Noticias en español
The PhD program in Mathematical Modeling at UChile is the most prestigious training program in Applied Mathematics in Chile, and was awarded in 2003 a 9-year accreditation by the National Accreditation Commission. The program has granted 91 PhDs since 1994 (22 of them within the last three years), and is coordinated with the PhD program at UdeC (Concepción), which has granted 44 PhDs (11 of them since 2014). CMM supports both programs by providing full fellowships (27 in the last five years) or gap fellowships (usually for foreign students, until they become eligible to compete for national grants), as well as systematic funding for research visits or presentation of their results at national or international meetings. As a result, both programs, traditionally attracting well-qualified students from Latin America, are now receiving applications from France, Germany and other European countries, as well as from Asia. The CMM also provides partial support for a double degree program with French universities (14 PhD students have benefited from this since 2014). The rich scientific environment that CMM offers these students includes research seminars, workshops, and lectures of senior visitors, as well as training opportunities in applied research laboratories. Strong evidence of the success of these programs is shown by the follow-up statistics on the careers of our graduates: most of our former PhD students have obtained a postdoc or a professor position either in Chile or abroad. The fact that many former foreign students obtained academic positions in their home country is a major factor in the long-term consolidation of the center, building the base of a future Latin American network with newly emerging research units. The same applies at a national level, with our native graduates who are playing a fundamental role in the remarkable increase of academic and scientific activity in mathematics during the last two decades in Chile. In the next years, CMM plans to broaden its actions for providing highly qualified training in line with international standards and to advertise PhD topics and thesis grants per year, aiming at capturing talented international students.
Piensa Cobre Grants. Together with CODELCO (Chile’s state-owned copper mining company), CMM created in 2015 the “Piensa Cobre” (Think Copper) grant program, offered to students from all national universities with Master or PhD programs related to relevant issues for copper mining. In 2016-2017, the program allocated 20 competitive scholarships for innovative theses on topics such as mining planning, geostatistics, metallurgy and biotechnology. This program was scheduled for a period of 5 years. The Piensa Cobre program stood as one of the pillars for the training of new generations of researchers and professionals, with skills that facilitate and boost the adoption of new technologies by the mining industry in Chile.
