RICHARDSON, Texas (Feb. 3, 2005) – Nobel laureate Dr. Alan MacDiarmid, a professor of chemistry and physics at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), will give the keynote address Feb. 16 at the opening of a four-day workshop on nanotechnology at The University of Guanajuato in Mexico that is expected to attract scientists and researchers from as far away as Japan, Russia and India.
The workshop is being sponsored by UTD and The University of Guanajuato, which in recent years have collaborated on an increasing number of scientific and educational ventures. MacDiarmid, who won the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry and holds the James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology at UTD, began his affiliation with UTD in 2001 and for a period served as chairperson of the advisory board of the university’s highly regarded NanoTech Institute. He will speak on “New Materials of the 21st Century: Electronic Polymers and Nanoscience.”
Nobel laureate Dr. Alan MacDiarmid
Nanotechnology, which has been hailed as the next possible revolution in science, enables the fabrication of material structures and devices having molecular dimensions and entirely new physical or chemical properties as a result of sizes smaller than the wavelength of light. Still in its infancy, nanoscience has numerous potential applications in such disparate fields as electronics, medicine, communications and manufacturing.
Several other Mexican research institutes and organizations — including the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), the Council of Science and Technology of the State of Guanajuato (CONCYTEG), the Mexican Society of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology (SOMENANO) and the Research Center for Mathematics (CIMAT) — will participate in the workshop, which will run from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19. The governor of the State of Guanajuato, H. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, and the director general of CONACYT, H. Jaime Parada, are expected to make appearances.
The UTD delegation will be led by the university’s provost, Dr. Hobson Wildenthal. While in Guanajuato, Wildenthal also is expected to sign an agreement expanding the relationship between UTD and Mexico’s Research Center for Mathematics, an internationally prestigious center of mathematics research and education located in Guanajuato and operated under the sponsorship of the Mexican government. UTD and the center already exchange faculty and students and plan to co-sponsored a bi-national conference on geometry and to collaborate on long-distance education through Internet 2 videoconferences.
“The cooperative relationship that is emerging between UTD and CIMAT will offer UTD faculty and students opportunities to study with, teach, be taught by and conduct collaborative research with some of the world’s leading mathematicians,” Wildenthal said. “Likewise, the emerging collaborations between UTD’s NanoTech Institute and Mexican universities and their faculties and students, and businesses as well, will be beneficial to all concerned.”
The provost noted that cooperative educational and research activities between UTD and Mexico have grown significantly over the last several years – at the institutional as well as individual faculty and student levels.
“Students from Mexico enrolled at UTD under cooperative programs are now earning doctoral degrees in a variety of fields, and UTD students are benefiting from exchange studies at Mexican universities,” Wildenthal said.
Most of UTD’s involvement in Mexico is the result of the work of the university’s Center for U.S.–Mexico Studies, which was created in 1995 to foster greater understanding between the United States and Mexico on issues of interest to both countries. The center strives to enhance the academic relationship between UTD and Mexico via international education, research and public service programs.
Among other things, the center helps Mexican students pursue undergraduate and graduate studies at UTD and implements exchange programs between Mexican universities and UTD. The first such program was with The University of Guanajuato. The center also brings prominent Mexicans to speak at UTD and offers a lecture series in which UTD faculty members speak at Mexican universities on such areas of interest as of science, technology, management, social sciences, arts and the humanities.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.
About The University of Guanajuato
The academic history and tradition of the University of Guanajuato date back to 1732, when the Hospice of the Holy Trinity was created. Later, the hospice became the National College of Guanajuato, and in 1945 its name was changed to the University of Guanajuato. With an enrollment of about 26,000 students, the university reaffirms the search for academic excellence, projection in research and the extension of knowledge and culture through its seven areas of education: Arts, Social and Humanities Sciences, Health Science, Natural and Exact Sciences, Engineering, Economic and Administrative Sciences and High School and Technician Level. The university offers 122 academic programs. For additional information, please visit the university’s Web site at http://www.ugto.mx/english/universidad.htm