This is the fifth experience of mobility towards SFU that benefits students of this degree and the first opportunity in which a female student will participate
Catalina Opazo Obregon, Raul Astete Elguin Y Patricio Asenjo Torres They are last year students of Mathematical Civil Engineering (ICM) from the University of Concepción, UdeC, and during the next months they will be doing a research stay at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, Canada, thanks to an international mobility program managed by Professor Nilima Nigam, of the Department of Mathematics of said Canadian university, and the researcher of the Center for Research in Mathematical EngineeringUdeC, gabriel gaticawhich on this occasion has the institutional support of the International Relations Department and of the Research and Development Vice Rector from the UdeC.
“This initiative, already completed 4 times, has consisted of stays of between 1 and 2 months at SFU, by selected ICM students, who, guided by academics from that Canadian university, work on mini research projects, eventually attend postgraduate courses that are being taught, and know in detail the characteristics of the PhD program in Mathematics of said house of studies”, explains Professor Gabriel Gatica, who also highlights that “on this occasion and on the three above, airfare and respective accommodation expenses are fully financed by SFU”.
Students who benefit from this opportunity have high expectations. “I want to learn a lot and learn how research is done in a place as far away as Canada”, Catalina points out. “I also hope to be able to talk with professors and experts in the areas of mathematics that interest me and thus be able to know what the vision is like in other parts of what I see every day.”
“I would still like to be able to get to know the city and its surroundings a bit with my colleagues, in short, I want to get the most out of this experience that I am so grateful to be able to live”, she affirms.
Along the same lines, Raúl explains that “my expectations are to get to know the research branches of the SFU PhD program and learn everything I can. In addition, I am also motivated by knowing the culture of the place” and Patricio hopes “to learn a lot in areas that I still do not know well, to develop myself in that to try to be a more comprehensive professional and even more to develop lines of research with links with people from other parts of the world, because they are never too much.
Regarding dedicating herself professionally to scientific research, Catalina affirms that “it is what most attracts my attention and what I imagine I could do with my life after leaving the race. I hope this experience motivates me much more to continue on this path”.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity,” Catalina highlighted, and regarding the fact of being the first student to participate, she emphasized that “I would really like this experience to serve as motivation for all my classmates from younger years or who are entering to see that there is many doors that are opening and that there is space for us too”.
Along the same lines, Patricio also called on other students who are thinking of dedicating themselves to research to apply for this type of instances since, he stated, “they are very good for developing us because they not only support the curriculum and count as internships or stays, but they are very good as experiences, they offer a completely different and enriching vision of the things that we do and want to do in the future. I hope that motivates them.”
Raúl, meanwhile, stressed that “the three of us have been great friends and classmates since we entered university. We’ve taken almost exactly the same lines, and in a sense, we’ve managed to move as a block. Therefore, this opportunity is particularly motivating, as it is also like a trip with friends and an academic trip”.
For the R&D Vice Chancellor Andrea Rodríguez Tastets, this “is an experience that allows students who are being trained to venture into new topics, but also to get to know other cultures and see how research is developed in other places. I think this is a great opportunity. I hope other students see that possibility and dare. Sometimes you have to dare a bit into the unknown, that also opens your mind to new opportunities”.
The authority declared itself “very happy to be able to support and make the training more related to what research is, because what we have to achieve is to promote the formation of a critical spirit, analysis and research perspectives, and the creation of knowledge, and I believe that it is in the future, where we have to place our bets and our efforts to achieve a better generation that can make a quantum leap in terms of research”.
For her part, the Director of International Relations, Maria Ines Picazo Verdejo, m.He stated that “for us as Management, this initiative is important for several reasons: it shows us the importance of having leadership and enthusiasm from teachers who help in management and Professor Gatica has been an excellent leader and the proof is that this it is the fifth version.
On the other hand, we want to congratulate the students because they dare to go to a country they don’t know, to a different society, and that is a good example for our other students at the University, who have excellent skills and knowledge, but who sometimes Sometimes they are a little afraid of the unknown.
The directive stressed that “the children make a great effort to prepare themselves in English, the families support and also have institutional support, in management and financing.”
Previously, the following participated in this international mobility program: Cristian Inzunza (2019), currently doing a doctorate at the UdeC; Nicolás Núñez (2019), soon to start doctoral studies abroad; Gonzalo Benavides (2018), currently doing a doctorate at the University of Maryland, United States; Javier Almonacid, Juan Manuel Cárdenas and Sebastián Moraga (2017), all currently doing PhDs at SFU; Ernesto Cáceres (2014), PhD from Brown University, United States, currently doing postdoc at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States; and Sebastián Domínguez (2014), PhD at SFU, currently doing postdoc at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
