Newsflash #5: Mexico: First Technical Meeting of the GEMex Consortium, and Installation of its BoD

Mexico: First Technical Meeting of the GEMex Consortium, and Installation of its BoD

On 2^nd May 2017, the technical leaders and responsible of the Work Packages (WP) and main tasks of the Project GEMex’s Mexican consortium gathered in Morelia City, Mexico, to hold their first meeting. The meeting was held at Michoacán University’s Cultural Center, located at the Morelia historic downtown.

The event was officially inaugurated by the scientific research coordinator of the Michoacán University (UMSNH), Dr. Raúl Cárdenas-Navarro, who was accompanied by the Technical Leader of the project in Mexico, Dr. Aída López-Hernández, and the director of the UMSNH Civil Engineering Faculty, M.A. Wilfrido Martínez-Molina. Aída López welcomed the participants and explained the objectives and expected outcomes of the meeting, Wilfrido Martínez stressed the relevance of the project for the University of Michoacán, and Raúl Navarro declared officially open the meeting on behalf of the Rector of the UMSNH, Dr. Medardo Serna-González. The Rector paid a visit to the attendants later on, and addressed them an informal salutation and welcoming.

The Mexican consortium of the project is composed of three distinct units of the National University (UNAM), which are the Geophysical Institute headquartered in Mexico City, the Geosciences Center of Juriquilla located in Querétaro City, and the National School of High Studies (ENES), campus Morelia. Another partners are the scientific research and high education center of Ensenada (CICESE), located in Ensenada City, the national institute for electricity and clean energies (INEEL), headquartered in Cuernavaca City, two private companies (Geominco, based in Querétaro, and JL Energía, based in Morelia) and the UMSNH, which is the leader and the supporting subject before the Energetic Sustainability Fund (FSE). The FSE is the trust providing the funds from the federal government.

The GEMex Board of Directors (BoD) of the Mexican consortium is composed of Aída López, which is the President, and Julio Vargas-Medina (WP2), Luis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín (WP3), Víctor Hugo Garduño-Monroy (WP4), Claudia Arango-Galván (WP5), Alfonso Aragón-Aguilar (WP6), Abel Hernández-Ochoa (WP7), Eduardo González-Partida (WP8), Zayre González-Acevedo (WP9) and José Manuel Romo-Jones (CeMIE-Geo). Among other things, the BoD approved re-structuring the WP4 into nine tasks, and Aída López confirmed that the starting date of the Mexican side of the project is 31^st January 2017.