Egresados

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Graduates of Universidad de Santiago develop the first fruit dehydration plant based on solar energy

Graduates of Universidad de Santiago develop the first fruit dehydration plant based on solar energy

  • The goals of the Kunza project of the Roda Energía consulting firm are to increase the nutritional value of dried fruit without using artificial colors or additives and incorporate small and medium-scale farmers to the production chain.

 

 

The project Kunza of the Roda Energía consulting firm was one of the four winners at the Impacta Energía Innovation Contest organized by the Chilean Government. The project was developed by former students of Universidad de Santiago de Chile: Francisco Vásquez, Chemical Civil Engineer with a Master’s in Engineering Sciences, and Braulio Rossel, graduate of the Electrical Civil Engineering program. 

The contest organized by the Government Lab and the Ministry of Energy awarded 75 million pesos to the winners. They will use these funds to finish the implementation of the first 100% solar-energy based dehydration plant for fruits and vegetables in the country.

Kunza Project funding

The idea arose in 2014, when the current project manager, Francisco Vásquez, together with a team of Roda Energía, participated in a contest of the Fundación para la Innovación Agraria. The contest had the goal of finding new proposals in the field of energy to solve problems of the agricultural sector.

With the support of this foundation and the Chilean Economic Development Agency, they conducted studies on detailed engineering to build the pilot plant. In 2016, the team participated in the Impacta EnergíaContest organized by the Chilean Government, being one of the four winners out of 494 participants.

Thanks to these funds and others, they will start building the plant in January 2017, in Litueche, which will include the installation of 100 solar panels and the construction of a building that will be used for pre-treating the fruits. 

The plant works with a hot-water closed system based on solar panels and it can process apples, mushrooms, strawberries and peppers. They are also testing its use with onions.

“In this process, you place the fruits in the drying chamber under appropriate room conditions, and control the temperature and humidity by means of a hot-water circuit based on solar panels. At the end of the day, when there is not solar radiation enough, the circuit works autonomously for two hours, producing about 1,800 snacks of 25 grams each, in one work day,” Braulio Rossel explains.

With regard to their business model, they say that they are faithful to the University’s hallmark; for this reason, they incorporated small and medium-scale farmers to the production chain.

Benefits and innovation

According to Francisco Vásquez, one of the advantages of the project is the natural production process. “In the process, no additives or flavors are added to the products. They are completely natural. The fruits are received, peeled, sliced and then dried in the chamber,” he says.

With regard to the nutrition facts, this process preserves most of the vitamins, as the products lose only up to 40%, in comparison to the traditional processes, in which the products lose 60%.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

“The Not Company”: Universidad de Santiago former students develop plant-based mayonnaise

“The Not Company”: Universidad de Santiago former students develop plant-based mayonnaise

  • These researchers seek to change the concept of nutrition through an artificial intelligence startup, which has also developed other 100% plant-based products with the same taste, texture and smell as traditional foods.


 

 

Peas, almonds, mushrooms, basil or rosemary are only some of the products that a team of young professionals are using to innovate in the market of dairy products and sausages, changing the vision of food industry, by means of eggless mayonnaise; milk, yoghurt, cheese or chocolate without animal milk or meatless sausages.

This innovation is possible thanks to an algorithm called Giuseppe that selects the information about different plants and fruits stored in its database to exactly emulate animal food.

Sergio Aguilera, a food technologist who graduated from Universidad de Santiago de Chile, works collaboratively with this system, which is the only system in the world that performs as a food scientist.

The first steps of NotCo

In January 2015, Matías Muchnick, a commercial engineer from Universidad Católica de Chile, committed himself to revolutionize food industry after positioning a soy-based mayonnaise in the market.

With the challenge of switching over from animal-based food production to plant-based food production, new members joined the research team: Dr Pablo Zamora, a biochemist from Universidad de Santiago de Chile and then, Karim Pichara, the creator of the algorithm Guiseppe, who was working at the NASA at that time.

The Not Company founders say that the startup was formed when new masterminds with different backgrounds joined the group: Sergio Aguilera (Food Scientist), graduate of Universidad de Santiago and professor at its Department of Food Engineering; Isidora Aguilera (Biochemist); and Camila Sepúlveda (Head of Sensorial Innovation).

Pablo Zamora, co-founder of the project, explains that he spent seven years in the USA, and for the past three of which, he worked for the multinational company Mars. There, he was responsible for the brands M&M, Pedigree and Whiskas. “Because of my background, Matías contacted me to start the NotCo project, that emerged as a way of giving people an intelligent and sustainable nutrition, without using animal products,” he explained.

Feeding the future

“We have had a large media exposure that we did not expect, due to an interview published by the international network Al Jazeera. They realized that we were doing something different, that we were changing the model of how to produce food. Today, we are working very hard on online sales and we want to cause a social impact with these products,” Pablo Zamora said.

Currently, the company has just finished the first investment stage to run the business operations and then, they expect to start massive production to reach supermarkets and small stores, so they are already raising funds for this purpose. In the future, they also expect to reach foreign markets. 

Meanwhile, on their web page www.thenotcompany.com, they are already selling their first commercial product: a plant-based mayonnaise, without soy or eggs or transgenic elements. It comes in three different flavors and it has the same market value as traditional mayonnaise.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Publicist from Universidad de Santiago was chosen as one of the 25 best creative directors worldwide

Publicist from Universidad de Santiago was chosen as one of the 25 best creative directors worldwide

  • This alumnus of Universidad de Santiago and creative director of his own advertising agency, Inbrax, was recognized as one of the best professionals in this area for his retail campaigns. He is the first Chilean to receive this award.

 

 

With more than 20 years of experience in the creative area, Pancho González has become an icon in the advertising field in Chile. To date, this alumnus of Universidad de Santiago has received more than 100 national and international awards and he is among the 10 top creative directors in the ranking of BestAdsOnTV, Australia. He has also been on the jury of important international festivals, like Cannes, the Webby Awards, Effie Awards, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, Clyo Awards 2016, and others.

The expert in retail expressed his gratitude for the imprint that Universidad de Santiago leaves on its alumni. “I would like to highlight the pluralism at the university; the possibility of sharing with classmates from different social backgrounds; the opportunity of becoming part of quite democratic processes, and the possibility of sharing with very intellectual people. This is beyond the technical aspects that we could learn from the School at that time, when the facilities were not good. They do not compare to what we have today, but then, you had to do research,” he says.

First Chilean at the top 25 Creativepool ranking

 

Every year, the renowned English magazine Creativepool selects the best professionals in the advertising field worldwide. It usually includes creative directors of the United Kingdom and Europe; however, on this occasion and for the first time, it included a Chilean publicist in the ranking.

“In my interest for being ahead of the curve, I am always looking for new platforms, to send our works abroad to different contests. At Creativepool, my work won thanks to the evaluations and comments in the web. I am sure that, in the future, more Chileans will participate and win this competition,” González says. 

For the contest, González submitted two advertising campaigns: “Bubblegum Real Fruit Flavors”, for the Brazilian brand Buzzy, and “Read at night”, for Faber Castell.

The renowned publicist says that he is proud for his achievements. “I feel honored for these awards. Sometimes, I asked myself how I have done this. I think about it and I can’t believe it. I have continued working with the same humility for years. Every day, I start from scratch and I think how to keep myself as a good professional for the industry, someone who contributes and guides people so that they become good professionals for the market,” he says.

González studied both in Chile and abroad, and he has worked for the best advertising agencies of the country. Currently, he is the creative director of his own agency, Inbrax. He and his associate Carolina Pinheiro opened the agency six years ago, and since then, they have worked for important clients like Cencosud, Coopeuch, Kayser, Cummins, the Chilean Criminal Investigation Police, Publimetro and Sodexo, among others.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Geographical engineer graduated from Universidad de Santiago contributes to world astronomy

Geographical engineer graduated from Universidad de Santiago contributes to world astronomy

  • Angel Otárola graduated from Universidad de Santiago in 1989, and since then, he has been working in the development of different astronomy projects. He participated in the discovery of the site where the Alma project was set up and currently, he is part of the scientific team working at the Thirty Meter Telescope of the California Institute of Technology, in Hawaii.
  • During his recent visit to the country, the researcher gave a presentation at Universidad de Santiago on scientific questions that have not been answered yet regarding the exploration of the universe and the characteristics of our country that favor the location of observatories.


 

“An engineer is prepared to deal with different matters,” Angel Otárola said to students and academics of the Department of Geographical Engineering who attended his first presentation at the University on August 12th.

The civil engineer (in Geographical Engineering), who graduated in 1989, embodies a paradox: by studying the grounds he was able to develop a professional career that today looks at the sky, as he is currently working as a senior scientist at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, in Hawaii. During his speech about the search for answers in the universe and the best locations for astronomical observatories, he told the audience his story. “We have our feet on the ground, but our eyes in the universe. I think that is our situation,” he said.

“My training in basic sciences (at Universidad de Santiago) is very strong in Physics and Math, what allowed me to address complex matters, like the ones in the astronomy field,” he said, referring to the technology that was starting at that moment, like GPS, that was the subject of his dissertation work.

He was soon hired in Antofagasta, for the La Silla project of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where he spent his free time exploring the desert and looking for new locations for astronomy projects. And so it was that, together with a Japanese team, in 1994, he discovered the Chajnantor plateau, an ideal place for observational astronomy due to the dryness of the land, the number of cloudless nights and the low occurrence of atmospheric turbulence.

“My training as geographical civil engineer was appropriate, because it provided me with tools that allowed me to take part in the exploration process of the north of Chile and help to identify locations to finally set up important astronomy projects like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project,” he said. He explained that he also took part in other exploration works in that area that led to the installation of the Chajnantor Test Facility, a telescope operated by the California Institute of Technology that studies cosmic radiation.

To deepen his knowledge in the astronomy field, in 2004 he was admitted in the MSc and PhD program of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences of the University of Arizona and three years later he was hired as a scientist to take part in the Adaptive Optics group of the TMT project (Thirty Meter Telescope of the California Institute of Technology), where he works up to date. He is also a research associate at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Arizona.

In his presentation he spoke about the exceptional conditions provided by the north of Chile for installing observatories and he explained some of the subjects on which astronomers are working today, like dark matter, dark energy and the possibility of life on planets outside the solar system.

Technology transfer

Angel Otárola believes that our country should increase the relation between scientific development and observational astronomy, to generate technology transfer and innovation,

“Our country has had some advantages, as Chilean astronomers have access to 10% of the observation time of the projects. But I believe that the second stage that the country has to commit to is technology transfer; we Chileans should be able to start manufacturing the instruments required for these observations,” he said, referring to the development of research on precision mechanics, cryogenics for equipment maintenance, software and electronics, among other disciplines that contribute to Astro Engineering.

“This definitely opens an opportunity for universities,” he added, referring to the need of having a scientific question to answer, financial support and confidence to manufacture the instruments.

“Manufacturing a completely Chilean instrument could take between 5 and 10 years and that continuous process in which technical and engineering problems were solved and into which cutting edge scientific knowledge was incorporated is where technology transfer is produced,” he concluded.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

Universidad de Santiago seeks to strengthen links with alumni

Universidad de Santiago seeks to strengthen links with alumni

  • University’s President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, in collaboration with other renowned leaders who studied at this institution (Escuela de Artes y Oficios (EAO); Universidad Técnica del Estado (UTE), Universidad de Santiago), is inviting professionals to register themselves in the website http://www.usachpais.cl through a campaign that includes social networks. In this way, the University will be able to identify the most demanded areas of the world of work; foster a spirit of loyalty among former students and enhance the sense of belonging at the University; and get accurate information on the fields where they are contributing to real Chile.

Based on the premise that all ways of contributing to real Chile are valuable, the University seeks to know the fields where former students are working and the way how the institution’s hallmark still characterizes their professional work with values like integration, participation and public service.

The advertisements are being broadcasted on the media, including social networks, and they show the University’s President Juan Manuel Zolezzi inviting this big network of alumni of this University, or its preceding institutions, to be part of this project. As a former student of the Electrical Civil Engineering program at UTE, he is a nationwide renowned leader in the higher education field, after heading the CUECH (Consorcio de Universidades Estatales de Chile) and as the current Vice-president of the CRUCH (Consejo de Rectores de las Universidades Chilenas), which brings together the 25 universities of the Presidents’ Council.

Contributing to the country

The campaign includes an audiovisual advertisement which shows, besides President Zolezzi, the contribution of Juan Carlos Avendaño, Mechanical Engineering Technician, current General Manager of Codelco’s Chuquicamata Division; Marcela González, Industrial Civil Engineer, executive director of the X South America Games, Santiago 2014; and Héctor Alarcón, Physics Engineer, leader of the ALMA Project’s operators group.

By means of an agreement favorable to the institution, the advertisement has been scheduled on air at different times on Televisión Nacional de Chile, while the campaign on radios has been on air in all programs on Radio Universidad de Santiago (94.5 FM and 124 AM) and in two programs on Radio Cooperativa (93.3 FM). An advertisement was also included in the national circulation newspaper La Tercera and in the magazine Ingenieros del Cobre.

Alumni interested in being part of this project have to enter the website www.usachpais.cl and click the “Formulario de Registro” tab (Registration Form). Once there, they only need to fill out the fields related to personal information (name and ID number); profession (program studied, current place of work and position); name of the faculty to which they belong. Finally they have to write a short description of their professional career.

This part is the first stage of a campaign that intends to highlight the institution’s hallmark and legacy in thousands of professionals who collaborate with their daily work in developing our country, from different fields and in different functions.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

“The Not Company”: Universidad de Santiago former students develop plant-based mayonnaise

“The Not Company”: Universidad de Santiago former students develop plant-based mayonnaise

  • These researchers seek to change the concept of nutrition through an artificial intelligence startup, which has also developed other 100% plant-based products with the same taste, texture and smell as traditional foods.


 

 

Peas, almonds, mushrooms, basil or rosemary are only some of the products that a team of young professionals are using to innovate in the market of dairy products and sausages, changing the vision of food industry, by means of eggless mayonnaise; milk, yoghurt, cheese or chocolate without animal milk or meatless sausages.

This innovation is possible thanks to an algorithm called Giuseppe that selects the information about different plants and fruits stored in its database to exactly emulate animal food.

Sergio Aguilera, a food technologist who graduated from Universidad de Santiago de Chile, works collaboratively with this system, which is the only system in the world that performs as a food scientist.

The first steps of NotCo

In January 2015, Matías Muchnick, a commercial engineer from Universidad Católica de Chile, committed himself to revolutionize food industry after positioning a soy-based mayonnaise in the market.

With the challenge of switching over from animal-based food production to plant-based food production, new members joined the research team: Dr Pablo Zamora, a biochemist from Universidad de Santiago de Chile and then, Karim Pichara, the creator of the algorithm Guiseppe, who was working at the NASA at that time.

The Not Company founders say that the startup was formed when new masterminds with different backgrounds joined the group: Sergio Aguilera (Food Scientist), graduate of Universidad de Santiago and professor at its Department of Food Engineering; Isidora Aguilera (Biochemist); and Camila Sepúlveda (Head of Sensorial Innovation).

Pablo Zamora, co-founder of the project, explains that he spent seven years in the USA, and for the past three of which, he worked for the multinational company Mars. There, he was responsible for the brands M&M, Pedigree and Whiskas. “Because of my background, Matías contacted me to start the NotCo project, that emerged as a way of giving people an intelligent and sustainable nutrition, without using animal products,” he explained.

Feeding the future

“We have had a large media exposure that we did not expect, due to an interview published by the international network Al Jazeera. They realized that we were doing something different, that we were changing the model of how to produce food. Today, we are working very hard on online sales and we want to cause a social impact with these products,” Pablo Zamora said.

Currently, the company has just finished the first investment stage to run the business operations and then, they expect to start massive production to reach supermarkets and small stores, so they are already raising funds for this purpose. In the future, they also expect to reach foreign markets. 

Meanwhile, on their web page www.thenotcompany.com, they are already selling their first commercial product: a plant-based mayonnaise, without soy or eggs or transgenic elements. It comes in three different flavors and it has the same market value as traditional mayonnaise.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Graduates of Universidad de Santiago develop the first fruit dehydration plant based on solar energy

Graduates of Universidad de Santiago develop the first fruit dehydration plant based on solar energy

  • The goals of the Kunza project of the Roda Energía consulting firm are to increase the nutritional value of dried fruit without using artificial colors or additives and incorporate small and medium-scale farmers to the production chain.

 

 

The project Kunza of the Roda Energía consulting firm was one of the four winners at the Impacta Energía Innovation Contest organized by the Chilean Government. The project was developed by former students of Universidad de Santiago de Chile: Francisco Vásquez, Chemical Civil Engineer with a Master’s in Engineering Sciences, and Braulio Rossel, graduate of the Electrical Civil Engineering program. 

The contest organized by the Government Lab and the Ministry of Energy awarded 75 million pesos to the winners. They will use these funds to finish the implementation of the first 100% solar-energy based dehydration plant for fruits and vegetables in the country.

Kunza Project funding

The idea arose in 2014, when the current project manager, Francisco Vásquez, together with a team of Roda Energía, participated in a contest of the Fundación para la Innovación Agraria. The contest had the goal of finding new proposals in the field of energy to solve problems of the agricultural sector.

With the support of this foundation and the Chilean Economic Development Agency, they conducted studies on detailed engineering to build the pilot plant. In 2016, the team participated in the Impacta EnergíaContest organized by the Chilean Government, being one of the four winners out of 494 participants.

Thanks to these funds and others, they will start building the plant in January 2017, in Litueche, which will include the installation of 100 solar panels and the construction of a building that will be used for pre-treating the fruits. 

The plant works with a hot-water closed system based on solar panels and it can process apples, mushrooms, strawberries and peppers. They are also testing its use with onions.

“In this process, you place the fruits in the drying chamber under appropriate room conditions, and control the temperature and humidity by means of a hot-water circuit based on solar panels. At the end of the day, when there is not solar radiation enough, the circuit works autonomously for two hours, producing about 1,800 snacks of 25 grams each, in one work day,” Braulio Rossel explains.

With regard to their business model, they say that they are faithful to the University’s hallmark; for this reason, they incorporated small and medium-scale farmers to the production chain.

Benefits and innovation

According to Francisco Vásquez, one of the advantages of the project is the natural production process. “In the process, no additives or flavors are added to the products. They are completely natural. The fruits are received, peeled, sliced and then dried in the chamber,” he says.

With regard to the nutrition facts, this process preserves most of the vitamins, as the products lose only up to 40%, in comparison to the traditional processes, in which the products lose 60%.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Publicist from Universidad de Santiago was chosen as one of the 25 best creative directors worldwide

Publicist from Universidad de Santiago was chosen as one of the 25 best creative directors worldwide

  • This alumnus of Universidad de Santiago and creative director of his own advertising agency, Inbrax, was recognized as one of the best professionals in this area for his retail campaigns. He is the first Chilean to receive this award.

 

 

With more than 20 years of experience in the creative area, Pancho González has become an icon in the advertising field in Chile. To date, this alumnus of Universidad de Santiago has received more than 100 national and international awards and he is among the 10 top creative directors in the ranking of BestAdsOnTV, Australia. He has also been on the jury of important international festivals, like Cannes, the Webby Awards, Effie Awards, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, Clyo Awards 2016, and others.

The expert in retail expressed his gratitude for the imprint that Universidad de Santiago leaves on its alumni. “I would like to highlight the pluralism at the university; the possibility of sharing with classmates from different social backgrounds; the opportunity of becoming part of quite democratic processes, and the possibility of sharing with very intellectual people. This is beyond the technical aspects that we could learn from the School at that time, when the facilities were not good. They do not compare to what we have today, but then, you had to do research,” he says.

First Chilean at the top 25 Creativepool ranking

 

Every year, the renowned English magazine Creativepool selects the best professionals in the advertising field worldwide. It usually includes creative directors of the United Kingdom and Europe; however, on this occasion and for the first time, it included a Chilean publicist in the ranking.

“In my interest for being ahead of the curve, I am always looking for new platforms, to send our works abroad to different contests. At Creativepool, my work won thanks to the evaluations and comments in the web. I am sure that, in the future, more Chileans will participate and win this competition,” González says. 

For the contest, González submitted two advertising campaigns: “Bubblegum Real Fruit Flavors”, for the Brazilian brand Buzzy, and “Read at night”, for Faber Castell.

The renowned publicist says that he is proud for his achievements. “I feel honored for these awards. Sometimes, I asked myself how I have done this. I think about it and I can’t believe it. I have continued working with the same humility for years. Every day, I start from scratch and I think how to keep myself as a good professional for the industry, someone who contributes and guides people so that they become good professionals for the market,” he says.

González studied both in Chile and abroad, and he has worked for the best advertising agencies of the country. Currently, he is the creative director of his own agency, Inbrax. He and his associate Carolina Pinheiro opened the agency six years ago, and since then, they have worked for important clients like Cencosud, Coopeuch, Kayser, Cummins, the Chilean Criminal Investigation Police, Publimetro and Sodexo, among others.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Universidad de Santiago seeks to strengthen links with alumni

Universidad de Santiago seeks to strengthen links with alumni

  • University’s President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, in collaboration with other renowned leaders who studied at this institution (Escuela de Artes y Oficios (EAO); Universidad Técnica del Estado (UTE), Universidad de Santiago), is inviting professionals to register themselves in the website http://www.usachpais.cl through a campaign that includes social networks. In this way, the University will be able to identify the most demanded areas of the world of work; foster a spirit of loyalty among former students and enhance the sense of belonging at the University; and get accurate information on the fields where they are contributing to real Chile.

Based on the premise that all ways of contributing to real Chile are valuable, the University seeks to know the fields where former students are working and the way how the institution’s hallmark still characterizes their professional work with values like integration, participation and public service.

The advertisements are being broadcasted on the media, including social networks, and they show the University’s President Juan Manuel Zolezzi inviting this big network of alumni of this University, or its preceding institutions, to be part of this project. As a former student of the Electrical Civil Engineering program at UTE, he is a nationwide renowned leader in the higher education field, after heading the CUECH (Consorcio de Universidades Estatales de Chile) and as the current Vice-president of the CRUCH (Consejo de Rectores de las Universidades Chilenas), which brings together the 25 universities of the Presidents’ Council.

Contributing to the country

The campaign includes an audiovisual advertisement which shows, besides President Zolezzi, the contribution of Juan Carlos Avendaño, Mechanical Engineering Technician, current General Manager of Codelco’s Chuquicamata Division; Marcela González, Industrial Civil Engineer, executive director of the X South America Games, Santiago 2014; and Héctor Alarcón, Physics Engineer, leader of the ALMA Project’s operators group.

By means of an agreement favorable to the institution, the advertisement has been scheduled on air at different times on Televisión Nacional de Chile, while the campaign on radios has been on air in all programs on Radio Universidad de Santiago (94.5 FM and 124 AM) and in two programs on Radio Cooperativa (93.3 FM). An advertisement was also included in the national circulation newspaper La Tercera and in the magazine Ingenieros del Cobre.

Alumni interested in being part of this project have to enter the website www.usachpais.cl and click the “Formulario de Registro” tab (Registration Form). Once there, they only need to fill out the fields related to personal information (name and ID number); profession (program studied, current place of work and position); name of the faculty to which they belong. Finally they have to write a short description of their professional career.

This part is the first stage of a campaign that intends to highlight the institution’s hallmark and legacy in thousands of professionals who collaborate with their daily work in developing our country, from different fields and in different functions.

 

Translated by Marcela Contreras

Geographical engineer graduated from Universidad de Santiago contributes to world astronomy

Geographical engineer graduated from Universidad de Santiago contributes to world astronomy

  • Angel Otárola graduated from Universidad de Santiago in 1989, and since then, he has been working in the development of different astronomy projects. He participated in the discovery of the site where the Alma project was set up and currently, he is part of the scientific team working at the Thirty Meter Telescope of the California Institute of Technology, in Hawaii.
  • During his recent visit to the country, the researcher gave a presentation at Universidad de Santiago on scientific questions that have not been answered yet regarding the exploration of the universe and the characteristics of our country that favor the location of observatories.


 

“An engineer is prepared to deal with different matters,” Angel Otárola said to students and academics of the Department of Geographical Engineering who attended his first presentation at the University on August 12th.

The civil engineer (in Geographical Engineering), who graduated in 1989, embodies a paradox: by studying the grounds he was able to develop a professional career that today looks at the sky, as he is currently working as a senior scientist at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, in Hawaii. During his speech about the search for answers in the universe and the best locations for astronomical observatories, he told the audience his story. “We have our feet on the ground, but our eyes in the universe. I think that is our situation,” he said.

“My training in basic sciences (at Universidad de Santiago) is very strong in Physics and Math, what allowed me to address complex matters, like the ones in the astronomy field,” he said, referring to the technology that was starting at that moment, like GPS, that was the subject of his dissertation work.

He was soon hired in Antofagasta, for the La Silla project of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where he spent his free time exploring the desert and looking for new locations for astronomy projects. And so it was that, together with a Japanese team, in 1994, he discovered the Chajnantor plateau, an ideal place for observational astronomy due to the dryness of the land, the number of cloudless nights and the low occurrence of atmospheric turbulence.

“My training as geographical civil engineer was appropriate, because it provided me with tools that allowed me to take part in the exploration process of the north of Chile and help to identify locations to finally set up important astronomy projects like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project,” he said. He explained that he also took part in other exploration works in that area that led to the installation of the Chajnantor Test Facility, a telescope operated by the California Institute of Technology that studies cosmic radiation.

To deepen his knowledge in the astronomy field, in 2004 he was admitted in the MSc and PhD program of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences of the University of Arizona and three years later he was hired as a scientist to take part in the Adaptive Optics group of the TMT project (Thirty Meter Telescope of the California Institute of Technology), where he works up to date. He is also a research associate at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Arizona.

In his presentation he spoke about the exceptional conditions provided by the north of Chile for installing observatories and he explained some of the subjects on which astronomers are working today, like dark matter, dark energy and the possibility of life on planets outside the solar system.

Technology transfer

Angel Otárola believes that our country should increase the relation between scientific development and observational astronomy, to generate technology transfer and innovation,

“Our country has had some advantages, as Chilean astronomers have access to 10% of the observation time of the projects. But I believe that the second stage that the country has to commit to is technology transfer; we Chileans should be able to start manufacturing the instruments required for these observations,” he said, referring to the development of research on precision mechanics, cryogenics for equipment maintenance, software and electronics, among other disciplines that contribute to Astro Engineering.

“This definitely opens an opportunity for universities,” he added, referring to the need of having a scientific question to answer, financial support and confidence to manufacture the instruments.

“Manufacturing a completely Chilean instrument could take between 5 and 10 years and that continuous process in which technical and engineering problems were solved and into which cutting edge scientific knowledge was incorporated is where technology transfer is produced,” he concluded.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

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