Academics from Chilean University UAI Visit Columbia to Strengthen Relationship with SEAS

May 18, 2022

A team of four academics from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez’s (UAI) School of Engineering and Science (FIC) recently traveled to New York to spend a full week meeting with peers at Columbia, with the aim of deepening the relationships that UAI has with Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

UAI’s team was comprised of then-dean of FIC, Carlos Jerez; the Director of Research, Gonzalo Ruz; the Director of Academics, Rely Pellicer; and the Professor of Operations Research and Director of the Master’s in Industrial Engineering, Rodrigo Carrasco (GSAS’13), who is also a member of the Santiago Center’s Advisory Board.

During their time at Columbia, the UAI team met with Soulaymane Kachani, Columbias’s Senior Vice Provost and Jenny Mak, Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Affairs, and their team at SEAS to see how to further develop the relationship between the two universities. The UAI team presented their strategic plan to identify opportunities for joint development.

On the academic side, the UAI academics met with Sandesh Tuladhar, the Associate Provost for Online Education, and the team from SEAS’s online program, the Columbia Video Network (CVN), as well as the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to see how the upcoming challenges in teaching can be addressed.

Finally, in the research area, the UAI team met with Garud Iyengar, Senior Vice Dean of Research and Academic Programs, to discuss topics involving SEAS, as well as with the Data Science Institute’s Cliff Stein and Sharon Sputz. “In both cases there is a great interest in doing things with Chile, especially since there is the Global Center in Santiago. They in turn made contact with different researchers with whom we met during the rest of the week, discovering several things we can do together,” relates Carrasco.

“The topic of Data Science particularly surfaced as something relevant to connect with Chile, so we were charged with putting together an event during the second half of the year to activate the ideas we developed,” he added. “The participation of the Global Center in these activities would be ideal… to put this in action and do something broader on the subject. I think the Global Center could be an excellent catalyst for this given the importance that the issue of data has taken over the past two years.”