U. de La Serena had a leading role in the Future Congress of the Coquimbo Region

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Three researchers from the state campus presented and participated in the activities of this scientific event.  

The University of La Serena had an active and important participation in the Future Congress 2019 Coquimbo Region, a scientific dissemination event that was held in La Serena before a large audience and with the presence of prominent international and regional exhibitors, including three representatives of the ULS.

“The Congress of the Future is an activity that highlights 'scientific culture', given that commonly when we refer to culture, it is always about theater, cinema, music, etc., but not science; Knowledge about what is done in the different scientific disciplines, in my opinion, is also part of the culture of a person or society. On the other hand, the congress, in addition to disseminating what humanity has achieved and how our species is thinking about the future, highlights the relevance that the ULS has in the region. When we talk about science, the ULS is today where the largest number of specialists in the Coquimbo Region are concentrated, in different areas of knowledge. The exhibitors from the University of La Serena did excellent, at the same level as the foreign guests, for which I take this opportunity to thank and thank them on behalf of the institution,” said the Vice-Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Eduardo Notte.

future congress 21 2During the morning session and as part of the Astronomy panel in charge of the ULS, the astronomers from the state campus, Dr. José Luis Nilo and Dr. Guillermo Damke, presented: “Take her to the stars for me” and “Astroinformatics: defying the Data Deluge” respectively.

After their presentations, the researchers participated in a panel with Dr. Danielle Wood, from the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who leads the Space Enabled research group. There the astronomers and the American researcher had the opportunity to answer questions from the public present.

“For a long time people have thought that a university is the place where you go to classes, and that is not correct. The university is the knowledge pole of societies, in all countries it works like this. And that knowledge has to be distributed throughout the population. The University has been working intensely on this for some time, and the participation of the ULS in this Congress is the result, precisely, of this work of reaching society with all the knowledge that the institution is generating, in a more directly,” said Dr. José Luis Nilo about the relevance that participating in this event has for the University.

future congress 21 3Dr. Guillermo Damke, meanwhile, indicated that “as an astronomer at the AURA observatory in Chile, which includes the Cerro Tololo, Gemini, SOAR and LSST observatories, and the University of La Serena, I greatly appreciate that the country's authorities are interested in generating this type of spaces to link scientists with citizens. “It has been an honor and a great opportunity to be able to represent both institutions in the most important scientific dissemination event in Chile and probably in South America.” And he added that the congress “allowed us to show the community that the ULS is already taking concrete actions to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Astroinformatics, with researchers who are promoting this discipline through the DataScience ULS group.”

In addition, Dr. Damke, Dr. Wood and the Dean of the ULS Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Amelia Ramírez, shared an activity with students from the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School in La Higuera, where they were able to talk about the current panorama of sciences in Chile.

future congress 21 4“It is an honor to be here, and to be part of this group of researchers, to have the opportunity to be with the people of this region, mainly with boys and girls of all ages, to think about their future. The future has many opportunities, but also very strong problems and children today have to have the information and knowledge to prepare,” said Dr. Danielle Wood.

During the afternoon, the ULS academic and Director of the Laboratory for Prospecting, Monitoring and Modeling of Agricultural and Environmental Resources, PROMMRA, Dr. Pablo Álvarez, presented: “Water resources and quantitative hydrology of the Coquimbo Region”, as part of the panel Conservation and Sustainability of Natural Resources.

The Future Congress of the Coquimbo Region was held at Gabriela Mistral's Palm House and the Regional Library, and also included a science fair, an exhibition of rocketry and astrotourism within the framework of the 2019 total solar eclipse, guided tours of the Casa de Las Palmeras and the exhibition of documentaries about Gabriela Mistral.

future congress 21 5The Regional Mayor, Lucía Pinto, valued the holding of this Congress, also considering that we are already almost 150 days away from the total eclipse of the sun, “and what better than this framework, the Future Congress, to remember this great event that is coming” . In addition, she highlighted this “opportunity to listen to talks by great scientists. As President Sebastián Piñera has said, we must work to have a country with increasingly greater training and knowledge, and bring science closer to the people."

The scientific event was organized at the national level by the Future Challenges Commission of the Senate of the Republic, the Chamber of Deputies and the Government of Chile, and at the regional level by the Regional Government of Coquimbo, the University of La Serena, the Catholic University of Norte, CEAZA, AURA and the Regional Productive Development Corporation.