The selection was done at this year’s event, where 2 Yachay Tech conferences were awarded.

A team of Yachay Tech students from the School of Biological Sciences and Engineering, and their professor, Frank Alexis, Ph.D., attended the XLI National Biology Event. The team presented 2 posters and gave 4 talks on Yachay Tech’s collaborative research.  The conferences were held at Universidad Estatal de la Península de Santa Elena (UPSE), between November 22 and 24, 2018. Two Yachay Tech lectures were awarded and the university was chosen to host the next National Biology Event.

In the students’ category, Paul Figueroa won third prize for best presentation for his talk entitled “Natural Cellulose as a Solution to Remediate for Aldehyde VOCs in Air Pollution”. The second prize went to Frank Alexis, Ph.D., who won second place in the Professionals category for his presentation titled: “Biomaterials as Immunostimulants in Shrimp Aquaculture to Prevent Vibriosis”. Frank Alexis’ project is a collaboration between Yachay Tech, ESPE, EPN and ESPOL, funded by CEDIA Network.

At the end of the event, the attendees voted to select the next host for the 2019 National Biology Event. Yachay Tech University won with only 4 votes against, so it will be hosting the XLII National Biology Event. These academic meetings are some of the oldest and most important scientific events in Ecuador. The meeting has been held annually for over 40 years in several universities of the country.