Authorities, academics, families and students joined the program of activities that included talks and guided visits to a series of laboratories that opened their doors to show and teach how science is done at the only state university in the Coquimbo Region.

Very early and with enthusiasm, the community of La Serena arrived at the Andrés Bello Campus of the University of La Serena, to join the activities programmed by the house of higher education to commemorate the first National Day of Science, Technology, Knowledge and the innovation.

The activity was headed by the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and the Regional Ministerial Secretary of Education, Luis Tello.

On the occasion, Rector Avilés pointed out that “our institution, as a state and regional university, through its Strategic Development Plan, has assumed a firm commitment to strengthening scientific development, mainly in the areas associated with the most relevant requirements. research for regional development. Research development in recent years has been marked by the highest financing in the area, and the number of projects in execution and the highest scientific and technological productivity in the history of the institution. All this, despite the scarce contributions from the State to its universities.”

Furthermore, the university authority emphasized that “as a result of the systematization of activities and the definition of mechanisms and guidelines, it has been possible to execute a policy of strong incentives for this activity and scientific productivity. This significant increase in scientific productivity, both in quality and quantity, has allowed us to achieve important achievements in research, highlighted by various international and national rankings and studies, in what we could define as the stage of strengthening and consolidation of institutional research." .

For his part, the Seremi of Education, Luis Tello, representing the Mayor, expressed that “we are celebrating this day with the support of the state universities, who, within the framework of Science Day, have come together to highlight such an important instance. As a Government, we are going to support the development of science because we have the need to strengthen programs that allow us to improve the quality of education.”

Activity program

Among the initiatives programmed by the University of La Serena, there was the talk given by the Director of Research and Development of the ULS, Dr. Amelia Ramírez, who presented the presentation "Science for a smart city." The center of the talk addressed the topic of how scientific development must provide answers to the needs that humanity is raising, and to this end, the universities have worked to develop a series of initiatives that directly benefit the local community.

After Dr. Ramírez's talk, the different tours of the laboratories of the Department of Biology began, spaces where participants could learn about the augmented reality project and an exhibition on the arthropods of the Chilean desert.

Continuing with the activities, the Department of Food Engineering prepared its laboratories around the theme “The route of superfoods”, where the basis was to show how raw materials are transformed into products rich in bioactive compounds.

For its part, the Dentistry program opened the Teaching Assistance Clinic, to present the technological advances around oral medicine, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy prepared the talk “A walk through the universe.”

The Mechanics Department was also part of the tours, where the Intikallpa 4 solar car was on display.

Opinion of the attendees

Jasmín Orrego and Cintia Flores, both from Saint Mery School, came to participate in the activity and after concluding the visit they left their impressions: “we are very happy because we were able to appreciate how they work in the laboratories, we were impressed by the topic of how it can be taught through cell phone applications. “It was very entertaining.”

Likewise, Jaqueline Carvajal, biology teacher at Colegio San Joaquín, came with her family to participate in this event. “It is very interesting and attractive that the University of La Serena opens its spaces to the community, I brought my children because they like science and one of them is about to graduate from fourth grade. This visit also helps to renew our knowledge,” she stated.

It should be noted that this celebration of the National Day of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation was organized by the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies of the University of La Serena and was carried out in conjunction with the State Universities of Chile, who in Together they decided to commemorate this day through the Research Network made up of the Vice-Chancellors and Research Directors.

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