José Franco new president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences

José Franco will be the president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC) for the period of 2012-2014. The Mexican Minister for Public Education José Ángel Córdova, the principal of the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM) José Narro and the President of the Mexican National Council on Science and Technology (CONACyT) Enrique Villa witnessed the change of the presidency. In his speech, José Franco stressed the importance for scientific institutions to join forces in order to gain a strategic position in the national public agenda. During the ceremony in the auditorium of the AMC, the Weizmann Prizes 2011, the prizes for the best doctoral theses in social sciences and humanities 2011, and the scholarships for Women in Humanities and Social Sciences were conferred.

Before the ceremony, the Mexican Minister for Public Education José Ángel Córdova, the outgoing president of the AMC Arturo Menchaca  and the incoming president of the AMC José Franco visited the offices of ICSU ROLAC, which are located on the premises of the AMC since early 2011. The Regional Director Manuel Limonta explained the mission of ICSU and its strategic approach of establishing Regional Offices to integrate scientists from developing countries into ICSU’s programs and to reflect the scientific priorities of those countries in the themes ICSU addresses.  He thanked the AMC for their hospitality and Mexico for hosting and financially supporting ICSU ROLAC. The Regional Director stressed the importance of ICSU’s National Members for the success of ICSU. Mexico has been a National Member of ICSU since its foundation in 1931, and since 1959, when it was established, the AMC assumed the membership for Mexico in ICSU. The Regional Director congratulated José Franco on his new position and expressed his wish to continue a close collaboration with the AMC under its new president.

For more information about the ceremony (in Spanish), click here.