This short report shows how useful has been the IFORS/EURO support for my stay in Colombia.
First of all my presentation named as "Solving procedures for the Assembly line Worker Assignment and Balancing Problem. Application to Sheltered Workcentres for Disabled" was somehow a little success. Many people came to the oral presentation, and afterwards Dr. Andres Medaglia, lecturer in Los Andes University of Bogota and coordinator of ELAVIO, suggested me that would be nice to have my own plenary session in next ELAVIO conference in 2007.
Apart from this, in the conference I was having contacts with people from the Universidad Autonoma de Cali, which I visited in Cali in august after the conference. In fact they were showing me their uni and we were talking about launching a new master program for the next semester in which my research centre will participate. Furthermore they asked me to give a conference repeating my presentation of ELAVIO for their colleagues and students, which was held on the 2nd of august.
In the conference, the ludic OR sessions of Dr. Cesar Jaramillo and his group GEIO from the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira were also very pleasant and I was completely impressed with the work of this group. We were talking long and the intention from now on is that I will look for UPV funding here to invite them to Valencia to show my colleagues the benefits that these new approaches in OR teaching would provide...
Well, apart from some other contacts and potential relations done during the conference, other main positive contribution of my stay in ELAVIO is that Julio Cesar Goez, the junior-lecturer from Los Andes University that hosted me, is now looking for funding in Colombia in order to start his PhD in our Doctorate Program in Valencia, if possible, just next semester.
If you need anything more please write me to [email protected]
Yours,
Cristobal Miralles