3rd April 2019 - On the 28th and 29th of March, the first "Interdisciplinary Council of Technological Independence: Mexican Synchrotron" was held at Palacio de Minería of Mexico City. During the event, the governor of the state of Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, announced the approval of an initial seed funding of 25 million US dollars to start the process of design and construction of the first Mexican synchrotron.
Caterina Biscari, director of the ALBA Synchrotron, is one of the five members of the scientific advisory council, that also includes Andrew Peele, director of the Australian Synchrotron, Prof. Herman Winick, expert on particle accelerators from the Stanford University, Brenda Valderrama, researcher at the Autonomous University of Mexico and Luis Flores, professor in charge of the high energy physics group from the University of Hong Kong at CERN.
The Mexican synchrotron will be key to boost the country's technological and scientific independence, in addition to attract and retain talent and promote economic development in the region. "The synchrotron will position Hidalgo at a national and international level in science and technology, and will be also able to help solving social problems. We are glad to offer the experience and knowledge of the ALBA Synchrotron in such an exciting project", according to Caterina Biscari.
Now, the design phase of the facility begins together with a training process for scientific and technical personnel, in collaboration with other facilities.
