The Executive Board of the Pro Academia Prize has decided to confer the Pro Academia Prize 2017 on
Eduardo Posada Flórez of Bogotá, Colombia,
as the hub of of an academic network, including the following group leaders representing their respective groups:
Jorge Alonso Cano Restrepo, Carmen Helena Carvajal, Fernando Chaparro, Enrique Forero, Nancy Gore Saravia, Gustavo Ernesto Holguin Villarraga, Nohora Elizabeth Hoyos, Rafael German Hurtado Heredia, Jorge Panqueva, Andrés Salinas, and María Piedad Villaveces Niño
"in Recognition of their Efforts, Contributions, and Achievements in Science and Academic Life."
duardo Posada Flórez is being awarded the Prize in recognition of his efforts in furthering interdisciplinary academic exchange and in bringing together scientists, scholars, researchers and politicians. He is an exemplary and outstanding central person and linchpin promoting academic collaboration and “cross-pollination” as well as scientific cooperation and integration of academic research, exchange, and presentation, not only among scientists and researchers, but also to the public.
Dr. Posada is a physicist specialized in low temperature physics. He studied physics at the Université de Lausanne in Switzerland where he received a Doctor in Sciences degree (with honors) in 1972. He research areas were superconductivity and low temperature physics.
Dr. Posada is a clear example of one of those rare researchers who has gone beyond his own professional interests and succeeded in encouraging the development and application of science at a grander scale.
He clearly is and has been an outstanding teacher, as evidenced by the numerous theses in a wide range of topics he has supervised and, more importantly, by the fact that several of his students occupy now important positions in academia and industry.
Furthermore, Dr. Posada has succeeded in forming a network of researchers dedicated to promoting and assisting the development of science in their country. Together they have created or collaborated with a number of institutions that support science and research.
Dr. Posada was crucial for the creation of an academic, logistical, and political infrastructure in Colombia and beyond the borders of this country and helped to enact Colombia’s Science and Technology Act of 1990.
Another outstanding aspect of Dr. Posada and his network is the importance they place in bringing science to the general public and in creating spaces where scientists can meet with the private and industrial sectors, among them the Maloka Science Museum and Interactive Center.
The Pro Academia Prize 2017 was presented to Eduardo Posada Flórez of Bogotá, Colombia, and to the group leaders of the academic network at a special ceremony at the Jockey Club in Bogotá on 4 December 2017.
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