On March 22nd, 2019 the Local Chemistry Olympiad took place at the ETSIIT of the University of Cantabria, with the participation of 79 secondary students. The event was organized by the Association of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Cantabria – AQUIQÁN, in collaboration with the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ).
80 primary school students of the CEIP Jose María de Pereda (Los Corrales de Buelna) visited the ETSIIT of the University of Cantabria. During the visit they were welcomed by the Head of the School of Engineering and then they visited several research facilities. Raquel Ibáñez, Guillermo Díaz and Gema Pérez were in charge of presenting them the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department, and prepared a small science show about the daily work of chemical engineers.
During the celebration of Saint Joseph´s Day, the Universidad de Cantabria AIChE Student Chapter awarded three prizes for outstanding contributions that were presented to the scientific posters competition:
Moreover, Salvador Asensio Delgado was awarded with the AQUIQÁN prize to the best final project degree.
The ETSIIT of the University of Cantabria celebrated Saint Joseph´s Day, last March 15th, 2019. Several Chemical Engineering students received awards to their academic projects:
Cristina González, PhD. student of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department and Salvador Asensio, student of the Master in Chemical Engineering (UC-UPV/EHU) were awarded with the prizes to the best research poster for Doctorate & Master Programmes, respectively.Master in Chemical Engineering: Laura Rancaño “Ultraviolet light based oxidation processes for anionic surfactants removal”, supported by Apria Systems SL.
Chemical Engineering Degree: Belén García Merino “New composite photocatalysts with graphene for the treatment of perfluorinated compounds”, supported by the Solvay Química.
Alfredo Ortiz and Rafael Ortiz attended the International School “Progress in Hydrogen Safety”, celebrated in Belfast on March 11-15, 2019. This event was organized by the Ulster University in close collaboration with the HYLANTIC Project. Alfredo Ortiz, elong with Vladimir Molkov, welcomed the participants, and presented the HYLANTIC Project to the audience.
Alfredo Ortiz, coordinator of HYLANTIC Project, along with Rafael Ortiz and Gema Pérez, researchers of the project, attended the follow-up meeting of the project EAPA_204/2016 – “Atlantic Network for Renewable Generation and Supply of Hydrogen to Promote High Energy Efficiency”, in Belfast, on March 12th, 2019. During the meeting, the project partners of the Atlantic area presented their progress reportsand discussed about the future actions to be done before the next meeting to be held in Bristol, October, 2019.
On March 12, 2019 the R& D Manager of the Company Acciona Agua Jorge Malfeito together with Dr. Olga Ferrer visited the department for the final meeting of the joint collaborative project » EVALUACIÓN TÉCNICA DE LA RECUPERACIÓN DE LA ENERGÍA DE GRADIENTE SALINO CONTENIDO EN LA MUESTRA SALMUERA-AGUA DE MAR MEDIANTE LA TÉCNICA DE ELECTRODIÁLISIS REVERSA». After the presentation of the main outcomes of the project, the prospects for future collaboration were discussed.
On March 8th, primary students of the CEIP Juan de la Cosa (Santoña) visited the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department. During the visit, Elena Manteca and Gema Pérez, with the Chemical Engineering Degree students, Sandra Ceballos, Ana Fernández and Lidia Calva, prepared a science exhibition to show what a chemical engineer does and about the diverse professional development of chemical engineers. Next, students dressed up like a chemical engineer working in a lab, and did a chromatography experiment aimed at separating the different colors that a pen ink has. Furthermore, they visited the laboratories and played a game related to the periodic table of elements.
We hope they enjoyed as much as we did!
On March 4th, the company ENSA visited the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department of the University of Cantabria. The aim of the visit was to look for future collaborations between both institutions.
Raquel Ibáñez, on behalf of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department, welcomed Jorge Elices and Raquel Acebo, who attended the visit on behalf of ENSA, and introduced them the main research activities developed in the Department. After that, they visited the laboratories, accompanied by the technical staff of the Department.
Sandra Sánchez defended her doctoral thesis “New biocompatible polymer membranes functionalized with graphene based nanomaterials for in vitro neural models”, that was supervised by Prof. Ane Urtiaga and Dr. Nazely Diban. The defense took place on March 1st, 2019 in the University of Cantabria. The evaluation committee was formed by Prof. Inmaculada Ortiz (University of Cantabria); Dr. Reyes Mallada (University of Zaragoza) and Dr. Loredana de Bartolo (National Research Council of Italy).
