10 IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005

Student’s Corner

The Universdad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico campusCiudad Universitaria (UNAM,C.U.) is pleased to announce the

formation of its first Engineering inMedicine and Biology Society (EMBS)Student Branch Chapter in the country!

The Facultad de Ingenieria(College of Engineering) at UNAMwelcomes the Student Chapter, whichwas officially formed in August2005. The EMBS Student Chapterhas branched out of the existingUNAM IEEE Student Chapter, run byDr. Salvador Landeros, counselor,and Miguel Galicia, student presi-dent. Dr. Juan Manuel Gomez andRon Leder are the EMBS Chapterfaculty advisors and GiovanniFonseca is the EMBS Chapter chair.IIMAS Prof. David Guitierrez hadcontributed to and supported theStudent Chapter’s formation. TheEMBS Chapter Committee is com-posed of many action-oriented mem-bers, with executives includingOctavio Navarez and Susana Yanez.

The formation of the EMBS StudentChapter represents one of the first orga-nized efforts by students in the Collegeof Engineering to start a department ofbiomedical engineering at UNAM.Interestingly, by the time the pilgrimslanded at Plymouth Rock,Massachusetts in 1620, the Spanishalready had been operating for 66 years(since 1554) a university that wouldlater become UNAM in Mexico.

UNAM is the largest university inthe Western world and has survived allthese years without an official depart-ment of biomedical engineering.However, interest in biomedicine andengineering has grown tremendouslyover the years and even exponentiallysince the creation of Mexico’s firstEMBS professional chapter in 1992(by Angel Zapata Ferrer). Biomedicalengineering has existed at UNAM forsome time now but not in the formalsense, as in the case of at least five orsix other Mexican universities (three ofwhich already offer advanced degreesin biomedical engineering). In addi-

tion, Mexico already has several exist-ing affiliations to biomedical societiessuch as the Sociedad Mexicana deIngenieria Biomedica (SOMIB) andConsejo Regional America Latina deIngenieria Biomedica (CORAL).Overall, however, the undergraduatesof UNAM have responded to the out-reach from EMBS and decided to cre-ate this EMBS Student Chapter andorganize their efforts to promoteEMBS principles in Mexico and espe-cially at UNAM.

The UNAM Student Chapter con-sists of approximately 35 studentsextremely keen on the interdisciplinarynature of biomedical engineering.They are very open to cooperationwith the other biomedical engineeringsocieties and are certain that theirefforts will be successful within theircommunity. It should be noted that themajority of EMBS members whoformed the UNAM Student Chapterare undergraduate electrical engineer-ing students (studying mainly electron-ics and computer engineering) whotook Ron Leder’s advanced course inselected topics in biomedical engineer-ing. The course was part of a moduleof biomedical engineering coursesoffered in the division of electricalengineering coordinated by JuanManuel Gomez in the Department ofAutomatic Control (Ricardo Garibay,chair, and Eduardo Arriola, head ofelectrical engineering).

It is the hope of the Student Chapter,and all those involved in it, thatUNAM students be given the opportu-nity to explore the diverse field of bio-medical engineering and perhaps do soin a more formal environment. TheStudent Chapter also seeks to explorewhether a department of biomedicalengineering in UNAM College ofEngineering would improve the qualityof life in Mexico.

UNAM EMBS Student Chapter volunteers and members (Mexico City, Mexico),August 2005. Executives include (bottom, from left): Giovanni Fonseca, JuanManuel Gomez, Ron Leder; Susana Yanez (middle, center); and Octavio Navarez(top, left).

bienvenido México!

Lisa Lazareck

Future chapter activities include alunch seminar series given (every two weeks) by faculty, students, andinvited guests to which biomedicallyoriented graduate students are invited(these, along with a logo and mottocontest, began at the end of the lastacademic semester in 2004–2005) anda biomedical engineering promotionalevent in the autumn. Further details,and an informative update on bothUNAM EMBS Student Chapter andEMBS Professional Chapter activi-ties, will be printed in a later issue ofIEEE Engineering in Medicine andBiology Magazine.

Ron Leder is an energetic EMBSMember and faculty advisor (along withJuan Manuel Gomez) of Mexico’s firstEMBS Student Branch Chapter at theUniversdad Nacional Autonoma deMexico campus Ciudad Universitaria(UNAM, C.U.). Please send allUNAM-related comments to Ron Leder(rleder@ieee.org).

Welcome UNAM! Congratulationsagain on your immediate success in

forming Mexico’s first EMBS studentchapter, and we all look forward to read-ing about your future endeavors. Best ofluck with your efforts! The UNAMChapter is one of 12 new StudentClubs/Chapters, which I am happy toreport have completed their formationsince my last column. For details, pleasesee the EMBS Student Web site(http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/embs/ student/).

This is my last “Student’s Corner”column as 2004–2006 StudentRepresentative; elections for the2006–2008 Representative are nowunderway. Please refer to this columnto find out who the next representativewill be. I am certain he/she will behappy to hear from you all.

It has been an honor and a privilegeto represent the student membership ofEMBS and a pleasure to work with theother volunteers of the Society through-out the years (especially at the annualConferences and AdministrativeCommittee meetings). Thank you all foran exceptional experience, your con-stant support and encouragement, andthe opportunity to make a differencewithin the EMBS community!

Around the World (continued from page 6)

In the 327-page IFMBE Proceedings,166 papers appear (vol. 9, 2005; editedby Ronnie Lundstrom, Britt Andersson,and Helena Grip).

On 14 June, we were welcomed to aNorrland Evening at the lakeside ofTavelsjon where we had traditionalnorthern specialties. On 16 June we

enjoyed the banquet (complete withSwedish dancing) in a historic woodenmansion, Savargarden. The great riverof Umea that winds its way through thecity, the bright summer nights, thegreen parks, and the many birch treesalong the streets added to the confer-ence organizers’ hospitality.

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