On October 11, 2018, the Bionight 2018 event was held on the Yachay Tech University campus. This event was organized by the School of Biological and Applied Sciences (ECBA) and included the presentation of the ECBA Awards for students of the school aforementioned. The ECBA Awards are given each year in recognition of the work done by students during the past semesters, and are divided into nine categories: Academic Excellence Award, Outstanding Student Award, which is awarded to a third and fourth year student, Academic Success Award, Leadership and Service Award, Undergraduate Researcher Award, Internationalization Award, and the awards for the presidents of the Biodiversity Club and the Biomedical Engineering Club. The event also included spaces to promote the majors of the School and the activities of the clubs. Bionight 2018 was organized by Carolina Serrano, student representative of the ECBA and president of the Biomedical Engineering Club.

The awards were presented by Frank Alexis, Ph.D., and Hugo Romero, Ph.D., research professors and coordinators of the majors of Biomedicine and Biology, respectively. The winners received a certificate signed by Spiros Agathos, Ph.D., Dean of the ECBA.

The ECBA Award for Academic Excellence is given to the best student of the School in terms of service, scholarships, and research. It is awarded to students who represent ECBA through scientific research, which exceed the regular obligations of an undergraduate student. This year, the prize was awarded to María Belén Paredes, who holds a scholarship for academic excellence, received an internal research grant for the development of biomedical equipment, and made two scientific publications. María Belén volunteered in the areas affected by the earthquake of April 2016, designed an application that sought to facilitate the exchange of goods within the Yachay Tech campus, and worked with a group of mothers from the Urcuquí canton to teach them how to perform early stimulation activities on their babies without the need to buy equipment.

The ECBA Outstanding Student Award for third year students went to Majorie Zambonino. This award is given to a student considering their academic performance and leadership. Marjorie has a scholarship for academic excellence (more than 9 points in her general point average), participated in four research projects, including the development of an easy-access, low-cost microscope called Alakazam. In addition, she is a member of the Alpha and Omega organization, and she participated in the itinerant museum Túnel de la Ciencia on behalf of the University.

The ECBA Outstanding Student Award for the fourth year students went to María Eugenia Sulen. She maintains a scholarship for academic excellence, participated in a research project on Antibody-Drug Conjugates, made a scientific publication and was a tutor for students with academic difficulties at the University. In addition, she worked with Urcuquí mothers with María Belén Paredes, and worked with the Nueva Esperanza community.

The ECBA Award for Academic Success is given to a student who has made a significant improvement in their academic performance over the previous year. This award was earned by Marlon Zambrano, who went from an average of 7.7 to an average of 9.5 points.

The ECBA Award for Leadership and Service is given to an outstanding student for their leadership skills, their service to the community, their development and their social or related activities. This year, Evelyn Mollocana won the award. Evelyn is part of the Yachay Tech mentoring group, is the student representative of the ECBA and belongs to the student council of the University. In addition, she belongs to the Biomedical Engineering Club, organized the Bionight 2017 event and represented her School, the University and the country in the Global Forum for the Global Day of Clinical Engineering, organized by the International Federation of Medical and Biomedical Engineering.

The ECBA Award to the Undergraduate Researcher is given to a student who has been recognized for conducting outstanding scientific research during the year. This time the prize went to María José Aldaz, who worked on a research project about the analysis of the organization and distribution of histone genes from the unicellular algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and won the third place in the poster competition of the XLI National Conference of Biology in PUCE, Quito.

The ECBA Award for Internationalization is given to a student who has had a prominent participation in the IClub (international club) activities and other international activities. This year, the winner was Camila Velastegui for her participation in the Japanese club, social volunteering, and environmental awareness and for directing and founding the Techo project in Yachay Tech.  In addition, Camila is part of ASRI, the student research association of the University and is part of the Walli project, focused on providing a solution to save water at home.

Finally, the ECBA Awards for the Biodiversity Club and the Biomedical Engineering Club were granted to Mary Pulgar and Carolina Serrano for their leadership and service as representatives of the clubs, respectively.

For Carolina Serrano, the Bionight event is an opportunity for students and faculty of the ECBA to announce the activities that they are carrying out. She considers that the event awoke the interest of several students in the common core, who will soon have to decide which School they will belong to. The Evaluation Committee of the ECBA Awards was made up of the Dean and faculty of the School.