For his outstanding professional and academic work spanning over 30 years, the OIICE recognized Dr. Jorge Luis González Velázquez, professor and researcher in the field of Metallurgy and Materials at ESIQIE
Adda Avendaño
The International Organization for Inclusion and Educational Quality (OIICE) awarded the Cusco Edition Educational Excellence Award and the Doctor Honoris Causa recognition to Dr. Jorge Luis González Velázquez, professor and researcher in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Química e Industrias Extractivas (ESIQIE) of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN).
Dr. González Velázquez's work dates back to 1990 when he returned to Mexico after completing his PhD in Metallurgy at the University of Connecticut, USA, and receiving the All-American Student Award. He began teaching at ESIQIE, where he started offering courses related to the mechanical behavior of materials.
“When I joined ESIQIE, the new Doctorate program in Metallurgy and Materials was just starting, so I introduced the courses on Fracture Mechanics and Fractography – the specialty of my PhD – which became the first courses of their kind in an official postgraduate program in Latin America. Shortly thereafter, when modifying the curriculum for the Metallurgical Engineering degree, I established the course on Mechanical Behavior of Materials,” he noted.
OIICE promotes the adoption of quality educational standards to achieve the development and transmission of priority knowledge for the Latin American Community.
The development of new curriculum courses and their thematic content required a solid bibliographic foundation, initially consisting of specialized English books used by Dr. González Velázquez, a Master of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from ESIQIE and top of his class, during his undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
“At that time, there were no books in Spanish on Fracture Mechanics, so I used the available English texts, which were very theoretical with advanced mathematics, making many topics difficult to understand and even harder to apply practically. Therefore, I made some printed notes for my students to have an accessible source of information and study, which I gradually improved until they became textbooks,” explained the postdoctoral researcher by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
As part of the Polytechnic Texts Collection, the first work published was "Fracture Mechanics," followed by others such as "Mechanical Metallurgy," "Fractography and Failure Analysis," "Mechanical Behavior and Fracture of Engineering Materials," "A Practical Approach to Fracture Mechanics," "Engineering of Hydrocarbon Transport Pipelines," and "Mechanical Integrity and Risk-Based Inspection," among others, with prestigious publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature. These texts are used in several countries as textbooks, with some considered bestsellers.
Parallel to his teaching activities, the polytechnic specialist began a collaboration with Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) in 1992, where he introduced the concept of Mechanical Integrity. This process involves non-destructive inspection to determine the damage level of equipment, structures, or installations and to assess their working capacity (remaining strength) and how long they can operate safely (remaining life).
Mechanical Integrity revolutionized maintenance engineering in Mexico to the extent that it was introduced as a standard in Pemex and other industries, such as the electric power generation sector, for conducting maintenance, which is now tendered as Mechanical Integrity rather than traditional maintenance. This concept has led to significant economic savings in maintenance costs and has prevented countless failures. It was one of the main contributions of the members of the National System of Researchers (SNI), Level II.
The projects related to implementing Mechanical Integrity, led by the polytechnic expert, required a specialized team to provide technical services efficiently and effectively. Thus, in 1996, the Pipeline Integrity Analysis Group (GAID) was established. It represented a new paradigm in collaboration in Mexico, allowing the hiring of professional staff, having offices, equipment, and vehicles, and conducting research through undergraduate, master's, and doctoral theses, which contributed to the training of specialized human resources and later to the creation of technology-based companies.
The career of Dr. Jorge Luis González did not go unnoticed by the group of prestigious Latin American university professors, the OIICE jury, who decided to award him the Educational Excellence Award and the Doctor Honoris Causa recognition for his valuable scientific and technological contributions and his dedication to professional work. He has served as a project director, expert, and consultant in thousands of expert studies, and as a leader of accident investigation and failure analysis teams for both the public and private sectors.
Additionally, his extensive academic work is evidenced by the more than 80 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral theses he has supervised, as well as the over 300 scientific articles written in his specialty area and the training of more than 1,500 engineers and technicians in areas related to Mechanical Integrity, Fracture Mechanics, and Engineering of Hydrocarbon Transport Pipelines.
For his perseverance and dedication to teaching and significant contributions to research in Thermodynamics, Dr. Luis Alejandro Galicia Luna has been awarded the Cusco Edition Educational Excellence Award and the recognitions Doctor Honoris Causa with mention in Andragogy and the Order of Educational and Cultural Merit Magnus Docenti by the International Organization for Inclusion and Educational Quality (OIICE).
Assigned to the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Química e Industrias Extractivas (ESIQIE) of the IPN, the Emeritus Researcher of the National System of Researchers (SNI) has developed several main lines of research, particularly gas hydrates for water purification without environmental impact, work that has generated at least 10 undergraduate and postgraduate theses.
His career has been recognized with the "Maestro Rafael Ramírez" Teaching Merit Medal in 2011 and the "Maestro Altamirano" Teaching Merit Medal in 2022, both from the IPN; the Thermodynamics Excellence Award (Netherlands) and the Chemical Thermodynamics Award (England) in 2013; Honorary Professor at the School of Engineering of the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa; Cusco Edition Educational Excellence Award and Doctor Honoris Causa by OIICE, both in 2021.
With more than 200 national and international articles, over 60 graduates of undergraduate and postgraduate programs, and this current recognition, Dr. Luis Alejandro Galicia Luna demonstrates the quality, passion, excellence, and dedication he has brought to the IPN in 40 years of uninterrupted work.
Selección Gaceta Politécnica #175. (June 30th, 2024). IPN Imagen Institucional: Read the full magazine in Spanish here.
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