In a solemn ceremony, seven researchers from the Universidad Industrial de Santander were honored with the Eloy Valenzuela Award for the quality of their work in the categories of consolidated researcher and researcher in formation.
The event began with the conference ‘What now in higher education?’ by Dr. Salvador Malo Álvarez, a physics graduate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who reflected on the future of higher education institutions and the predominant role of research as a route to the development of societies.
“This award strengthens one of the mission axes of the University, such as impact research that seeks solutions to society’s problems. This academic event aims to recognize the work that researchers do every day to develop research projects and their results that impact society,” says Dr. Dionisio Antonio Laverde, Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension of the UIS.
In the researcher in the formation category, Keith Sthefany Durán Argüello, Master’s student in Chemical Engineering, Brigitte Ofelia Peña López, Master’s student in Microbiology, and Juan David Almeyda Sarmiento, professor, received honors.
“I feel very satisfied to continue in this research career, contributing to the development of my country and in search of solutions that are environmentally friendly and highly innovative,” says Keith Sthefany Durán, winner of the Eloy Valenzuela Award with her work ‘Influence of fluoride-based conversion pretreatment on the performance of TEOS-GPTMS hybrid sol-gel-coatings deposited on the WE54 magnesium alloy’.
Ph.D. in Computer Science Jorge Luis Bacca Quintero, Professor Arnold Rafael Romero Bohórquez, Ph.D. in Chemistry, Professor Jorge Francisco Maldonado Serrano, and Doctor in Chemical Engineering Juan Sebastián Vecino Mantilla were awarded in the category of the consolidated researcher.
“It is very gratifying and stimulating to be recognized by the University. We achieved this with a very judicious Ph.D. student, and to her, the honors because without the dedication of the students these results are quite difficult”, comments Professor Arnold Rafael Romero, winner of the Eloy Valenzuela Award with his work “Development of new hybrid nanomaterials based on Nano-Sio2 and synthetic polymers and study of their properties for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) applications”.
The Eloy Valenzuela Award was created by the Superior University Council of the Universidad Industrial de Santander in 1981 and since then it has been playing an important role in strengthening the research mission of the University and motivating the development of impact research that transforms the environment.
