Renowned scientists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany and various institutions gathered at the ULS to participate in this scientific conference.

“It is a good opportunity to increase our collaboration and do much more science together.” These words of Dr Simon White, winner of the Shaw Prize in 2017 - known as the Nobel Prize of the East -, reflect how beneficial the conference on galaxy formation and evolution organized by the University of La Serena was and which had the specialist as one of its main speakers.  

The scientific event officially began the collaborative agreement “ULS-MPA Partner Group”, recently signed between the University of La Serena and the Max Planck Society for Astrophysics of Germany.

Addition Dr. White, the congress brought together figures of the discipline such as professors Guinevere Kauffmann y Volker Springel, all directors of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, as well as national and international astronomers who work in the area of ​​formation and evolution of galaxies and related topics, and undergraduate and graduate students from the ULS and other Chilean and foreign institutions.

Dr. Facundo Gómez, of the Multidisciplinary Research Institute in Science and Technology ULS, explained that this event was developed “based on the creation of a partner group, which is an associated group between the Max Planck Society for Astrophysics, which is in Munich, and the University of La Serena”. He added that "the idea is to maintain these collaborations that we developed during our stay in Germany and extend them, to form collaboration groups, developing new projects and involving more people to keep this link of scientific collaboration active and make it grow."

Regarding the participation of students in doctoral programs, the Dr Simon Withe He highlighted that “the new scientists are going to be these students, so they need to be trained by local scientists. There are many astronomers who are coming to teach the kids and the hope is that in the future the same Chilean kids will come back and take that wheel so that the community of Chilean astronomers begins to grow, which there were not many until recently and who It is growing rapidly.”

The activity is part of the winning projects of the Contest to Support the Holding of Scientific Events, promoted by the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies and the Academic Vice-Rector's Office of the U. of La Serena.

Written by Ignacio Aguilar, Journalism student

The activity was framed within the 38th anniversary of the university, in view of the next institutional accreditation process.

Four academic programs, related to the pedagogical area of ​​the University of La Serena, were presented in a ceremony directed by the Integrated Management Unit of Pedagogies (UGIP). The event was part of the milestones achieved by the institution regarding the improvements established in the strengthening of initial teacher training.

During the activity, the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, highlighted the work of the UGIP and urged the university community to continue developing teamwork in favor of the improvements being made at the institution. “The launch of these programs accentuates the commitment of our staff to the quality of the 11 pedagogy courses it offers. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that these programs will have a positive impact on teaching, research and links with the environment of our University.”

The academic programs will work in four areas of pedagogies, related to the development of Applied Pedagogical Research, Linkage with Educational Communities, Training and Updating of the Academic Body and Evaluation in Initial Teacher Training.

In this context, the Alternate Executive Director of the UGIP, Dr. Fabián Araya, highlighted the role that the Unit and the respective Academic Programs will have in pedagogical training. “The final vision of these programs is to support pedagogy careers, in a flexible way, in the various initiatives that arise in each of them, and the University in the processes of continuous improvement and quality assurance,” he highlighted. .

In this way, the UGIP management team hopes that with the formation of these four academic programs, the achievements established in the pedagogy improvement project will be institutionalized, and contribute to the institutional accreditation process.

UGIP Diplomas

In order to strengthen the capabilities of the University's academic body, during 2018 the UGIP promoted two diploma courses that address the area of ​​innovation and didactics, and the area of ​​practices in the work context, in which teachers who perform work in the different pedagogical careers.

On the occasion, the first version of said diploma courses was closed, in which a certificate of participation was delivered to each of the participating teachers, who managed to acquire various updating tools in their respective lines of specialty.

One of the projections that the academic programs have is to be able to continue with future versions of the diplomas, for the benefit of strengthening, enhancing and updating the knowledge and skills of all those who have the task of training future teachers.

Written by Daniela Ledezma, Integrated Pedagogy Management Unit (UGIP) - PMI FIP ULS1501 | CM ULS1755

The planetarium was given on loan to the ULS by CONICYT and will allow various activities aimed at schools, university students, community centers and the general public.

Children, young people and adults will be able to learn more about science and astronomy thanks to the cycle of activities of the mobile planetarium of the University of La Serena, which will take place over the next few months in different places in the Coquimbo Region.

The planetarium was given on loan to the University by CONICYT and will allow the development of various activities aimed at schools, university students, community centers and the general public, in which important astronomical events will be taught, such as the total solar eclipse of the next July 2, in addition to generating interest in astronomical research.

The person in charge of the mobile planetarium project and academic of the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Dr. Marcelo Jaque, sees having this instrument as a great opportunity, since it will be able to bring the work of the university closer to the community. “We will be able to raise awareness in the community of the important work that the University does in astronomical research, promoting the study of this science to new generations,” he said.

The presentation of this cycle of activities took place in a ceremony attended by the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, authorities, directors and academics of the institution, and which was part of the celebration of the 38th anniversary of the ULS.

Rector Avilés stated that “for several years, the institution has promoted development in its area of ​​astronomy. In addition, science programs have been strengthened, and the level of research has also been increasing. That is why today we are inaugurating a planetarium of a CONICYT project, which reflects the results we are obtaining in this area.”

For his part, the Director of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dr. Luis Palma Chilla, expressed that “we have a responsibility to the community, we are a state university and our Department responds to that. Having a planetarium of this type is a pole within the University to link us strongly with the environment.”

The mobile planetarium will be in the University facilities for eight months, which will provide tools and information to the entire community that comes to live the astronomical experience on a larger scale.

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, Department of Communications, and Karina Damke, Rectory

In a day of citizen participation, details of this stage of the reconstruction project of the historic campus of the University of La Serena were provided.

Since December 2018, the consulting firm Tándem and the MOP Architecture Department have been working on the design stage of the reconstruction project of the Piñera House of the University of La Serena, which has an execution period of 600 days. This stage considered a first day of citizen participation, which was held in the Ignacio Domeyko Aula Magna and where details of the project were shared, highlighting the idea of ​​returning to the essence of the property, the construction of a multipurpose space and a work approved by the seismic standard.

Present at the activity were the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, Dr. Catalina Cvitanic, and the Director of Services, Marcos Sepúlveda, who reviewed what happened from the night of the fire that consumed the historic building, until the efforts made to complete the reconstruction project.

“The attachment to that space was such that I really felt like my house was burning. The helplessness of not being able to do something to reverse that situation (...). “I felt great regret.” This is how Dr. Cvitanic remembers that night of June 1, 2015, in which a raging fire destroyed the premises where the Extension Center of the University of La Serena operated.

Marcos Sepúlveda also remembers that sad day, “which hours before had been very satisfying, because the first stone of the future Dentistry building had been laid. But at night we had the sadness and helplessness of watching this historical monument burn.”

Despite the impact and commotion that this fire caused in the community, the director points out that a few hours after what happened, the Rector Nibaldo Avilés together with various authorities began the efforts that would allow the reconstruction of this building declared a National Monument in 1981. and which hosted a large part of the academic and cultural outreach activities towards the community.

“After the fire, meetings began with various institutions and organizations, such as the Regional Government, SUBDERE, the Culture Council, National Monuments, the Architecture Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works and the ULS, and an IDI file was established to generate a reconstruction project for Casa Piñera. This formulation task was taken on by the MOP Architecture Directorate, and we are committed to the first stage of cleaning the interior of the premises, the debris produced, reinforcing the walls and protecting them,” details Sepúlveda.

Another important step towards the reconstruction of the facility, the manager points out, was taken in November 2017, when the Regional Government, through the Heritage Value Enhancement Program, approved the resources to finance the design stage of Casa Piñera, which is already under development and considers the design of architecture, engineering and the specialties corresponding to its 2.425,81 m2 of surface, in addition to a diagnosis of the situation current status of the property and the intervention criteria for the restoration.

“I think it is excellent that state organizations join the different efforts to carry out the recovery of this historical monument and even more praiseworthy that they make room for this citizen participation activity to socialize the reconstruction of the Casa Piñera,” said Catalina Cvitanic, who highlighted that the incorporation of a multipurpose space “will allow the University of La Serena to return cultural programming to the community in the heart of the city.”

Marcos Sepúlveda has a similar opinion, who maintains that “the different organizations have had the will to restore the house, because it is a heritage of the University and the community.”

Written by Gonzalo Lozano, Communications Department

The activity aims to publicize the various inclusive educational actions that are developed within the ULS.

“Diversity enriches professional training” is the motto of the Second Meeting “Experience of Inclusion at the University”Organized by the University of La Serena and open to its community.

The activity of ULS1799 Project “Comprehensive support for students of the University of La Serena within the framework of inclusion and universal accessibility”, aims to publicize the various inclusive educational actions that are developed within the institution.

This meeting will take place this Wednesday, March 20, from 14:30 p.m., in the CETECFI Multipurpose Room, located on the Ignacio Domeyko Campus (Benavente N°980, La Serena)

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The University of La Serena hosted the fourth meeting of the Chilean astronomical community around the LSST telescope, the most important astronomical project in recent times, which included international guests.

El telescope LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) is unique in the world and is undoubtedly one of the largest and most important astronomical observation projects of recent times. Located on Cerro Pachón, about 100 km from the city of La Serena, its construction comes to strengthen our region as a world astronomical pole. The objective of this mega project is to collect astronomical observation data from every part of the sky visible from our region every 3 days for 10 years, which will produce 500 petabytes of images and data that will teach us about potentially dangerous objects in the Solar System. Earth to about the structure and evolution of the universe.

Specific research areas of this project include the study of dark matter and dark energy; the remote solar system and asteroids that may pose a danger to Earth; the transitory optical sky; and the formation and structure of the Milky Way.

"LSST is going to revolutionize the way astronomy is done (...) We are going to find a lot of objects that we have no idea exist (...), because we are covering a large part of the sky with a very high frequency," explained the Dr. in Astronomy, Guillermo Damke, researcher at the University of La Serena and who organized the IV Workshop of the LSST Chile “Towards Science in Chile with the LSST".


The meeting lasted for four days and brought together the most important scientists linked to the project at a national and international level, who, together with the university community, participated in various activities such as general and technical talks, discussion tables, workshops on computational tools for LSST data management and a visit to the LSST facilities in Cerro Pachón. Among the 10 international exhibitors, the presence of the director of the LSST, Dr. Steve Kahn, stood out, who gave a magisterial talk in which he updated on the latest advances in the start-up of the telescope.

It is estimated that the LSST will annually produce a catalog of 37 billion objects and 30 trillion measurements. "What is relevant for the region is that all this data produced here is going to have to be sent abroad so that it can be processed, a very high amount of data, therefore we need new techniques to be able to process that data," said the astronomer. .

This represents a huge challenge for the management and distribution of the data that will be produced. “That high-speed data highway (GATHER) is already built and the interesting thing is that Chilean astronomers will also have access to this data because it is the host country”, he added.

This project, which is estimated to be fully operational for scientific research in 2023, also brings to our region and country many associated projects in the field of scientific communication and education. These include programs for the general public; educators; planetariums and informal science centers; and citizen science. In this area, the educational prototype Painting the Universe stands out, which allows examining astronomical images in different filters, and the Space Warps citizen science project, in which citizens can classify galaxies visually.

Written by Yaritza Mondaca, Digital Campus, and Marcela Gatica, Faculty of Sciences