of energy use in buildings”, that was held by academics of Universidad de Santiago, on Friday 11th.

The workshop is part of the institutional actions to meet the goals set in the “Sustainable Campus” Clean Production Agreement (APL, in Spanish) of 2013, that seek to "promote training in this matter for professionals, students and academics of the University, and, in turn, to meet the goal of reducing the use of energy by 5% in the campus, before March 2015,” the RSU program’s alternate Director explained.

The workshop included two talks about energy efficiency. The first one was given by Professor Juan Araya, of the Bachillerato program, and the second one, by Professor Fernando Corvalán, of the Department of Geographical Engineering.

Professor Araya referred to the concept of sustainability in three interrelated aspects: environment, society and economy. The balance among the three of them becomes the sustainability equation. Professor Corvalán talked about energy efficiency in buildings, stressing the current actions taken in the building sector to save energy and the analysis of important supplementary aspects like heating, refrigeration and supply systems.

Regarding the campus, Dr. Corvalán explained that it was built according to standards that were not concerned for energy saving, such as the former EAO building and the buildings around the Planetarium. However, he emphasized that the new buildings mean an opportunity for energy sustainability.

Students, academics, professionals and administrative staff from the five units that voluntarily signed the University’s APL took part in the workshop: the Department of Geographical Engineering, the Technological Faculty, the Faculty of Administration and Economics, the Bachillerato program and the School of Architecture.

Waste management and vegetable gardens

“We prepared this series of workshops to meet the goals of training in sustainability and reducing the use of energy at the University, among others,” the RSU program’s alternate Director reiterated, as this is one of the actions established in the “Sustainable Campus” Clean Production Agreement.

The next workshop is scheduled for August and it will be about composting and vegetable gardens management, “because another goal is to reduce the solid waste produced at the University and this action could lead to new recycling processes that are not implemented now.”

“There are some initiatives to collect paper and glass in some recycling spots. We still have pending the organic waste treatment, as it is collected by an external service. The idea is that the University takes charge of the organic waste management and one way to do it is composting and the use of vegetable gardens,” Santiago Peredo added.

Pending tasks

Together with the sustainability workshops, the RSU program is planning continuous seminars that will include presentations and debates on five of the topics stemmed from the Institutional Sustainability Reports (2008-2012): human rights, decent work conditions, universal access to people with different skills, healthy eating and energy efficiency.

These five aspects are the ones that the reports have shown as weaknesses or needs. In these seminars open to the community that the RSU program plans to give every first Tuesday of the month (from August to December), the participants will evaluate the aspects that could be addressed in the workshops, according to the interests of the community.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The contest organized by the Ministry of Energy seeks to generate efficient solutions for households and neighborhoods and improve the access and use of renewable energies in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, will be part of the contest jury.

The “Impacta Energía” contest, organized by the Chilean Ministry of Energy and supported by the Laboratorio de Gobierno, seeks to generate innovations in the field of energy by attracting and encouraging talented entrepreneurs and innovators, and inviting them to get involved in the public challenges of the country with ideas, technologies, products or services.

“Impacta Energía” is an open contest for public innovation that seeks to find efficient energy solutions for households and neighborhoods and improve the access and use of renewable energies in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to enhance their productivity.

The call includes a Bootcamp stage or accelerated incubation process, where the selected teams will have the possibility of co-creating, improving and modifying their projects with the mentoring of representatives of the Government and the support of real users.

The four winners- who will be announced in November this year- will receive 75 million pesos each for piloting their ideas. They will have six months to implement their projects and will have the support of the Ministry of Energy in order that their ideas can become public policies.

Applications can be submitted in the link www.impactaenergia.cl, until August 23^rd. Both Chilean and foreign applicants can participate, as well as small, medium and large-sized companies from Chile or abroad.

Partnership between universities and companies

As one of the 16 members of the jury that will select the winning projects, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, highlighted that innovation is an essential matter in this public and state university. 

He invited “students and young people in general to face these problems and propose ideas to progress in this challenge.”

For his part, Máximo Pacheco, Minister of Energy, said that he was proud to have President Zolezzi in the jury and also of the relation with Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

Asimismo, destacó la relación entre la academia, el Estado, la sociedad civil y el mundo empresarial para trabajar en conjunto y enfrentar los desafíos en el ámbito de la energía. “Tenemos la convicción de que la energía no es solamente algo estratégico, sino que es a partir de ella que se construyen las civilizaciones”, expresó el ministro.

He also stressed the importance of the relation among the State, universities, civil society and business world as partners to face energy challenges. “We are certain that energy is not only a strategic issue: it is the base on which civilizations are built,” the Minister said.

“Companies need to work in partnership with universities like Universidad de Santiago de Chile,” he concluded, insisting on the importance of committing to innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• At the meeting, the first lady Akie Abe, wife of the Japan´s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, talked in her own language with the young participants and gave each of them a gift. “I hope you visit Japan soon. Let me know in advance so that you can visit my house,” she said.

 

On August 31st, students of the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, major in English- Japanese given by the Faculty of Humanities of Universidad de Santiago, had the unprecedented opportunity of meeting with Mrs. Akie Abe -the wife of the Japan´s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe- who started her official visit to Chile with this activity.

During the ceremony headed by the Academic Vice President, Dr. Fernanda Kri, the dignitary conversed with the young participants in Japanese. Each of them explained to her why they decided to learn the Japanese language and she showed herself very interested in their stories, paying attention to the language level that they have reached, especially in those students who have been in Japan, thanks to the scholarships awarded by the Japanese government.

Together with valuing the work done by Universidad de Santiago at teaching the Japanese language in Chile, Mrs. Abe donated more than 50 books to the University.

Mrs. Abe expressed her “deep gratitude for being received with such a kind hospitality.” And she gave the students a message: “I am sure that, with the visit of mi husband to Chile, we are strengthening our bilateral relations and I would like to ask you to be like bridges between the two countries.”

“I hope that you visit Japan soon and let me know in advance so that you can visit my house,” she said.

 
Strong links with Japan

In 1995, the University created the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, major in English- Japanese. Universidad de Santiago is the only university that gives this program in Latin America, and since its beggining, it has built and strengthened links with Japan.

Examples of the importance that Universidad de Santiago has had in spreading the culture of that oriental country are the visit of Her Imperial Highness of Japan, Akiko de Mikasa, in September 2013, and the appointment of Universidad de Santiago as the only Chilean institution in charge of the administration of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

Also the students of this program organize every year the Japanese traditional culture festival, Nihon Matsuri, where they show the traditions of that oriental country.

The Chief of the Linguistics Applied to Translation Program, Marcela Contreras, said that “the Embassy of Japan has always supported the University in the different activities that we organize, since the program was created.”

“At this moment we have more than 200 students in the program and many of them apply for scholarships in Japan. And the Embassy of Japan receives our students for internships. So, we can see that both parties are interested in keep working together much longer, and this is confirmed by the visit of the wife of the Prime Minister to our University,” Contreras said.

 

Watch the video of the activity

 

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Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Varua Touch is a wireless touch device that allows to move a cursor on a computer screen, tablet or smartphone by moving the hands, feet or as best suitable for each user.

In a couple of weeks, Álvaro Monserrat Aguirre, a student at the Electrical Civil Engineering program of Universidad de Santiago de Chile will present his degree examination. In his thesis project, he has been working on designing the prototype of a device for people with mild motor impairment. “I have always liked the mix of disciplines, like engineering and health care; for this reason, my idea is to develop a universal product for disabled people,” Álvaro Monserrat says, regarding the Varua Touch, a wireless touch device that allows to move a cursor on a computer screen, tablet or smartphone by moving the hands, feet or as best suitable for each user.

In 2011, Álvaro Monserrat entered Universidad de Santiago de Chile and two years later, his inquisitiveness led him to become part of “Open Cree” a group of engineering students for project development.

In 2015, a new opportunity was offered to him by the first version of the Despega USACH contest. He already had an idea to apply for the contest: the “Nurse Eye” project. This initiative arose from the need that he and a kinesiologist friend detected in a hospital. “By using digital cameras, we captured photos of people´s injuries in order to monitor their evolution, considering different variables,” he explains. 

The Director of the Chilean National Institute of Injuries invited them to the institute and gave them the possibility of working with patients and equipment to develop their idea. “It was a commercial validation,” Álvaro says. As his project was one of the five that won the Despega Usach contest, he had the opportunity of travelling to San Francisco, USA, and work at the Stanford Research Institute for two weeks.

“Technological innovation means to create something new using existing resources in order to benefit someone,” he explains. “It is a creative process beyond technical knowledge, with a mixture of inspiration, paying attention to problems, seeking solutions and being inquisitive.”

Sustainable social venture

Together with a multidisciplinary team of students, they began to visit people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. “We made both a medical and technical evaluation and helped them to install the application in their cell phones. The app allowed them to write, push a key and communicate their needs,” he remembers. The idea for his thesis project arose from this experience.

“The Varua Touch should be accompanied by a medical evaluation conducted by a kinesiologist or a speech therapist who can detect the communication needs of each patient,” he explains. He highlights that the device offers the possibility of setting its level of sensitivity. “In some cases, getting closer to the sensor would be enough to move the cursor, to click or select a letter,” he adds.

“My idea is to develop a universal product for disabled people as a sustainable social venture, because in our country, disability does not mix with technology. There are many challenges, but more resources are required,” he says. My goal is to help a specific segment of society, by improving their quality of life,” he concludes.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• María Soledad Gallardo, Ahinoam Fuentes y Sylvia Huenchufil, students of the program “New Hope, Better Future”, together with participants of the PACE Program, met with the President at La Moneda, occasion on which she congratulated the young students “for their talent and perseverance.”

On August 27th, María Soledad Gallardo, Ahinoam Fuentes y Sylvia Huenchufil, students of the Propedéutico Program of Universidad de Santiago, met for breakfast at Palacio La Moneda with President Michelle Bachelet and the Minister of Education Nicolás Eyzaguirre.

On the occasion, President Bachelet congratulated the 11th-grade students who are recipients of the Program for Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education, (PACE, in Spanish) and the students who are currently studying at universities thanks to the Propedéutico Program, the University Preparatory Program.

President Bachelet explained that the PACE Program- inspired by the Propedéutico Program of our University- “intends to tackle the inequality in the access to higher education and, at the same time, reward youngsters like the ones who are here today for their merits and efforts.”

“It is a work model that supports students with best school performance, prepares them for entering higher education and, most importantly, it is a model that not only levels up knowledge but also helps students with their socio-emotional skills and provides them with vocational counseling,” President Bachelet said.

“I would like to thank this group of youngsters, many of whom were part of the Propedéutico Program of Universidad de Santiago and Universidad Federico Santa María last year, and also thank the group of students who are or will be part of a program (PACE Program) that started from and followed that initial experience,” President Bachelet said, according to the Presidency’s web site.

At the end of the meeting, President Bachelet said a few words to the students: “Thank you for your advice and your experience. Congratulations for your talent, perseverance and for not giving up in spite of all the difficulties that you faced. We will do our best to continue supporting you.”

The USACH-UNESCO Propedéutico Program, an initiative related to the University’s Social responsibility Program (RSU, in Spanish), is a pioneering selection system- an alternative to the PSU Test- that gives access to higher education to talented students who obtained the best grades in high school, in spite of their vulnerable condition.

The first version of this Preparatory Program was developed in 2007 at Universidad de Santiago and the students were the ones who named it Propedéutico-Usach “New Hope, New Future”. Currently, it has been replicated as a public policy in 18 universities of the country, from Arica to Punta Arenas.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Six representatives of Universidad de Santiago were part of the Chilean national team that travelled to Guayaquil, Ecuador, to compete in the PKF Championship.

On August 27th, the karate branch of Universidad de Santiago, led by their coach Mario González, showed a high performance in the Pan-American Karate Federation Championship.

The following students competed in Ecuador: Christian Cid (84 k), student at the Industrial Control Technology program; Matías Rodríguez (75 k), student at the Business Engineering program; Alison Muñoz (55 k), student at the Occupational Therapy program; Matías Quijada (60 k), students at the Obstetrics program, and Nicolás Flores (67 k) and Javiera González (61 k), both students at the Physical Education Pedagogy Program. 

In the team women category, Javiera González and Alison Muñoz won the gold medal, while in the team men category, Matías Quijada and Matías Rodríguez won the bronze medal. In the individual male categories, Nicolás Flores got the fifth place in his category. Once again, Universidad de Santiago was represented abroad by its sport ambassadors.

The karatekas now will participate in the II Tournament organized by the University National Federation of Karate, on September 08th, at the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM), in Santiago.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Apolo II, the new vehicle built by students and thesis students of Esus, the Universidad de Santiago’s Solar Vehicles Team, is being assembled these days. During this week, they expect to finish mounting the electrical wiring onto the mechanical structure while they finish the body shell that, this time, was made of carbon fiber and fiberglass; the sheets were manufactured by Fibrovent, one of the sponsoring companies.
• After two years of work and research, the new car surpasses its predecessor by incorporating technologies that improve the energy efficiency, the engine performance and the use of batteries. Besides, innovations have been included in the design to meet the standards required by the Atacama Solar Challenge that will be held between November 13th and 17th this year.  
• The Executive Director of the project, Gonzalo Pacheco says: “We want to be in the first place as we have worked for that. We will do our best until the end of the race.”

 

Two years ago, Esus, the Universidad de Santiago’s Solar Vehicles Team, developed a prototype for an ultra-light vehicle, fed with photovoltaic power -the Apolo- that competed in the Atacama Solar Challenge.

Since then, the team focused its efforts on improving the efficiency of the car. The results are about to see the light of day. In 2014, Esus members, together with the new students that have become part of the team, have developed a new and more advanced car model to compete again in this race and win. The car now is in the process of being assembled.

“We are in the process of integrating all the electrical, mechanical and design components,” Gonzalo Pacheco, a thesis student at the Mechanical Civil Engineering program and Director of Esus, said. He added that the challenge has been as big as the expectations. “We want to be in the first place as we have worked for that. We will do our best until the end of the race,” he said.

Innovations and improvements

This week the electrical and mechanical components of the Apolo II will be assembled together, including new technologies. Patricio Cerda, director of the electrical area and thesis student at the Electrical Civil Engineering program explained that the components were tested separately and that now is the time to assemble them together to get everything working as expected.

“We are using better engines than the ones we used before. They are two engines and they can reach 97% efficiency, what makes the car go at a maximum speed of 120 km/h. We have acquired nine 120 watt solar panels made in China, with an efficiency of 21 per cent. The previous car only reached 19 per cent. Also, with the new lithium –ion batteries made in Japan, we have reduced 40 kilos of weight. The batteries have a higher power density that allows storing more energy,” Patricio Cerda said.

Regarding the mechanical aspect, the student Martín Catalán said that the chassis is made of 4130 steel, which is used in high-speed vehicles for its resistance and low weight. Also, the designers decided to move the driver’s place to the left side in order to reduce friction areas and to improve the aerodynamic design. To balance the car weight, the battery array will be mounted on the right side. The car assembly also incorporates a brake system that includes two discs that work independently.

The body shell will be one of the last parts to be assembled and it is also different from the one in the previous car. In the Apolo II, it is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, what results in a lighter and more resistant body manufactured by Fibrovent.

Several mechanical and electrical aspects had to be adapted, not only regarding their design, but to meet the standards required by the Atacama Solar Challenge that will be held between November 13th and 17th. The team will arrive in Iquique before that date for the qualifiers.

Learning experience

The experience of building this car goes beyond competing in the race. Patricio Cerda explains that “This is a very valuable learning process for students”. The practical experience that they have gained in renewable energies is something new in their training, as they started the project before the University created a laboratory for this area. “We have been working on this for four years so we have an advanced knowledge now,” he said.

For his part, Gonzalo Pacheco added that the project became an interdisciplinary initiative without expecting it. “We realized that the cooperation among engineers, architects and designers does not frequently occur in other projects. The project gathered several academic units around one point of view, with the support of the University, to continue working in a more professional way.”

The Apolo II should be ready on October 20th, to move on to a testing phase to then be introduced to the University community on November 3rd.

In the practice there are challenges too. The two drivers also competed in 2012. Pablo Carter, a student at the Mechanical Civil Engineering program explained that this not only about experience in driving, but also in developing the project.

“We the drivers belong to the Department of Mechanical Engineering and we have participated in the project. We know how the car works, how it performs, how it should move or brake and how the electrical component works,” he said.

Sponsors

Although 80 per cent of the project was funded by the University and the participating departments, it has been sponsored too by the University’s Society for Technological Development and important companies like Fibrovent that was responsible for the body shell; Schneider Electric that provided training courses; PC Factory that contributed to the development of the telemetry software to transmit data from sensors in the Apolo II to the support team; Servicio Láser that made the fiberglass molds, and Maestranza Murúa that helped with the chassis welding.


The Esus team has about 65 members, including students and thesis students of the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and General Technologies, and the School of Architecture. A group of academics has been supporting the team with the development and implementation of the project.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

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