Members of the Center for Research in Mathematical Engineering (CI²MA) at the University of Concepción (UdeC) gave talks and workshops at the National Meeting on Mathematical Engineering (ENIM 2025), which took place from Wednesday, December 17, to Friday, December 19.

Organized by students in this undergraduate program at the Concepción university, the event sought to strengthen academic and human exchange, as well as promote links between students, academics, and companies involved in different areas of theoretical and applied mathematics.

In this regard, Prof. Rodolfo Araya Durán, full professor at the UdeC and director of CI²MA, emphasized that “we have always considered the training of advanced human capital to be at the very heart of our work. That is why supporting undergraduate and graduate students is a natural extension of our mission”.

“These opportunities to share with new generations of colleagues” said the researcher from the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) at the University of Chile, “are very valuable because we can showcase our scientific work as a center and thus attract young talent to collaborate with our different lines of research, while supporting the creation of networks among future researchers that will be fundamental to their scientific and human growth”.

During the three days of ENIM 2025, nearly 200 students from nine universities across the country had the opportunity to share experiences and complement their training by participating in specialized workshops taught by researchers, academic talks on various cutting-edge topics in this area of knowledge, presentations by students on their own research results, and discussion panels on the current challenges facing the discipline.

CI²MA's representation at ENIM 2025 was expressed in:

• Raimund Bürger: workshop “Introduction to Vehicle Traffic Modeling”
• Jessika Camaño: workshop “Introduction to the Finite Element Method and an Application to the Inverse Problem of Electroencephalography”
• Anahí Gajardo Schulz: talk ‘Monotile: the tile that creates infinite different patterns’
• Gabriel Gatica: workshop ‘Approximation properties of projectors and interpolants that preserve polynomials’; and talk 'Perturbed point-saddle variational formulations. Theory and applications based on an ICM thesis'
• Manuel Solano: talk ‘The transfer path method for numerically solving PDEs in curved domains’
• Dominique Spehner: ‘Introduction to quantum algorithms’
• Prof. Raimund Bürger commented that “without a doubt, this type of meeting is a valuable contribution to the formation of personal networks, as students can surely benefit from the exchange and experiences of their peers at other universities”.

“I would like”, the UdeC full professor added, “more students to get involved in presenting seminar papers or theses, as well as a greater presence of companies or other sectors interested in hiring mathematical engineers”.

For her part, Dr. Jessika Camaño said that “I think ENIM is an extremely valuable opportunity for students, as it allows them to learn about the different topics being developed in the field of mathematics in our country”.

“Without a doubt, Chile has world-renowned mathematicians of the highest caliber”, the CI²MA researcher  added , “and ENIM offers the opportunity to meet them and learn about their work firsthand. In addition, the meeting facilitates contact between professors and undergraduate and graduate students, creating spaces for dialogue, exchange of ideas, and reflection”.

“ENIM is an excellent opportunity for both academic learning and for creating links and networks within the mathematical community”, summarized the academic from the U. Católica de la Santísima Concepción.

The opinion of those in attendance

The students who gathered for the meeting came from the U. de Chile, Pontificia U. Católica de Chile, U. Católica del Maule, U. de La Frontera, U. de O’Higgins, U. de Santiago de Chile, U. de Valparaíso and U. Técnica Federico Santa María, in addition to the UdeC itself. 

Claudio Leyton is a third-year ICM student at the Pontifical Catholic University, participating in an ENIM for the first time. He described the experience as “very enriching because it allowed me to learn from the experiences of professionals and other students, which is motivating me even more to continue with my studies.”

Daniela Godoy, meanwhile, is a student at the Catholic University of Maule and said, “I found the variety of topics covered in the talks very interesting. Some of the workshops are very dynamic, they are super interesting to listen to, and the experience I have had here makes me want to continue participating in future ENIMs.” 

This event was financed with funds managed by the organization through registrations, which were supplemented with resources from the University of Concepción, granted through the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, the Department of Mathematical Engineering, the Civil Mathematical Engineering program, and CI²MA.

Institutional commitment

“ENIM is a meeting of mathematical engineering students organized by the students themselves, and we are visited by students from various universities across the country. These meetings are very fruitful, allowing students to generate ideas, discuss problems, and find solutions. Without a doubt, academic networks are created that will last long after the meeting itself”, said Dean Dr. Luis Roa Oppliger.

Meanwhile, Director of Teaching Dr. Carolyn Fernández commented, "We are pleased that the University of Concepción is hosting this meeting. We see our students as very empowered, very happy, and highly energized about this important meeting".

For his part, the president of the ICM UdeC students, Benjamín Mendieta Bustos, emphasized that “this meeting is not only an academic event, but also a space for human connection, exchange of ideas, and interdisciplinary collaboration,” adding that “our degree program is at the root of many of the most challenging solutions in today's world: from the optimization of complex systems and data analysis to the development of models that enable science-based decision-making”.

CI²MA researcher and ICM program director Dr. Dominique Spehner highlighted the excellent organization on the part of the students and added that “most of the ENIM courses and lectures were given by academics from our Department of Mathematical Engineering”.