Alexia Villasenor
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, January 3, 2025, p. 6
With the aim of placing scientific and technological work at the center of the social project of this government, the brand new Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (Secihti) begins operations with a structure different from the body it replaced, the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt).
Secihti will replace the council that was in charge of scientific research and development for more than 50 years.
The secretariat is headed by Dr. Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez and will have two undersecretaries, one for Science and Humanities, whose main functions will be to encourage the training and consolidation of the sciences, humanities, technologies and innovation community; strengthen research, and promote vocations and appreciation for scientific and humanistic endeavors in general society.
It will be led by Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, doctor in linguistics, whose lines of research are semantics, noun phrase syntax and descriptive linguistics. She has taught at El Colegio de México and was co-director of the magazine Linguistics Notebooks of that same institution.
The other undersecretary is Technology and Innovation, whose functions will focus on establishing, coordinating and supporting the execution of strategies to guarantee that everyone enjoys the benefits of applied science and the development, transfer and innovation of a scientific and technological base.
It will be led by Juan Luis Díaz de León Santiago, doctor in mathematical morphology sciences. He has taught at the National Polytechnic Institute and was general director of science, dissemination and knowledge transfer at the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of Mexico City.
Both agencies will execute strategic projects on semiconductors, energy transition and electromobility; satellite observation of the Earth and monitoring of ocean currents for the establishment of early warning systems, among others.
Also those that have to do with environmental restoration and remediation especially from basins with high rates of contaminants such as Lerma-Santiago, Tula and Atoyac
; research for the prevention, control and treatment of more prevalent diseases.
The new secretariat was born after its approval by the Congress of the Union and with the decree that reforms, adds and repeals provisions of the Organic Law of the Federal Public Administration, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 28th.
It will coordinate the Rosario Castellanos National University and the Health University, which join 25 other public centers that have been there since it was Conahcyt. It will continue with support from the National System of Researchers (SNII) and national and foreign scholarships.
Its headquarters will be the building located on Avenida de los Insurgentes Sur 1582, previously occupied by Conahcyt.
