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The Dean of the FCFM, Francisco Martínez, and the CMM researcher Alejandro Jofré, are part of the delegation accompanying the President of the Republic in his visit to the Asian country. They participated in Chile Week, the start of graduate student stays and visits to facilities and laboratories of local companies, among other activities.
Between October 13 and 15, the delegation from the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM) of the University of Chile, formed by the dean of the FCFM, Francisco Martínez, and Professor Alejandro Jofré, associate researcher of the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM), in charge of strategic transversal projects of the Faculty, was in the city of Chengdu, China, as part of the collaboration agreement with the University of Sichuan and the Tianqi Company, one of the world’s leading suppliers of lithium products.
Energy Internet Think Tank Research Center of Tsinghua University.
The agreement covers advanced training in energy and lithium, in areas of innovation for sustainable production. In this context, FCFM graduate students began their stays in the New Energy Talents program in Chengdu, in addition to visiting facilities and laboratories of the company Tianqi in Chengdu and scheduling collaborative activities in research and innovation, together with the University of Sichuan.
The professors, together with the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, participated in activities of Chile Week, in addition to visiting the company Cosin, in the city of Hangzhou, with whom the FCFM has a collaboration agreement and a project with the participation of MIT, in the field of generation and use of solar energy presented to the Institute of Clean Technologies (Instituto de Tecnologías Limpias, ITL).
“FCFM has made a great effort to develop a significant leadership in innovation in the field of renewable energies, especially focused on their sustainable production in harmony with nature and society. We conceive this as a mission of the University in the face of the country’s challenges and it is our decision that we will spare no effort to overcome the immense challenges facing the country to respond to the demands of renewable energy resources. We have a great responsibility to generate advanced knowledge on these issues and to transfer that knowledge in an effective and very efficient way“, stated the dean.
The U. de Chile delegation signed a collaboration agreement with Sichuan University and Tianqi Company, one of the world’s leading suppliers of lithium products.
“The energy transition to address climate change, which is the focus of the tour, is a problem on a global scale, but whose impact has a special dimension in a few countries that can provide the necessary resources such as lithium, salts, and solar, wind and geothermal energy sources. Chile is a country that is particularly well endowed with such resources. After the pandemic, the global need for clean energy has become present in our Faculty with the visit of government authorities and international companies seeking to participate in the solution. For the country, the challenges are of a larger scale in many dimensions”, he adds.
Student internships
Four FCFM students began their one-month internships in Chengdu, thanks to the cultural exchange program promoted by the Fundación Encuentros del Futuro (FEF) and the “We Share” fund of the Tianqi Lithium company. They are Javier Aguirre, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Karina de Requesens, student of the Master in Water Resources and Environment, and Catherine Lemun, student of the Master in Applied Mathematics, both researchers of the Mathematical Geomatics Laboratory of the Copernicus satellite program network at the CMM, and Denisse Toro, PhD student of the Department of Geology and researcher of the Advanced Center for Water Technologies (CAPTA).
Within the framework of this visit, the U. de Chile delegation met with graduate students who began their stay in the Asian country.
“It will be a challenge, because the classes will be conducted in English in a country and a culture completely different from ours, but I want to learn and enrich myself in instances that are totally new to me. Now, my expectations are to learn as much as I can to be able to build my future contributing with my knowledge in the places where I work”, says Denisse Toro.
Catherine Lemun emphasizes that “the internship, on the one hand, helps me to learn a new aspect in a relevant area for the development of the country, such as lithium. This is related to what I have been working on, which is the management of natural resources with artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling. On the other hand, the trip itself helps me to improve as a researcher and work with peers from other disciplines, since I go with people from very diverse areas. In addition to strengthening and acquiring new knowledge in the communicational and personal areas, since I will live for a month in a place that is not only distant geographically, but also culturally.”
“I would like to generate a network of contacts in energy-related issues, because the Chinese community, in terms of this matter, is very present in our country. In addition, I long to learn some words in their language,” says Javier Aguirre.
“I am going with a great willingness to learn and I feel the responsibility to bring everything I have learned back to Chile,” emphasizes Karina de Requeséns. “I am currently in a moment of career exploration, even though I have oriented my knowledge of geology to water resources, it is still very broad. Thanks to my master’s thesis, I have been able to focus my knowledge on remote sensing and glaciers, and this new milestone marks the exploration of a new world in this area, such as lithium”, she says.
Subdirección de Comunicaciones FCFM – DIE – CMM – U. de Chile
Previously published in FCFM News
Posted on Oct 17, 2023 in News
