The researcher of the Center for Mathematical Modeling of Universidad de Chile (CMM) Jaime San Martín and other 38 Undergraduate professors of the University were awarded Best Professor by institution’s president Ennio Vivaldi. The ceremony was the opening of the celebrations for the 172nd anniversary of the House of Bello.
“What you do in such a prominent way is one of the activities that best define us as human being, which is the culture transmission. It is not exaggerated to say that, among all the functions, this, perhaps, is the most intrinsically human”, said president Vivaldi.
San Martín is full-time professor since 1986. PhD in Statistics from University of Purdue and former CMM director, he lectured the courses Lineal Algebra, Astroinformatics, Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling, and Measure Theory in 2014.
“The profession of professor is extraordinary. The people I love the most, apart from my family, are my teachers. They have inspired me a lot. And that makes one also surpass oneself. I remember my great teachers and try to do similar, though it does not work always”, confesses San Martín.
Passion for teaching, organization, patience, dedication, vocation and a willingness to encourage the students to think about the problems, are qualities featured by the students from the Department of Mathematical Engineering (DIM).
“He deserves this award. Obviously. We note that he is part of the professors who like to teach, who cares learning,” explains Pedro Vergara, who is in the Measure Theory course. “He uses his notes as a guide that gives to us in the first class. Then, you could skip classes, for example. However there is a high attendance, because he adds value to the course”.
“I like his classes, because he is organized and gives students the chance to seek for the solution and to reason the answers by themselves. Just if a student doesn’t know the solution after a while, he says it,” remember Crístofer Cabezas, 3rd year student.
“For me, it is interesting his sure way of teaching. He comes to every class with his notes, but they are just for orientation. I mean, he does well, interacts with students and does not need to follow previous guidelines,” explains Francisco Fernández, other student of Measure Theory class.
“I’m surprised it’s the first time he has won this award. I met him in the Math Olympic Games, when we were invited to know the CMM. Because of that visit, I’m here studying Mathematical Engineering,” remembered Valentina Toro, president of the DIM Student Union. “He has two characteristics that not all the professors have: first, he has an opinion about what student do in the Faculty or not . He is always available to talk or discuss about that. And, second, we appreciate his concern about the students. He is always present and always worried. The ‘profe’ is a good professor in and out of the classroom”.
