Group members successfully defended their thesis

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Last November 11th, the students Daniel J. Montero-Murillo and Álvaro J. Montero-Murillo, majoring in Occupational Health and Safety Engineering at TEC, succesfully defended their thesis entitled “Proposal for a strategy of collection and storage of chemical waste generated in the Central Campus of Tecnológico de Costa Rica based on the experience developed by the University of Central Florida“.

The public defense took place in the Learning Commons Library at TEC, with a streaming for the virtual participation of our colleagues at the University of Central Florida: Dr. José Vazquez, Dr. David Bock and Specialist Aaron Young. The Board of Examiners (Prof. Mónica Carpio and Chem. Specialist Javier Montero) made important suggestions to improve the project and congratulated the students for an outstanding defense.

Congratulations to the new engineers and all the best on your future projects!

Daniel and Álvaro with the Board of Examiners: Chem. Specialist Javier Montero (second from the right) and Prof. Mónica Carpio (right)
Daniel and Álvaro during their public presentation and defense

Participation at SERMACS Conference

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From October 19th to October 22nd, I participated at the South Eastern Regional Meeting from the American Chemical Society (SERMACS), held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as co-Chair of the inclusive-Remote International Poster Session (i-RIPS). Moreover, I presided the Symposium entitled ACS Chemistry Festivals, Non-formal Chemistry Education around the World, where I presented the results of the first ACS Chemistry Festival organized in Costa Rica.

During the conference, my former student (and current Material Science Engineer) Juan Diego Barboza-Carmona presented the main results of his bachelor thesis. Also, it was possible to participate in academic discussions with colleagues from Latin America, looking for future collaborations. At the same time, I participated in a dinner with the Nobel Laureate David Macmillan, members of the ACS Board of Directors, and international visitors.

i-RIPS Organizers with Dr. Ingrid Montes (black dress), General Meeting Chair
With the Nobel Laureate, David Macmillan
i-RIPS collaborators

Invited talk at the NMR Summer School (Mexico)

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As part of the NMR Summer School, I will have a talk related with hyperpolarization methods and how to use it on signal enhancement. Special attention will be given to the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect and hyperpolarized 129Xe.

The NMR Summer School will take place virtually from July 18th to July 22nd. The event is organized by several Latin American NMR specialists, and sponsored by VinoClub, Anáhuac Mexico, Labskin Essence and Bruker.

If you would like to receive additional information about this event, please feel free to contact me, or to the organizers.

A Commentary has been accepted and published online

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Thanks to the kind invitation from the Biophysical Reviews Editors, a short article has been published. The authors would like to draw the attention about the importance of solid-state NMR and hyperpolarization methods in Costa Rican science.

The authors believe that by implementing solid-state NMR in several research fields in the country, will help to improve the Costa Rican Research and Development expenditure.

Title, authors and abstract of the Commentary article. © 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

I would like to thank Prof. Jörg Matysik for his support and help writing this document. He has been one of the main sponsors of solid-state NMR and hyperpolarization methods in Costa Rica.

On this link you will find the paper. If you (or your institution) do not have access to the journal, please feel free to write me.

TEC students participated at the ACS National Meeting

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Five students from our ACS International Student Chapter at Tecnológico de Costa Rica attended the ACS Spring National Meeting in San Diego, CA: Kate Willis (Biotechnology Engineering), Valery Rivera (Material Sciences Engineering), Susan Chamorro (Biotechnology Engineering), Jeroen van Hoof (Electromechanical Engineering) and Daniel Montero (Occupational Safety and Hygiene Engineering).
Thanks to an ACS Student Communities Professional Meeting Grant, our students presented two posters entitled:

  1. Pura Vida, Festival Químico: The first Chemistry Festival in Costa Rica.
  2. Accomplisments and lessons learned by the ACS International Student Chapter at TEC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students had the opportunity to interact with other ACS Student Chapters, participate in several professional and academic workshops, and attend oral communications related with their majors.

At the IAC International Reception. From left: Prof. Santiago Sandí, Lily Raines (ACS Office of Science Outreach), Kate Willis (student), Prof. Isaac F. Céspedes-Camacho, Valery Rivera (student), Jeroen van Hoof (student), Susan Chamorro (student) and Daniel Montero (student and President of the ACS International Student Chapter at TEC). Photo taken by the author.

New paper has been accepted and published online

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Thanks to the collaboration with the groups of Prof. Jörg Matysik and Prof. Dirk Enke, at the Universität Leipzig, the work done by my student, Juan Diego Barboza-Carmona, has been accepted and published online in the Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology (Springer).

An integral overview of the porous structure of hydrophobic acid and base-catalyzed sodium silicate-based aerogels was done by using hyperpolarized 129Xe NMR spectroscopy, together with other classical characterization techniques.

View of a water droplet over the synthesized aerogel surface. The hydrophobicity of the sample is quite characteristic.

On this link you will find the paper. If you (or your institution) do not have access to the journal, please feel free to write me.

ACS Student Group Development and Engagement Grant received

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On June 26th, the American Chemical Society (ACS) International Student Chapter at Tecnológico de Costa Rica organized a Group Development Activity, thanks to a grant received by the ACS. 23 student members participated in the event, following the corresponding national health protocols.

The event name was “ReconstruyendoTEC, reencontradoTEC, reescribiendoTEC“. The main goal of the event was to create a space where our student members could socially interact and create new bonds between them, with the help and support of a specialist in group dynamics. We worked on motivation during pandemic times and afterwards, soft skills development and team-work dynamics.

International visit at the University of Central Florida

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Some days ago, I visited my colleague and collaborator Prof. Melanie Beazley at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. The purpose of the visit was to strengthen the collaborations between our institutions and research groups.

At the same time, I also visited the UCF Environmental Health and Safety Department. Two students from Tecnológico de Costa Rica (majoring in Occupational Safety and Environmental Hygiene) joined me, because they would like to do an internship at UCF and establish some academic and professional collaborations.

I am very happy and optimistic about the contacts done and the possibilities that will come thanks to this visit.

With Prof. Beazley and two TEC students (Daniel Montero and Álvaro Montero) in front of the Physical Science Building at UCF. Photo taken by the author.

Invited talk at IEEE PES Tecnológico de Costa Rica

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El próximo miércoles 28 de abril, a partir de las 17:00 (hora Costa Rica), he sido invitado por los miembros del Power and Energy Society (PES) IEEE-TEC a participar en la celebración del PES-Day 2021. Para dicha celebraciónestaré brindando la conferencia titulada “Resonancia Magnética Nuclear: la fuerza de los espines en la obtención de energía“. Adjunto la información preparada por dicha asociación para la divulgación de esta conferencia.
Quien guste participar en la misma, no dude en contactarme.

Invitación a la conferencia