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ESPOL faculty visit UNM Engineering
March 4, 2025
Faculty members from one of Latin America’s top universities visited The University of New Mexico last month to learn about resilient infrastructure and smart sensing technologies research.
Representatives of Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), a university located in Ecuador, visited UNM in early February to meet with faculty and learn about research happening in the School of Engineering. Eddy Sanclemente Ordóñez, faculty dean for earth sciences engineering, and Natividad García Troncoso, associate professor of earth sciences engineering met with faculty about research on structural health monitoring, infrastructure resilience, and data-driven decision-making for resilient structures.
Donna Riley, Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, Susan Bogus Halter, chair of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (CCEE), and Fernando Moreu, an associate professor of CCEE who spearheaded the visit, met with the ESPOL delegation to discuss a collaboration between the two universities. The visitors also attended the Rainforest Annual Inventor Event where they discussed innovation, intellectual property and international collaborations.
“Our goal is to strengthen the link between structural engineering research and real-world applications, while creating new academic and research opportunities for our students,” said García Troncoso.
Central to the agenda was a meeting with Associate Professor Moreu, whose pioneering work in smart sensing technologies and structural health monitoring aligns with ESPOL’s focus on seismic resilience and sustainable construction. Moreu’s insights provided a valuable perspective for enriching the curriculum of the ESPOL master’s program in Seismic-Resistant Civil Structures. ESPOL representatives interacted with the graduate and undergraduate students at the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory and learned about how they could incorporate teaching Low-cost Effective Wireless Intelligent Sensors (LEWIS) in their curriculum, which Moreu has taught at UNM since 2015.
“UNM is interested in increasing the number of students engaged in engineering from the country and from the world. There are many efforts with success ongoing with faculty and centers attracting worldwide visibility,” Moreu said. “To showcase UNM as a destination, we hosted two faculty from the top public university in Ecuador and conducted over twenty meetings to expose both of them to our laboratories, research areas, and faculty.”
Sanclemente Ordóñez and García Troncoso also met with faculty involved with the Global Education Office, including Todd Karr, Director of Education Abroad, and Paul Edmunds, director of the Center for English Language and American Culture, to discuss international student and research opportunities.
During their time in New Mexico, the ESPOL faculty members also visited New Mexico Tech University. The visit wrapped up with a ride on the Sandia Peak Tramway.