Aiming to foster advanced research across all engineering fields, the UC School of Engineering annually funds positions for postdoctoral researchers launching their careers through twelve-month projects sponsored by School professors. Following a peer-review process, selected proposals receive competitive funding covering stipends plus mobility support for foreign applicants. This year’s call culminated in five postdoctoral positions being awarded:

Camila Arróspide Vásquez
Ph.D. in Geological Sciences, Universidad Católica del Norte, with the project “Marine erosion vs. weathering along the tectonically active rock coast of North-Central Chile: Deciphering favorable bedrock resistive conditions to regolith formation”, sponsored by Professor Carlos Marquardt (Departments of Mining Engineering; Structural and Geotechnical Engineering).

Cristina Contreras Torres
Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with the project “Carbon reservoir in Altiplano Wetlands and its relationship and quantification through soil hydraulic properties”, sponsored by Professor Francisco Suárez (Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering).

Esteban Cea Klapp
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, with the project “Computational design of hydrophobic eutectic solvents for sustainable CO₂ capture”, sponsored by Professor Nicolás Gajardo (Department of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering).

Ian Wolde Ponce
Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with the project “Towards digitalized thermal industry: Predictive modeling of heterogeneous packed beds thermal energy storage”, sponsored by Professor Benjamin Herrmann (Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering).

Valeria Cortés Rivas
Ph.D. in Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, with the project “Characterization of tsunamigenic faults in the accretionary prism of the rupture segment of the Maule earthquake”, sponsored by Professor Marcos Moreno (Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering).
We congratulate our new postdoctoral fellows and wish them a fruitful stay at the School of Engineering and great success in the projects they will develop alongside their sponsoring professors.