The Eloy Valenzuela Award 2025–2026 Will Recognize Research Excellence at UIS
Next Friday, April 24, the award ceremony for the Eloy Valenzuela Award 2025–2026 will take place. This distinction highlights excellence in research careers and contributions to scientific development by students, professors, and graduate alumni of the Industrial University of Santander.
This recognition, convened every two years by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Outreach, has become the highest institutional distinction granted by the University for research excellence and the generation of knowledge from academia.
The ceremony will be held in the Main Auditorium of the Scientific Complex for Health and Life Sciences Research at the Faculty of Health of the Industrial University of Santander, with the participation of the university community.
This formal event is held within the framework of the commemoration of UIS Researcher’s Day, a date established by the University’s Superior Council in honor of the birth of Juan Eloy Valenzuela y Mantilla, a prominent figure in scientific research in fields such as philosophy, mathematics, and botany.
In this edition, the University will grant awards in the two categories established by the prize:
Research Career
Recognizes the outstanding work in the University’s core research mission of one female professor and one male professor affiliated with the University’s special career system, highlighting their contributions to scientific, technological, and humanistic development throughout their academic lives.
Best Research Work
Honors research projects developed at the University by professors hired under any legally recognized modality, undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni.
The Industrial University of Santander invites the entire university community to attend this ceremony, which highlights the institution’s commitment to research, innovation, and social transformation through knowledge.
Meet the nominees in each category:
Research Career Category
PHYSICAL-MECHANICAL SCIENCES
Clara Isabel López Gualdrón, professor, School of Industrial Design
Carlos Rodrigo Correa Cely, professor, School of Electrical, Electronic, and Telecommunications Engineering
SCIENCES
Marianny Yajaira Combariza Montañez, professor, School of Chemistry
Enrique Mejía Ospino, professor, School of Chemistry
PHYSICOCHEMICAL SCIENCES
Elcy María Córdoba, professor, School of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science
Darío Yesid Peña Ballesteros, professor, School of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science
HEALTH
Myriam Ruiz Rodríguez, professor, School of Medicine
Óscar Fernando Herrán Falla, professor, School of Nutrition and Dietetics
Best Research Work Category
SCIENCES
Influence of the physicochemical properties of copper oxides and carbon-based materials derived from chitosan in photoelectrochemical energy conversion from CO₂.
MALDI-MS Analysis of Biomarkers in Phytoplankton
Design and Construction of MuTe: a Hybrid Muon Telescope to Study Colombian Volcanoes
HUMANITIES
Neoliberalism, emotional pathology, and the death of narrativity: Notes on depression in the achievement society.
Teacher training for high academic quality in Colombia’s higher education system within undergraduate education programs (2015–2019).
PHYSICAL-MECHANICAL SCIENCES
New computational technologies for designing 3D seismic acquisition geometries with compressive sampling to reduce economic costs and environmental impacts in hydrocarbon exploration in Colombian onshore basins.
Optical-computational system for high dynamic range image acquisition based on the mathematical theory of unlimited sampling.
Parenchymal analysis software for mammographic images to estimate breast cancer risk.
Evaluation of Lippia origanoides bagasse as fuel for low-power combustion systems.
PHYSICOCHEMICAL SCIENCES
Determination of manufacturing conditions for activated carbon electrodes produced from agro-industrial cocoa waste for supercapacitor applications.
Exploration of catalytic alternatives for hydrocarbon valorization reactions using NiMo/zeolite–boehmite catalysts.
HEALTH
TropD-Detector: a CRISPR/LbCas12a-based system for rapid screening of Trypanosoma cruzi in Chagas disease vectors and reservoirs.
Identification of genetic variants in the AHR gene that may contribute to susceptibility to head and neck cancer in the Colombian population.
