Members of the School of Physical Sciences and Nanotechnology of Yachay Tech organize the third edition of the Nanoscience Summer School, in the Galapagos.

May 16, 2019

The third edition of the Nanoscience Summer School @Yachay Tech (NSSY) will be held in the Galapagos from May 26 to June 1, 2019. This event is organized by faculty of the School of Physical Sciences and Nanotechnology of the University. The 2017 and 2018 editions were held on the university campus. The international conference will include guests from more than 10 countries, who will discuss topics related to the state of the art in nanoscience applied to polymers and biological systems, theory and simulation in nanoscience, synthesis of nanomaterials, molecular modeling of nanostructures and characterization and applications of nanomaterials. This international conference in the field of nanotechnology is the first of its kind to be held in the Ecuadorian Archipelago.

The conferences have the support of the Governing Council of Galapagos, the Palmeras Hotel, the Park Systems Company, Incolor, Imbacorp, Elite, and MM Representaciones as sponsors. The main purpose of the event is to promote the work that is being developed in Ecuador within different fields of nanoscience, promoting the development of new work and collaboration networks among the attendees. NSSY 2019 will include plenary sessions with high-level international guests, conferences by national and international researchers specialized in their field, and selected talks from the proposals sent by the attendees. Additionally, as one of the central axes, a two-day poster session will be held where exhibitors will be mostly Ecuadorian undergraduate students who will present the results of their research in nanotechnology.

The keynote speakers at the event (among others) are Prof. Risto Nieminen, from Aalto University in Finland, Prof. Ado Jorio, from UFMG in Brazil, Prof. Nikos Hadjichristidis, from Saudi Arabia, Prof. Carla Bittencourt, from University of Mons in Belgium, Prof. Stephanie Reich, from the Free University of Berlin in Germany, Prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and Prof. Tomasz Puzyn, both from the University of Gdańsk in Poland. In addition, the conferences are supported by an international committee made up of leading researchers from France, the Czech Republic, Poland, the United States, Spain, Croatia, and Canada.

The event will host about 100 participants among special guests, speakers, professors, researchers and students (from undergraduate to doctorate). Currently, 70 participants have been registered, 70% of them being national participants (EPN, USFQ, UCE, ESPOL). Additionally, it should be noted that 35% of the participants are women. Registered students were able to access a scholarship system sponsored by Park Systems, MM Representaciones and the NSSY, where 87% of the students registered obtained a scholarship.

The Organizing Committee is formed by Ernesto Medina, Dean of the School of Physical Sciences and Nanotechnology of Yachay Tech, Professors Julio Chacón, Duncan Mowbray, Camilo Zamora-Ledezma, Henry Pinto, and Physics major Charlotte Berrezueta.