- Email: [email protected]
Research in optics and photonics at CIO, Mexico
Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Optics and Lasers in Engineering journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng
Editorial
Research in optics and photonics at CIO, Mexico
Some advances in optics and photonics: Legacy of CIO to the world in its XXX anniversary This year 2010 Mexican citizens are fortunate, on one hand, for celebrating two important anniversaries of Mexico: The Bicentennial of the Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. Both events marked a significant advance for the social life of the country. On the other hand, celebrate the ´ ptica (CIO), XXX Anniversary of the Centro de Investigaciones en O Optical Research Centre. Mexican institution dedicated a hundred percent to the basic and applied research in optics and related branches. CIO’s history dates back to the early of the 1980, when Dr. Daniel Malacara Herna´ndez begins to make reality his dream of creating a research centre in his native city, Leo´n Mexico in Guanajuato State. In the frame of its CIO’s XXX anniversary, this special issue is written. This special issue highlights recent developments and research in optics and photonics by some of the CIO’s research staff.
1. Background In agreement with the goal of fostering a competitive culture based on scientific and technological development that the National Council for Science and Technology, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologı´a (CONACYT), had established from its origins, it oversaw the CIO foundation. Such process of creation had its legal start on April 18, 1980, in a protocol ceremony where the constitutive act for the new institution was drafted, being signed by those who were the authorities at different levels of government and official agencies at the time: Dr. Edmundo Flores, General Director of CONACYT, Dr. Guillermo Sobero´n Acevedo, Rector of the ‘‘Universidad Nacional Auto´noma de Me´xico, UNAM’’ (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Enrique Velasco Ibarra, Constitutional Governor of the State of Guanajuato, and Harold Gabriel Appetl, Mayor of the City of Leo´n, Guanajuato. The signing of the constitutive act was a corollary to countless attempts, challenges, efforts, and prior achievements that had been spearheaded by Dr. Malacara. It was at that time, and from diverse scientific and academic charges and positions that he had. Initially at UNAM and later at the INAOE (which he collaborated to found from the basis of the old Astrophysical Observatory of Tonantzintla [1]), that he worked with the conviction that there was an urgent need to create in Mexico a scientific institution of the highest level, to be solely devoted to the development of Optics, a field of knowledge that is currently a cornerstone and strategic foundation for important and valuable breakthroughs in science and technology, in the fashion that he foresaw it. 0143-8166/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.optlaseng.2011.02.008
At the beginning CIO started to operate on a rented floor in a building located in city centre, with five researchers and three technicians, Dr. Malacara himself, those then M.Sc. Arquı´medes Morales Romero, Zacarı´as Malacara Herna´ndez, Gustavo Rodrı´guez Zurita, and Jesus Moya Cessa, as researches; and, Jose´ Castro ˜ a, Carlos Javier Martı´nez Castro, and Armando Becerra, as Villican technicians, all of them commissioned by UNAM. All these people conducted research in the field of optical instrumentation, mainly in the area of astronomical telescopes and optical surfaces [2]. Initial steps were also taken to increase the number of staff members and areas of work, and what is more important, the spreading of information regarding topics of Science and Optics was started at the educational institutions of middle and higher level that existed at the time, both in the city, as well as, in the central region of the country, by teaching courses in different majors and directing theses on scientific issues. In that time the Guest Editor of this Special Issue was physics and mathematics student at University of Michoacan (UMSNH), making his bachelor thesis at CIO. [3] It is possible to briefly summarise the history of CIO by pointing out that four different researchers have been in charge of the General Direction of the Centre, each one heading different stages in the life of CIO, which can be outlined as following [4].
2. Consolidation In September, 1980, during the first meeting of the Government Body of CIO, Dr. Malacara was appointed as General Director, a position that he held until 1989. He was in charge of consolidating one of the first and most successful projects to create scientific institutions outside Mexico City, where up to then most of the technological development of the country had taken place. It was during his term that foundations were laid for a sustained development of top quality scientific work; at first, efforts were focused onto incorporating young researchers who came from national universities, and conditions were created so that they would be able to go abroad and pursue doctorate degrees, only to later return to CIO and strengthen its scientific staff. In 1983, CIO moved to what would become its definite location, on a 37,500 m2 piece of land that was donated by the City Government, and in a building which was built by the Guanajuato State Government. It was at that time that the CIO’s first own academic programs were created: the Master in
660
Editorial / Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
Sciences (Optics) Degree, in 1984, and the Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) Degree, in 1987; both programs were supported by the University of Guanajuato, which issued the degrees of those who enroled in the programs between 1984 and 1999. It is interesting to notice that as of its foundation, and as a result of its scientific and technological labour, CIO first acquired international recognition, then national, and finally local and regional, and that it is in these two last areas where only in more recent times has work started to spread the word about CIO’s results and achievements. From 1989 to 1997, Dr. Arquı´medes Morales Romero was in charge of the General Direction. He diversified the research areas and groups, promoted meaningful incorporation of foreign researchers and took the first steps to build teams that would work on the development of applied technology, a project that had as a first stage the generation of strong research groups, both at the Direction of Research as well as at the then Direction of Technological Development and Applied Optics. It is must also point out, as a highlight of Dr. Morales’s administration, the success of the project that, aiming at strengthening the regional presence of CIO, had as a result, in 1996, the opening of a CIO Unit in the city of Aguascalientes (Mexican State with the same name) on 25,000 m2 piece of land, an action that laid down the foundations for an internal redefinition of responsibility areas, for a regrouping, within the Direction of Research, of those groups that had affinity with each other, and for the reorganisation of the Direction of Technological Development and Applied Optics. All those actions, their justification, start up, goals, achievements, and evaluation were carried out along the guidelines that arose, first, from the ruling instruments already mentioned, and then from the ensuing National Plans of Development that guided the scientific and technological work, as well as, its insertion into the productive sector in the period from 1988 to 2000. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Luis Efraı´n Regalado was the Director of CIO, and he strengthened the scientific staff through the incorporation of national and international researchers. Among those actions of creation and strengthening of working teams and groups, he fostered a policy of departmental organisation within the research areas, and one of incorporating researchers who had graduated from CIO, only after they had outstandingly completed post-doctoral stays out of the country. In accordance with the national policies that at that time started to gain impetus, he encouraged the orientation of research projects within the frame of the calls issued to attend to regional and national development needs. He implemented institutional management and direction systems based on quality models, and launched quality certification systems for the tasks and goals of the different areas of CIO, such as in the laboratories and workshops of the area of technological applications, as well as, in the laboratories of dimensional metrology and of colourimetry, and in areas of specialized services, such as the Central Library [5]. On academic grounds, he generated the conditions for CIO graduates to get their academic degrees not from the University of Guanajuato anymore, with which a tight and solid relationship is kept, but from the Centre itself, first through the Secretariat for Public Education (‘‘Secretarı´a de Educacio´n Pu´blica’’ (SEP)), and later directly from CIO, in its role as Public Research Centre. He consolidated the quality of CIO’s Master and Doctorate programs, and managed to get them included into CONACYT’S currently called ‘‘Padro´n Nacional de Posgrado, PNP’’ (National Register of Graduate Studies). He also started collaboration with other CONACYT centres and with the Institute of Physics of the University of Guanajuato, in order to create the academic programs for the ‘‘Posgrado Interinstitucional en Ciencia y Tecnologı´a, PICYT’’ (Inter-institutional Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Science and Technology) that currently leads to Master’s and Doctorate
Fig. 1. Preform in stretching tower for manufacturing a special silica optical fibre.
Fig. 2. Technological management building.
Table 1 CIO’s research areas. Optical division
Photonics division
Optical non-destructive testing Computer vision and artificial intelligence Optomechatronical instrumentation Modern Optical testing and design Holography and Fourier optics Medical and forensic optics Infrared optics
Optical surface properties Optical advanced materials Physics and engineering of lasers Optical spectroscopy Special optical fibre fabrication Fibre optic sensors and devices Optical fibre laser
Table 2 CIO’s Academic programs. Actual and graduated students (updated to February 2011). Number of currently students
Programme
Year of starting
Number of graduated students
Master in Sciences (Optics) Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) Master in Science and Technology (PICYT) Doctorate in Science and Technology (PICYT) Master in Optomechatronics
1984
149
18
1987
122
74
1998
5
0
1998
2
2
Total of students
2007
15
33
293
127
Editorial / Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
661
Table 3 Some important features of DTI. Technological Projects
Accreditable Laboratories and Services
Digital image processing
Accreditable laboratories Dimensional metrology Spectrocolourimetry Force Optical Planes Dimensional metrology Services that are accredited under Mexican quality norm NMX-EC-17025-IMNC-2006 Calibration
Visualisation of air flow in a drier Oven illumination system Frontal 3D digitizer to obtain point clouds on X, Y & Z coordinates Speed analysis and balance ring Analysis of air flow in a refrigerator Pressure, temperature and volume in car safety air-bags
Vision
Device for identification of welding defects in electronic cards Device for identification of quality control marks in rings Screw selecting machine Digital endoscopic vision system
Infrared
IR radiation detection sensors Emissivity determination as a function of temperature for metallic sheets
Temperature monitoring Visualisation of ignition process in stove burners Flame visualisation and characterisation in burners Spectroscopy
Height metres Calipers Indicators Micrometres Pattern blocks Thickness metres Piece sizing with MMC Counselling on measuring equipment Piece sizing Gauge Certification
Spectrocolourimetry Services that are accredited under Mexican quality norm NMX-EC-17025-IMNC-2006
Calibration of UV-sense spectrophotometers Calibration of spectrocolorimeters Characterisation of reference materials Other services
Identification of defective pollutants in car paints Optical characterisation of ‘‘tequila’’ and other alcoholic drinks Optical design
Development of new and better retro-reflectivity technologies with
potential application to vialetas Re-design of internal illumination in a refrigerator Design and construction of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer Technological transfer in optical manufacturing Development of a projection sight for a helicopter Re-design and production of tactical telescopes
Colour
Comparison and evaluation of colorimetric register and pigment analysis in the ‘‘Alfredo Duge´s Collection’’
Hue-test evaluation Colour measurement Glow measurement Colour formulation Dye database Absorbance, transmittance and reflectance measurement
Main Customers
Mitutoyo Mexicana S.A. de C.V.
Sedena - Secretarı´a de la Defensa Nacional
Fuerza Ae´rea Mexicana Mabe de Me´xico s de RL de
CV ´ ptica Aplicada Tecnologı´a O Continental Automotive Soluciones Tecnolo´gicas Voyager BASF Instituto Polite cnico Nacional MAHLE SEMEX INAOE Tornillos de alba AAM DANONE GST KROMBERG KASAI Flextronics Acerocentro Comimpex VCST Intercalza Turborreactores UNAM
Strength Calibration services in strength testing equipment, such as
Universal strength machines Dynamometers Profilemeters Load Cells Load Rings Presses
Colorimetric register in watercolours of the ‘‘Alfredo Duge´s Collection’’ Optical planes Calibration of optical planes Laser applications Calibration of optical parallels Laser engraving systems, low power laser detection, and measurement systems.
degrees at 7 CONACYT Centres in the states of Guanajuato, Quere´taro, Jalisco, and Coahuila; and, also to start the programs for B.Sc. degrees in Physics and Physical Engineering, based at the named Institute of Physics of the University of Guanajuato (IFUG). Actually, these academic programs are housed in the Science and Engineering Division, campus Leon of the University of Guanajuato. Additionally, under the direction of Dr. Regalado, CIO took part in the labour of curricular design and planning for the two programs, which started to be formally taught from 1988. In November 2002, Dr. Fernando Mendoza Santoyo took on the challenge to increase productivity at CIO, as General Director, and take it to international quality standards in all of CIO’s areas, considering that at the time, CIO already had worldwide recognition for all its areas, supported by the number of research products generated (research papers, publications, congresses, etc.), as well as by the quality of those products (measured in terms of their international impact and recognition, among other things). Regarding scientific labour, he redirected it so that, within the frame of the Special Programme of Science and Technology,
strategic areas of knowledge would be pushed forward, and that those needs that the country, region or state have regarding scientific, academic, technological and social development would be seen to, without neglecting, but fostering the Centre’s vocation to cultivate basic science. In the realm of international collaboration actions, he has started a joint project with the University of Arizona to create a bi-national Optics Centre. In the academic aspect, he made the commitment to earn for the Centre the level of International Competency (the highest ranking in CONACYT’s Register of Graduate Studies), considering as a core part of this strategy the strengthening of the mechanisms used to promote the centre and attract students, the curricular modification of the Centre’s own programs (aiming at timely and appropriately meeting the criteria for end efficiency and productivity pertaining to high quality programs), and the gathering of operational information about the job performance of its graduates in academic and scientific environments through programs and actions geared to formally follow up those graduates. Regarding technological development, he has implemented actions aimed at approaching the social and productive sectors so that Optics can
662
Editorial / Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
be applied to the solution of problems that are regionally and nationally relevant [6,7]. It is worth mentioning that the Centre’s substantive actions yield results that are measured against previously established goals and indicators, which in due time are assessed by internal and external evaluation bodies, mostly the Government Body, within the frame of the CIO-CONACYT Performance Agreement. In these evaluation processes, CIO has consistently obtained very positive results, being notorious that during the current administration, the number and quality of the accomplishments have substantially increased, and with them, the rating that the work of the institution and all its members has earned (Figs. 1 and 2). Presently for its functionality, CIO has four Directions apart of the General Direction. Research Direction, this leads, coordinates and promotes the Centre’s research programs and projects, by setting up the regulations needed to carry out adequate hiring and training of scientists. Likewise, to promote participation of the scientific staff in academic formation tasks and in attracting projects from the productive sector, supervising and coordinating results and making sure that the Research Divisions and Laboratories have the supplies, furniture and equipment that they require, in order to achieve their goals in a timely and efficient fashion, and ensure the Centre’s contribution to the development of science. From 188 staff, there are 58 researches grouped in two Divisions, Division of Optical Engineering and Division of Photonics. Table 1 shows some of the research areas cultivated by the Divisions. The management and promotion of the CIO’s academic programs; likewise, the coordination of other education activities in the scientific areas, belong to of Academic Direction. This Direction is responsible of maintaining the quality of all the academic programs. The Master in Sciences (Optics) and the Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) continue as International Competency Level, as it was described above. The Master in Optomechatronics, of recent creation, is at the moment in the level of In Development. Finally, the Master and Doctorate in Science and Technology programs, PICYT, is in the Excellency Level (PNP). All these academic programs level appointments are given by CONACYT. Table 2 shows the academic programs and actual and graduated students. The Direction of Technology and Innovation (DTI) linkage technological projects and social impact projects, also are promoted and executed, revenues are generated, and technological agreements are made with companies and institutions, fostering, through for all these paths, a scientific and technological culture in the society. Any contract with the industry, university, or institution national or international, is quoted and managed by this Direction. Therefore, the own generated economical resources for the CIO, through these actions are used, partly, to support internal investigation projects, equipment, and construction of new physical infrastructure. In Table 3 some important features of this Direction are shown. Finally, the Administrative Direction, although it did not intervene in scientific, technological, neither academic aspects, it is not less important for CIO’s life. This Direction is responsible for the financial aspect of administration. This manages laboratory equipment purchases, construction of physical infrastructure,
and furniture. Through convoking national and international, under public bid, it carried out those mentioned purchases. The physical infrastructure has been created through own CIO funds (that come of projects and contracts with the industry) and of Federal Government. In its Leon extension of 37,000 m2, it has constructed 9 buildings in 12,698 m2. In that extension, where there are 40 equipped laboratories, 6 shops, 12 classrooms, 171 offices for students and research staff, 2 auditoriums, and two small sport fields; also, administrative and of general services offices. In the Aguascalientes Unit, in a space of 25,000 m2, there is a single building on 2,050 m2. This building houses 4 laboratories, 23 offices, 4 class living rooms, 1 auditorium and 3 rooms of multiple uses.
3. Accomplishments At present, CIO is defined as a Public Research Centre, with the mission of conducting basic and applied research in Optics, generating top level human resources in this field of knowledge, and fostering scientific culture within society. It has the additional mission to be a Research Centre of excellence, with national leadership and international recognition in the field of Optics, occupying a core position in the development of science and technology in Mexico.
Acknowledgments I would like to thank to all CIO researches and students that supported me by submitting their manuscripts, making possible the publication of this Special Issue. A very special gratefulness to Laura Gonza´lez Ochoa, Roberto Jime´nez Lara, and Silvia Mendoza Camarena for providing me trustworthy information of Academic and Administrative Directions at CIO. Congratulations and many thanks to all CIO staff! References [1] Poniatowska Elena. The skin of the sky (La piel del cielo). Me´xico: Alfaguara; 2001. [in Spanish]. ´ ptica tradicional y moderna). [2] Malacara D. Traditional and modern optics (O 2nd ed. Me´xico: Fondo de Cultura Econo´mica; 1997. On-lne version: /http:// bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/ciencia/volumen2/ciencia3/084/htm/optica. htmS [in Spanish]. [3] Rodrı´guez-Vera R. Differences of preproccessed images (Diferencias de ima´genes Preprocesadas). BSc thesis, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicola´s de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoaca´n, Me´xico, 1982 [in Spanish]. [4] /http://www.cio.mx/cio_e.htmS. [5] Regalado LE, Malacara-Ferna´ndez D. Optics in Me´xico. J Opt Technol 2001;68(11): 854–6. [6] Sa´nchez Mondrago´n J, Mendoza-Santoyo F, Barbosa-Garcia O, Tentori-Santa Cruz D. Optics in Mexico: creating an identity. In: Education and training in optics and photonics, OSA Technical Digest Series, Optical Society of America, 2003, paper ETuE5. [7] Servin M, Malacara Z. Optics in Mexico. Opt Photon News 2008;19(10):20–1.
Ramo´n Rodrı´guez-Vera ´ ptica A.C., Loma del Bosque No. 115, Centro de Investigaciones en O ´n, Guanajuato, Me´xico Col. Lomas del Campestre, 37150 Leo E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Optics and Lasers in Engineering journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng
Editorial
Research in optics and photonics at CIO, Mexico
Some advances in optics and photonics: Legacy of CIO to the world in its XXX anniversary This year 2010 Mexican citizens are fortunate, on one hand, for celebrating two important anniversaries of Mexico: The Bicentennial of the Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. Both events marked a significant advance for the social life of the country. On the other hand, celebrate the ´ ptica (CIO), XXX Anniversary of the Centro de Investigaciones en O Optical Research Centre. Mexican institution dedicated a hundred percent to the basic and applied research in optics and related branches. CIO’s history dates back to the early of the 1980, when Dr. Daniel Malacara Herna´ndez begins to make reality his dream of creating a research centre in his native city, Leo´n Mexico in Guanajuato State. In the frame of its CIO’s XXX anniversary, this special issue is written. This special issue highlights recent developments and research in optics and photonics by some of the CIO’s research staff.
1. Background In agreement with the goal of fostering a competitive culture based on scientific and technological development that the National Council for Science and Technology, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologı´a (CONACYT), had established from its origins, it oversaw the CIO foundation. Such process of creation had its legal start on April 18, 1980, in a protocol ceremony where the constitutive act for the new institution was drafted, being signed by those who were the authorities at different levels of government and official agencies at the time: Dr. Edmundo Flores, General Director of CONACYT, Dr. Guillermo Sobero´n Acevedo, Rector of the ‘‘Universidad Nacional Auto´noma de Me´xico, UNAM’’ (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Enrique Velasco Ibarra, Constitutional Governor of the State of Guanajuato, and Harold Gabriel Appetl, Mayor of the City of Leo´n, Guanajuato. The signing of the constitutive act was a corollary to countless attempts, challenges, efforts, and prior achievements that had been spearheaded by Dr. Malacara. It was at that time, and from diverse scientific and academic charges and positions that he had. Initially at UNAM and later at the INAOE (which he collaborated to found from the basis of the old Astrophysical Observatory of Tonantzintla [1]), that he worked with the conviction that there was an urgent need to create in Mexico a scientific institution of the highest level, to be solely devoted to the development of Optics, a field of knowledge that is currently a cornerstone and strategic foundation for important and valuable breakthroughs in science and technology, in the fashion that he foresaw it. 0143-8166/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.optlaseng.2011.02.008
At the beginning CIO started to operate on a rented floor in a building located in city centre, with five researchers and three technicians, Dr. Malacara himself, those then M.Sc. Arquı´medes Morales Romero, Zacarı´as Malacara Herna´ndez, Gustavo Rodrı´guez Zurita, and Jesus Moya Cessa, as researches; and, Jose´ Castro ˜ a, Carlos Javier Martı´nez Castro, and Armando Becerra, as Villican technicians, all of them commissioned by UNAM. All these people conducted research in the field of optical instrumentation, mainly in the area of astronomical telescopes and optical surfaces [2]. Initial steps were also taken to increase the number of staff members and areas of work, and what is more important, the spreading of information regarding topics of Science and Optics was started at the educational institutions of middle and higher level that existed at the time, both in the city, as well as, in the central region of the country, by teaching courses in different majors and directing theses on scientific issues. In that time the Guest Editor of this Special Issue was physics and mathematics student at University of Michoacan (UMSNH), making his bachelor thesis at CIO. [3] It is possible to briefly summarise the history of CIO by pointing out that four different researchers have been in charge of the General Direction of the Centre, each one heading different stages in the life of CIO, which can be outlined as following [4].
2. Consolidation In September, 1980, during the first meeting of the Government Body of CIO, Dr. Malacara was appointed as General Director, a position that he held until 1989. He was in charge of consolidating one of the first and most successful projects to create scientific institutions outside Mexico City, where up to then most of the technological development of the country had taken place. It was during his term that foundations were laid for a sustained development of top quality scientific work; at first, efforts were focused onto incorporating young researchers who came from national universities, and conditions were created so that they would be able to go abroad and pursue doctorate degrees, only to later return to CIO and strengthen its scientific staff. In 1983, CIO moved to what would become its definite location, on a 37,500 m2 piece of land that was donated by the City Government, and in a building which was built by the Guanajuato State Government. It was at that time that the CIO’s first own academic programs were created: the Master in
660
Editorial / Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
Sciences (Optics) Degree, in 1984, and the Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) Degree, in 1987; both programs were supported by the University of Guanajuato, which issued the degrees of those who enroled in the programs between 1984 and 1999. It is interesting to notice that as of its foundation, and as a result of its scientific and technological labour, CIO first acquired international recognition, then national, and finally local and regional, and that it is in these two last areas where only in more recent times has work started to spread the word about CIO’s results and achievements. From 1989 to 1997, Dr. Arquı´medes Morales Romero was in charge of the General Direction. He diversified the research areas and groups, promoted meaningful incorporation of foreign researchers and took the first steps to build teams that would work on the development of applied technology, a project that had as a first stage the generation of strong research groups, both at the Direction of Research as well as at the then Direction of Technological Development and Applied Optics. It is must also point out, as a highlight of Dr. Morales’s administration, the success of the project that, aiming at strengthening the regional presence of CIO, had as a result, in 1996, the opening of a CIO Unit in the city of Aguascalientes (Mexican State with the same name) on 25,000 m2 piece of land, an action that laid down the foundations for an internal redefinition of responsibility areas, for a regrouping, within the Direction of Research, of those groups that had affinity with each other, and for the reorganisation of the Direction of Technological Development and Applied Optics. All those actions, their justification, start up, goals, achievements, and evaluation were carried out along the guidelines that arose, first, from the ruling instruments already mentioned, and then from the ensuing National Plans of Development that guided the scientific and technological work, as well as, its insertion into the productive sector in the period from 1988 to 2000. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Luis Efraı´n Regalado was the Director of CIO, and he strengthened the scientific staff through the incorporation of national and international researchers. Among those actions of creation and strengthening of working teams and groups, he fostered a policy of departmental organisation within the research areas, and one of incorporating researchers who had graduated from CIO, only after they had outstandingly completed post-doctoral stays out of the country. In accordance with the national policies that at that time started to gain impetus, he encouraged the orientation of research projects within the frame of the calls issued to attend to regional and national development needs. He implemented institutional management and direction systems based on quality models, and launched quality certification systems for the tasks and goals of the different areas of CIO, such as in the laboratories and workshops of the area of technological applications, as well as, in the laboratories of dimensional metrology and of colourimetry, and in areas of specialized services, such as the Central Library [5]. On academic grounds, he generated the conditions for CIO graduates to get their academic degrees not from the University of Guanajuato anymore, with which a tight and solid relationship is kept, but from the Centre itself, first through the Secretariat for Public Education (‘‘Secretarı´a de Educacio´n Pu´blica’’ (SEP)), and later directly from CIO, in its role as Public Research Centre. He consolidated the quality of CIO’s Master and Doctorate programs, and managed to get them included into CONACYT’S currently called ‘‘Padro´n Nacional de Posgrado, PNP’’ (National Register of Graduate Studies). He also started collaboration with other CONACYT centres and with the Institute of Physics of the University of Guanajuato, in order to create the academic programs for the ‘‘Posgrado Interinstitucional en Ciencia y Tecnologı´a, PICYT’’ (Inter-institutional Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Science and Technology) that currently leads to Master’s and Doctorate
Fig. 1. Preform in stretching tower for manufacturing a special silica optical fibre.
Fig. 2. Technological management building.
Table 1 CIO’s research areas. Optical division
Photonics division
Optical non-destructive testing Computer vision and artificial intelligence Optomechatronical instrumentation Modern Optical testing and design Holography and Fourier optics Medical and forensic optics Infrared optics
Optical surface properties Optical advanced materials Physics and engineering of lasers Optical spectroscopy Special optical fibre fabrication Fibre optic sensors and devices Optical fibre laser
Table 2 CIO’s Academic programs. Actual and graduated students (updated to February 2011). Number of currently students
Programme
Year of starting
Number of graduated students
Master in Sciences (Optics) Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) Master in Science and Technology (PICYT) Doctorate in Science and Technology (PICYT) Master in Optomechatronics
1984
149
18
1987
122
74
1998
5
0
1998
2
2
Total of students
2007
15
33
293
127
Editorial / Optics and Lasers in Engineering 49 (2011) 659–662
661
Table 3 Some important features of DTI. Technological Projects
Accreditable Laboratories and Services
Digital image processing
Accreditable laboratories Dimensional metrology Spectrocolourimetry Force Optical Planes Dimensional metrology Services that are accredited under Mexican quality norm NMX-EC-17025-IMNC-2006 Calibration
Visualisation of air flow in a drier Oven illumination system Frontal 3D digitizer to obtain point clouds on X, Y & Z coordinates Speed analysis and balance ring Analysis of air flow in a refrigerator Pressure, temperature and volume in car safety air-bags
Vision
Device for identification of welding defects in electronic cards Device for identification of quality control marks in rings Screw selecting machine Digital endoscopic vision system
Infrared
IR radiation detection sensors Emissivity determination as a function of temperature for metallic sheets
Temperature monitoring Visualisation of ignition process in stove burners Flame visualisation and characterisation in burners Spectroscopy
Height metres Calipers Indicators Micrometres Pattern blocks Thickness metres Piece sizing with MMC Counselling on measuring equipment Piece sizing Gauge Certification
Spectrocolourimetry Services that are accredited under Mexican quality norm NMX-EC-17025-IMNC-2006
Calibration of UV-sense spectrophotometers Calibration of spectrocolorimeters Characterisation of reference materials Other services
Identification of defective pollutants in car paints Optical characterisation of ‘‘tequila’’ and other alcoholic drinks Optical design
Development of new and better retro-reflectivity technologies with
potential application to vialetas Re-design of internal illumination in a refrigerator Design and construction of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer Technological transfer in optical manufacturing Development of a projection sight for a helicopter Re-design and production of tactical telescopes
Colour
Comparison and evaluation of colorimetric register and pigment analysis in the ‘‘Alfredo Duge´s Collection’’
Hue-test evaluation Colour measurement Glow measurement Colour formulation Dye database Absorbance, transmittance and reflectance measurement
Main Customers
Mitutoyo Mexicana S.A. de C.V.
Sedena - Secretarı´a de la Defensa Nacional
Fuerza Ae´rea Mexicana Mabe de Me´xico s de RL de
CV ´ ptica Aplicada Tecnologı´a O Continental Automotive Soluciones Tecnolo´gicas Voyager BASF Instituto Polite cnico Nacional MAHLE SEMEX INAOE Tornillos de alba AAM DANONE GST KROMBERG KASAI Flextronics Acerocentro Comimpex VCST Intercalza Turborreactores UNAM
Strength Calibration services in strength testing equipment, such as
Universal strength machines Dynamometers Profilemeters Load Cells Load Rings Presses
Colorimetric register in watercolours of the ‘‘Alfredo Duge´s Collection’’ Optical planes Calibration of optical planes Laser applications Calibration of optical parallels Laser engraving systems, low power laser detection, and measurement systems.
degrees at 7 CONACYT Centres in the states of Guanajuato, Quere´taro, Jalisco, and Coahuila; and, also to start the programs for B.Sc. degrees in Physics and Physical Engineering, based at the named Institute of Physics of the University of Guanajuato (IFUG). Actually, these academic programs are housed in the Science and Engineering Division, campus Leon of the University of Guanajuato. Additionally, under the direction of Dr. Regalado, CIO took part in the labour of curricular design and planning for the two programs, which started to be formally taught from 1988. In November 2002, Dr. Fernando Mendoza Santoyo took on the challenge to increase productivity at CIO, as General Director, and take it to international quality standards in all of CIO’s areas, considering that at the time, CIO already had worldwide recognition for all its areas, supported by the number of research products generated (research papers, publications, congresses, etc.), as well as by the quality of those products (measured in terms of their international impact and recognition, among other things). Regarding scientific labour, he redirected it so that, within the frame of the Special Programme of Science and Technology,
strategic areas of knowledge would be pushed forward, and that those needs that the country, region or state have regarding scientific, academic, technological and social development would be seen to, without neglecting, but fostering the Centre’s vocation to cultivate basic science. In the realm of international collaboration actions, he has started a joint project with the University of Arizona to create a bi-national Optics Centre. In the academic aspect, he made the commitment to earn for the Centre the level of International Competency (the highest ranking in CONACYT’s Register of Graduate Studies), considering as a core part of this strategy the strengthening of the mechanisms used to promote the centre and attract students, the curricular modification of the Centre’s own programs (aiming at timely and appropriately meeting the criteria for end efficiency and productivity pertaining to high quality programs), and the gathering of operational information about the job performance of its graduates in academic and scientific environments through programs and actions geared to formally follow up those graduates. Regarding technological development, he has implemented actions aimed at approaching the social and productive sectors so that Optics can
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be applied to the solution of problems that are regionally and nationally relevant [6,7]. It is worth mentioning that the Centre’s substantive actions yield results that are measured against previously established goals and indicators, which in due time are assessed by internal and external evaluation bodies, mostly the Government Body, within the frame of the CIO-CONACYT Performance Agreement. In these evaluation processes, CIO has consistently obtained very positive results, being notorious that during the current administration, the number and quality of the accomplishments have substantially increased, and with them, the rating that the work of the institution and all its members has earned (Figs. 1 and 2). Presently for its functionality, CIO has four Directions apart of the General Direction. Research Direction, this leads, coordinates and promotes the Centre’s research programs and projects, by setting up the regulations needed to carry out adequate hiring and training of scientists. Likewise, to promote participation of the scientific staff in academic formation tasks and in attracting projects from the productive sector, supervising and coordinating results and making sure that the Research Divisions and Laboratories have the supplies, furniture and equipment that they require, in order to achieve their goals in a timely and efficient fashion, and ensure the Centre’s contribution to the development of science. From 188 staff, there are 58 researches grouped in two Divisions, Division of Optical Engineering and Division of Photonics. Table 1 shows some of the research areas cultivated by the Divisions. The management and promotion of the CIO’s academic programs; likewise, the coordination of other education activities in the scientific areas, belong to of Academic Direction. This Direction is responsible of maintaining the quality of all the academic programs. The Master in Sciences (Optics) and the Doctorate in Sciences (Optics) continue as International Competency Level, as it was described above. The Master in Optomechatronics, of recent creation, is at the moment in the level of In Development. Finally, the Master and Doctorate in Science and Technology programs, PICYT, is in the Excellency Level (PNP). All these academic programs level appointments are given by CONACYT. Table 2 shows the academic programs and actual and graduated students. The Direction of Technology and Innovation (DTI) linkage technological projects and social impact projects, also are promoted and executed, revenues are generated, and technological agreements are made with companies and institutions, fostering, through for all these paths, a scientific and technological culture in the society. Any contract with the industry, university, or institution national or international, is quoted and managed by this Direction. Therefore, the own generated economical resources for the CIO, through these actions are used, partly, to support internal investigation projects, equipment, and construction of new physical infrastructure. In Table 3 some important features of this Direction are shown. Finally, the Administrative Direction, although it did not intervene in scientific, technological, neither academic aspects, it is not less important for CIO’s life. This Direction is responsible for the financial aspect of administration. This manages laboratory equipment purchases, construction of physical infrastructure,
and furniture. Through convoking national and international, under public bid, it carried out those mentioned purchases. The physical infrastructure has been created through own CIO funds (that come of projects and contracts with the industry) and of Federal Government. In its Leon extension of 37,000 m2, it has constructed 9 buildings in 12,698 m2. In that extension, where there are 40 equipped laboratories, 6 shops, 12 classrooms, 171 offices for students and research staff, 2 auditoriums, and two small sport fields; also, administrative and of general services offices. In the Aguascalientes Unit, in a space of 25,000 m2, there is a single building on 2,050 m2. This building houses 4 laboratories, 23 offices, 4 class living rooms, 1 auditorium and 3 rooms of multiple uses.
3. Accomplishments At present, CIO is defined as a Public Research Centre, with the mission of conducting basic and applied research in Optics, generating top level human resources in this field of knowledge, and fostering scientific culture within society. It has the additional mission to be a Research Centre of excellence, with national leadership and international recognition in the field of Optics, occupying a core position in the development of science and technology in Mexico.
Acknowledgments I would like to thank to all CIO researches and students that supported me by submitting their manuscripts, making possible the publication of this Special Issue. A very special gratefulness to Laura Gonza´lez Ochoa, Roberto Jime´nez Lara, and Silvia Mendoza Camarena for providing me trustworthy information of Academic and Administrative Directions at CIO. Congratulations and many thanks to all CIO staff! References [1] Poniatowska Elena. The skin of the sky (La piel del cielo). Me´xico: Alfaguara; 2001. [in Spanish]. ´ ptica tradicional y moderna). [2] Malacara D. Traditional and modern optics (O 2nd ed. Me´xico: Fondo de Cultura Econo´mica; 1997. On-lne version: /http:// bibliotecadigital.ilce.edu.mx/sites/ciencia/volumen2/ciencia3/084/htm/optica. htmS [in Spanish]. [3] Rodrı´guez-Vera R. Differences of preproccessed images (Diferencias de ima´genes Preprocesadas). BSc thesis, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicola´s de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoaca´n, Me´xico, 1982 [in Spanish]. [4] /http://www.cio.mx/cio_e.htmS. [5] Regalado LE, Malacara-Ferna´ndez D. Optics in Me´xico. J Opt Technol 2001;68(11): 854–6. [6] Sa´nchez Mondrago´n J, Mendoza-Santoyo F, Barbosa-Garcia O, Tentori-Santa Cruz D. Optics in Mexico: creating an identity. In: Education and training in optics and photonics, OSA Technical Digest Series, Optical Society of America, 2003, paper ETuE5. [7] Servin M, Malacara Z. Optics in Mexico. Opt Photon News 2008;19(10):20–1.
Ramo´n Rodrı´guez-Vera ´ ptica A.C., Loma del Bosque No. 115, Centro de Investigaciones en O ´n, Guanajuato, Me´xico Col. Lomas del Campestre, 37150 Leo E-mail address: [email protected]