|
On this anniversary, the Rector of UFRO invites the university community to strengthen the dialogue between the past and the future, between tradition and innovation, and to keep working in order to provide the La Araucanía region with a university that stands by its community and that has a solid national and global presence.
This year, the remarkable researcher Jennie Risopatrón has been awarded with the Medal for an Outstanding Academic Career, which is the highest honor given by the Universidad de La Frontera. |
The Rector Dr. Eduardo Hebel Weiss inaugurated the academic year 2021 at the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) and officially initiated the celebrations of its 40th anniversary by recognizing the professionals of the Temuco campuses of the University of Chile and the State Technical University, which, after their merger 40 years ago, gave birth to this institution, which now is known for its excellence and as a leader in the training of highly qualified professionals in the south of Chile. One of the missions of UFRO is to contribute to the development of the region and the country through the generation and transmission of knowledge and to make it available to society. In this context, Dr. Hebel emphasized that the success of this task is reflected in today’s role of UFRO at the national and regional level, where thousands of its graduates are leading the processes of transformation that the society needs, with a seal of excellence. “They are our greatest indicator of quality. Thanks to them, we can truly say that the Universidad de La Frontera is a university of excellence that leaves its mark,” he explained. 2021: A YEAR OF CHALLENGES A global pandemic and a socio-political scenario characterized by multiple election processes at the national level are some of the elements that will mark this 2021. In order to meet the innumerable challenges that this academic year will bring, Rector Hebel pointed out that the university management will keep working with a focus on support and service as key elements. “Our university’s governing body has always put a focus on the people, since they are the main key of our daily tasks, as well as on collaborative work, and we must continue to do so in our large and our small daily tasks. That is and has been the commitment I made when I assumed my position as the Rector of UFRO,” he pointed out. It is worth mentioning that this year, UFRO is facing a decisive year regarding the renewal of its Statutes, a process that has been ongoing and that is crucial for the functioning and strengthening of the university. At the same time, he invited the staff “to keep working with commitment and efficiency, which is crucial for the university’s performance. Each and every one of you makes it possible that the numerous processes at our university work. Without you, we would not be able to fulfill our commitment to excellence”. “We have invited you to turn your time at UFRO into one of the best experiences of your life, although our plans often turn out to be different from reality. You are the ones who make up the university and your experience in this training process will depend on you and how you confront these challenges. As the Rector of this university, I can assure you that we will do everything possible to keep up our tradition of quality and excellence during the academic year 2021,” Dr. Hebel said, addressing the students at UFRO. Finally, he invited the university community to participate in the different activities that will take place over the year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of UFRO. The program will be inclusive and participative, “reflecting our identity as a regional, public and state university,” he concluded. UFRO MEDAL FOR AN OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC CAREER This year, the UFRO Award for an Outstanding Academic Career was granted to MSc Jennie Risopatrón González, a state teacher with specialization in Biology and Sciences, academic of the Department of Basic Science of the Faculty of Medicine, and currently the director of the Center of Excellence in Biotechnology on Reproduction (CEBIOR) at UFRO. She received the highest honor given by the Universidad de La Frontera for her outstanding academic performance in undergraduate and graduate education and research. “I am very grateful to all of you who chose me to receive this honor. It makes me proud and deeply touches me, because it is the highest recognition I can receive from my colleagues. It is a strong confirmation that my passion and work have not been in vain. If UFRO was a person, I would thank it. This university really is an alma mater for me that made me very happy during my whole working life,” Jennie Risopatrón said.
Written by: Communications Office, UFRO
|
|
The Chilean Minister of Health highlighted the research led by Dr. Fernando Lanas and Dr. Sergio Muñoz of the UFRO Faculty of Medicine in his report on the pandemic on Thursday, March 11. |
The Chilean Minister of Health, Dr. Enrique Paris, highlighted the work of the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) in his latest report on the pandemic, as well as the possibility that the CanSino vaccine might soon be available in Chile, once it gets approved by the Chilean Institute of Public Health (ISP). “During the first week of April, the scientific evidence of the CanSino vaccine will be presented for its approval by the experts of ISP. The clinical trial for this vaccine in Chile was carried out by regional universities, where the efforts of UFRO stood out. This is the most important clinical trial that has been carried out in Chile and we hope that the CanSino vaccine will soon be available for everyone, once it gets approved,” the Minister of Health explained. According to Dr. Wilfried Diener, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, the statement of the Minister of Health recognizes and reinforces the work and mission of the Universidad de La Frontera. “It is only fair to say and recognize that the mission of our public universities is to serve our population and to overcome major health problems, such as the current pandemic. Thus, we must work together with the different state institutions for education and health, inspired by the responsibility we bear towards society,” he added. Dr. Fernando Lanas commented that “the results of the study are very positive, so if the vaccine gets approved by ISP, it would be arriving in Chile by the end of the first semester”. In this context, last Thursday, ISP officially confirmed the receipt of the request from the Chinese laboratory CanSino for the authorization of the use of its vaccine against Covid-19. Written by: Fabián Aguirre Silva |
|
|
Last year, on March 15, 2020, the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH) made the decision to officially close the classrooms of our universities in order to protect our students and staff from the imminent threat of COVID-19. Literally no one in the whole wide world knew what was coming, and almost a year after that moment, we are still experiencing the effects of the virus that continues to destroy families, economies and our liberties. We are in the middle of a new application and enrollment process in Chilean higher education, and I have been thinking a lot about our young people these days; about the students who entered in 2020 and those who are entering university this year. This situation of uncertainty is not the same for people who already have a life, with achieved goals and a certain amount of life experience, as it is for entire generations of young people and children who do not know what is going to happen, what the future will be like, and what awaits them, considering that, besides of the typical teenage problems, these young people are also going through a pandemic. Older generations know that the younger ones are very advanced regarding this digital world of virtual interaction – unlike us, who had to rethink our way to communicate and interact and to understand that everything is different – but even though, I think that university life these days is very far from what it should be. In this context of abnormality, and being fully aware of the situation, at UFRO we have taken – and we will continue to do so – all the precautions to ensure the well-being of our students: they are the center of our work, the university would not exist without these young students who get trained as professionals and grow as a person each day. Therefore, all our support programs for them are still available, because we must take care of them. We want their start in higher education to be a pleasant memory, and we want them to get a training of high quality and excellence during these challenging times. For that reason, I want to invite all of us who are part of the university to be flexible, understanding, empathetic, patient and aware of the world we are living in. |
|
As part of an alliance established between the Latin American Federation for Culture Collections and the Faculty of Engineering and Science of the Universidad de La Frontera, an international workshop has been organized that already brought together more than 500 people who are working in the field of microbiology and other related fields. |
More than 500 researchers, academics, specialists, students, etc. from different countries participated in the first Module of the Workshop “Ex situ Preservation and Data Management in Collections of Microbial Cultures”, organized by the Latin American Federation for Culture Collections (FELACC) in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering and Science (FICA) of the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) and with the support of the UFRO Research Center for Mycorrhizae and Agri-environmental Sustainability (CIMYSA). The online event brings together the international scientific community that is interested in the ex situ preservation of microorganisms (outside their natural habitat) and in data management in the field of collections of microbial cultures. The objective of this event is to strengthen and/or expand the collaborative networks in this field of research. UFRO-FELACC ALLIANCE FELACC was created in 2004, as an organization of experts in microbiology, who are interested in the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and information related to the ex-situ preservation of microbial cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2018, Dr. Cledir Santos, an academic of the Faculty of Engineering and Science at UFRO, is part of the FELACC Executive Board. That way, he was able to build valuable networks and to establish a partnership between the Federation and UFRO. “We do have expertise and know-how in the field of ex situ preservation of microbial resources at the Department of Chemical Sciences and Natural Resources of UFRO, with about 15 years of experience. During that time, we were able to build a solid international network with partners all over the world,” Dr. Santos explains. In this context, Dr. Santos adds that “UFROs part in the organization of these two Modules of the workshop allows us to show the local, national and international community our work in the field of ex situ preservation and data management in collections of microbial cultures. We are already internationally recognized and that’s not only because of our participation in different international organizations, but especially because of our scientific expertise in this field”. He also points out that “this has been possible because of the ethical work we have done when it comes to maintaining and preserving the microbiological material and information related to the research and technological development of our peers. In addition, our work has been supported by the scientific expertise of our international peers. Thus, we have been very consistent in our scientific work for the past 15 years.” WORKSHOP MODULES This workshop has been organized in different modules and the first two are in Spanish and Portuguese, since FELACC realized that there is a certain need for training in ex situ preservation of microorganisms in Latin America. “We know that English is a universal language in science and we hope to be able to carry out other similar activities in that language in the near future, so we could invite experts from other parts of the world, too,” Dr. Santos explains. The first module took place on March 9, with the participation of Latin American and European speakers with solid experience in ex situ preservation and data management in collections of microbial cultures. IMPRESSIONS The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science of UFRO, Dr. Rodrigo Navia, believes that it is very important to develop this kind of events for scientific dissemination. He also points out that “it is an honor for us as a faculty to be part of this workshop, because we are very interested in building networks that allow us to raise awareness about the importance of ex situ preservation of microorganisms, and to keep working in this field”. At the same time, Dr. Juan Carlos Estrada, the President of FELACC, emphasizes that “the recent implementation of distance education all over the world is quite beneficial for the Federation and, in this context, I would like to give a special thanks to the Executive Board, the organizing committee and the Faculty of Engineering and Science of UFRO, for their efforts and commitment, which made this workshop possible”. The second module is programmed for April 20. If you want to watch the video of the first module, please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJm_1AlTn2E . Written by: Daphne Bormann Parada |
|
With the support of the UFRO Macro Faculty of Engineering and the IEEE WIE, an international organisation dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists, 22 UFRO undergraduate students officially established a group to promote the participation of women in the fields of engineering, science and technology. |
With the aim of promoting a greater participation of women in the fields of engineering, science and technology, 22 undergraduate students of the Faculty of Engineering and Science of the university Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) established an IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) group at UFRO. With the support of the UFRO Macro Faculty of Engineering and the IEEE WIE, an international organisation dedicated to promoting women engineers and scientists, this new UFRO student group will develop a series of activities aimed at contributing to the recruitment and retention of female students in the fields of engineering and technology and, on that basis, at building an active community that uses its talents and scientific and technological skills both to innovate and contribute to the progress of society. “We wanted to provide a space where young women, who want to pursue a career in the fields of engineering and science, feel protected, supported, empowered and accomplished, where they can discover and use their strengths and skills that will help them in their lives and future careers. That was our main motivation for establishing an IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) group at UFRO. We want our members to get to know themselves and to make them see what they are capable of,” explains Javiera Galleguillos, a student of the program in Industrial Civil Engineering with specialisation in Bioprocesses at UFRO and the current president of this group. An important factor for the establishment of this student group was that many of its members participated in the programme “Women leaders STEM UFRO” of the Macro Faculty of Engineering at UFRO. Through that programme, they were able to notice how important it is for female students in the fields of engineering and science to have a space of support in the training process. “In the long term, our idea is to encourage more girls to share their passion for science and technology, and thus inspire each of them. Therefore, we want to carry out different activities, such as workshops, conversations, seminars, meetings and congresses; for the members of this group, as well as for the whole university and the educational community of Temuco. That way, we can share different tools, knowledge, and the enriching experiences that encouraged and motivated us and that might motivate and encourage others, who are interested in a career in this field, as well,” Javiera Galleguillos says. Ivonne Gutiérrez, the director of the Training Node of the UFRO Macro Faculty of Engineering and a member of the Department of Electrical Engineering, is equally enthusiastic and happy about the first activities of the group. “We believe that this group of and for students will contribute to the personal and professional development of each of its members. Besides, it allows us to bridge the gender gap that is still evident at our Faculty,” she comments. Meanwhile, within the official establishment of the IEEE WIE group at UFRO, Natividad Novoa, the head of the Student Culture and Civic Affairs Unit of the Office of Student Development at UFRO, also expressed her appreciation for the establishment of this new group, and invites the members to act with responsibility and dedication, and to use this opportunity to develop as an individual and as a group.
Written by: Daphne Bormann Parada |
