Some of them had to travel more than 12 hours by bus. They came from San Luis de Potosí, La Paz and Cochabamba in Bolivia. Others arrived from Arica, in Chile, and Puno, in Perú. The rest came from the same Cusco, in Perú. A total of 22 students came to this city to join in a new version of Emalca (School of Mathematics from Latin America and the Caribbean) sponsored by the Center for Mathematical Modeling of Universidad de Chile (CMM) and organized by the Mathematical Union for Latin America and the Caribbean (Umalca) with Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad from October 20th to 31st.
It was a selection of 3rd and 4th year students from Mathematics Degree who came from universities with few professors with Master degree and almost none with PhD degree. For that reason, this school is an opportunity to meet academics with advanced knowledge and new contents.
“They are people with potential, but low trained,” explained Aris Daniilidis, CMM researcher and professor at Department of Mathematical Engineering from Universidad de Chile, who lectured the Optimization and Convex Analysis Elements Course. Meanwhile, CMM researcher Jaime Ortega was in charge of Introduction to PDE Course.
“Both for students and academics, this kind of schools is an opportunity to seek postdegree training and to open new possibilities for them. This activity allows knowing the reality of other people, sharing with different students and professors. I like that. You can see where you are and compare other realities. This is my second time in Emalca and last year, when we went to Chiclayo, I talked to researchers from other universities with I can see how my own situation is. It is an opportunity to create links of collaboration both in a personal and an institutional level,” explains Ortega. “About the experience itself, I can say that people always have been super kind and friendly.”
The collaboration is framed in the outreach activities of the center. However, remarks Daniilidis, it is possible to strengthen the relation between CMM, DIM and Emalca’s students: “We have a PhD program which can receive good students from Colombia, Eduador, Bolivia or Perú. Emalca is an opportunity to be in contact with possible future PhD students, in an environment where they can develop their mathematical potential.”
So, most motivated students of the School of Mathematics for Latin America and the Caribbean will have the possibility to join the DIM/CMM Post Graduate School between January 12nd and 23st in Santiago, where they will interact with students from the entire continent. The idea of this program is to give a touch of what means studying mathematics at Universidad de Chile and to take this knowledge to their countries. Best of them will stay in Chile to continue their postgraduate studies and, eventually, their doctoral thesis.
The objective of these postgraduate programs, in Daniilidis’ opinion, is to transform to Universidad de Chile in a reference center for Latin America: “If the best students of the continent come to Chile and come back to their countries, they will keep their links with Chile and will be the best ambassadors for Chilean science during the process of foundation of new educational institutions. Those people will be the new professors of advanced Mathematics and will lead different research centers.”
For the academic, this is a long-time work: “If we can detect the best students of countries in scientific developing, training them as doctors and send them back to their countries, we accomplish this mission. In that sense, if most gifted students of Emalca can continue their training, study the master program and, after that, hold the PhD, they will be competitive in the international context.”
Strong links
Collaboration between and Umalca exist since many years ago and, in fact, CMM researcher Servet Martínez is president of the international organization.
