October 08, 2019
By Kate O’Neill
A delegation from the University of Sonora traveled to UC Santa Cruz on June 6, 2019 to explore student mobility and summer research internship opportunities.
The University of Sonora is a public institution in the north-west region of Mexico with robust science and engineering graduate programs in physics, materials science, geology, engineering, food science, and immunohematology.
The University of Sonora delegates met with faculty and staff from UC Santa Cruz including the Director of the Systems Research Lab and Center for Research in Open Source Software Carlos Maltzahn and Professor of Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Fitnat Yildiz, who have worked with and hosted undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Sonora.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the university representatives to learn about their respective teaching and research strengths while focusing on exploring the potential for developing summer undergraduate and graduate research opportunities for students from Sonora and other forms of student mobility, such as undergraduate student exchange.
During their visit, the Sonora delegates also toured the campus and enjoyed a guided tour of the Yildiz lab in the Biomedical Sciences Building to view the caliber of research facilities available on campus. Professor Yildiz has also hosted a visiting scholar from the University of Sonora. Fernando A. Pagliai, a graduate student in the Yildiz lab, provided delegates with an overview of the lab’s facilities and their research on how vibrio cholerae persists in response to changes in environmental conditions.
To promote international cooperation in teaching and research Global Engagement supports the development of formal partnership agreements between UC Santa Cruz and institutions abroad. Faculty interested in learning more about building partnerships and leveraging their existing travel plans abroad are welcomed and encouraged to reach out to Global Engagement for guidance and assistance with arranging meetings and identifying new partnership opportunities. Additional information is available on global.ucsc.edu/partnerships.