Lab Gear Donated to University of Sonora

UT Dallas has donated $250,000 in laboratory equipment to the Research Department of Physics at Mexico’s University of Sonora (UNISON).

In thanking UT Dallas for the donation last week, UNISON President Pedro Ortega Romero said that educational institutions can vitalize teaching and scientific activities by working together.

The two universities will draft plans to collaborate on future projects and on student and faculty exchanges, Ortega said.

The equipment became obsolete for work done by UT Dallas researchers since they acquired newer instruments.  The donations will help outfit research labs that train UNISON students, who regularly come to UT Dallas for doctoral studies.

UT Dallas has formally collaborated with about 25 Mexican higher educational institutions and research centers since 1995 to complement and develop coordinated projects, said Rodolfo Hernandez Guerrero, director of the Center for US-Mexico Studies at UT Dallas.

The head of UNISON’s physics research department, Julio Saucedo Morales, said the equipment will have broad application.  It allows detailed studies of the surfaces and content of solids as well as molecular structure.

 The electronics industry depends on this type of equipment to ensure proper operation of electronic components.