Program Schedule

Location: Montezuma Hall

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Location: Montezuma Hall

Speakers: Cristina Alfaro, Adela de la Torre, Enrique Luis Palafox, 
Assemblyman Alvarez, Bruce Appleyard

Emcee: Maria Keckler  

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Keynote Panel

Location: Montezuma Hall

Description: There is a great deal of excitement about the new "nearshoring" opportunities in Mexico, with the US turning to Mexico to mitigate supply chain risks. But the true possibilities for cross-border collaboration, innovation, and value creation are much broader. LASANTI (the Los Angeles-San Diego-Tijuana region) is a major economic powerhouse, but realizing our full potential requires expanding our thinking on how to catalyze innovation and achieve inclusive economic growth through cross-border and cross-sector collaboration. We face major challenges, on both sides of the border,  in preparing our students for the most competitive jobs in the region. Too few of our students are getting college degrees, and too few of those degrees are in the STEM fields that are driving growth and innovation. Working together, business, education and government can change this. This discussion will dive into the major educational challenges facing the region in terms of preparing our youth to contribute to a regional innovation economy and highlight successful efforts to meet these challenges.

Descripción: Hay mucho entusiasmo por las nuevas oportunidades de "nearshoring" para la economía mexicana, ahora que Estados Unidos recurre a México para mitigar los riesgos de la cadena de suministro.  LASANTI (la región de Los Ángeles-SanDiego-Tijuana) es una importante potencia económica, pero para hacer realidad todo nuestro potencial económico es necesario ampliar nuestra forma de pensar sobre cómo catalizar la innovación y lograr un crecimiento económico inclusivo a través de la colaboración transfronteriza e intersectorial. Pero tiene grandes desafíos por no preparar a sus estudiantes –en ambos lados de la frontera– para que puedan asumir empleos de alto nivel y bien remunerados. Muy pocos obtienen títulos universitarios y muy pocos se dedican a los campos STEM. Históricamente, la mayoría de los empleos ofrecidos se encuentran en puestos de bajo nivel y bajos salarios. Trabajando juntos, las empresas, la educación y el gobierno pueden cambiar esto. Esta discusión profundizará en los principales desafíos educativos que enfrenta la región en términos de preparar a nuestros jóvenes para contribuir a una economía de innovación regional y resaltará las experiencias de representantes de la educación, las empresas y el gobierno que están trabajando en la frontera para enfrentar estos desafíos.
 
Moderator: 
Melissa Floca: Director of Strategic Partnerships at the CICORE Division of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego. Before that, she served as Associate Director of UC San Diego's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.   

Panelists: 

Luis Enrique Palafox: Ph.D., President of Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. A distinguished academic and teacher, Palafox is a Systems Engineer who established the local networks that make up the Unidad Tijuana University Computing Center. 

Gary Orfield: Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science, and Urban Planning at UCLA.  He is co-founder and director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and co-directs a similar organization at UCLA. He has engaged in years of research on the California-Baja California region's economy and education systems.

Tatiana Clouthier: Former Sectretary of Economy of  the Government of Mexico and manager for former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's 2018 campaign. An educator and writer, she has authored five books and currently writes for the newspaper NORESTE.

Olivia A. Graeve: Ph.D., is the Elias Masry Endowed Chair in Engineering and Professor of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. She is Director of the Program of Materials Science and Engineering, and is the 2024-25 Chair of the UC San Diego Academic Senate.  She has been inducted into the Mexican Academy of Engineering and the Tijuana Walk of Fame.

Maritza Diaz: CEO of technology firm IT J,  Diaz has more than 25 year of leadership experience in the tech and software engineering fields.  In addition to her role as CEO, Diaz currently serves on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  

Language: (English and Spanish Simultaneous Translation)

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Montezuma Hall

Description: The new process of relocation of companies, or nearshoring, constitutes a phenomenon that results from the strong competition between the United States and China and from the disruption of supply chains due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the closure of borders in various countries around the world. For decades, Mexico's border with the United States has been the seat of multiple transnational companies, which have located part of their production in the region, most of them as assembly and light manufacturing processes. The commercial opening of Mexico in the 1980s, and the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada have been the framework for the growth of this industry, whose source of competitiveness has been the proximity to important markets and the low cost of labor. However, border cities, particularly on the Mexican side, have suffered population growth higher than the national average, resulting in insufficient infrastructure and strong urban precariousness. So to achieve greater economic growth and greater social development, it is necessary to address two fundamental elements: education and infrastructure.

Descripción: El nuevo proceso de relocalización de las empresas o llamado nearshoring, constituye un fenómeno que resulta por un lado de la fuerte competencia entre Estados Unidos y China, como del dislocamiento de las cadenas globales de valor, las cuales vieron afectados los suministros de partes y componentes debido a la pandemia de la COVID 19, y el cierre de fronteras en diversos países del mundo. La frontera de México con los Estados Unidos ha sido por décadas asiento de múltiples empresas transnacionales, que han ubicado a lo largo de esta región parte de sus procesos productivos, la mayor parte como procesos de ensamble y manufactura ligera. La apertura comercial de México en la década de los años de 1980, y la firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio entre México, Estados Unidos y canadá han sido el marco del crecimiento de esta industria, cuya fuente de competitividad ha sido la cercanía con importantes centros de distribución de los productos procesados (principalmente hacia los Estados Unidos y el bajo costo de la mano de obra. Sin embargo, las ciudades fronterizas, particularmente del lado mexicano, han sufrido un crecimiento poblacional superior al promedio nacional, traduciendose en insuficiente infraestructura de movilidad y conectividad, de transporte público y fuerte precariedad urbana, por lo que para alcanzar mayor crecimiento económico y mayor desarrollo social, se hace necesario atender dos elementos fundamentales: la educación y la infraestructura.

Panelists:

María del Rosío Barajas Escamilla: Ph.D., professor-researcher and director of the Department of Social Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. 

José I. Márquez: Represented the State of California at international multi-agency teams that developed comprehensive transportation studies along the United States-Mexico border, including the first aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions. He currently serves as project manager for the California-Baja California Border Master Plan, a binational effort to coordinate the planning and delivery of projects at land ports of entry and the transportation infrastructure serving them.

James Gerber: Ph.D.,  Economist and Professor-Emeritus at San Diego State University, researcher at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego, and author of "Border Economies: Cities Bridging the U.S.-Mexico Divide." Member of the Association of Borderland Studies.

Minerva Celaya: Ph.D., in Social Sciences with a specialty in Regional Studies from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Associate Researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte through the Research Project "Reconfiguration and New Functions of the Borders of the 21st century."

Fausto Castillo: Ph.D., Master's degree in Applied Economics from El Colef and doctorate in Social Business from UABC. Guest professor in the graduate programs of the Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana-CDMX, and subject professor at the Faculty of Economics and International Relations at UABC. Currently Director of Linkage, Liaison and Investment of the Metropolitan Institute of Planning of Tijuana.

Languages: English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Montezuma Theater

Description: The role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) is poorly understood, however CNSs are key to improving the wellness of communities. The CNS is a Registered Nurse who has additional Graduate/Doctoral level preparation as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). The CNS is uniquely prepared to influence population outcomes by implementing Evidence-based Practice initiatives based on assessment of the population's current state of health. This is informed by social determinants of health, actual physical and mental wellness, and healthcare utilization. 
Among the initiatives that our team has implemented are cross-border education and innovative practice guidance for management of severely ill patients with COVID-19 related respiratory failure at hospitals in Tijuana and Calexico. This included interdisciplinary trips to help hospitals adopt practices including life-saving prone positioning to prevent or manage severe respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients. Mitigating severe respiratory failure was the single best intervention contributing to survival.

In addition, another specific outcome influenced by CNSs are reductions of elective Cesarean sections, thus improving many newborn outcomes including but not limited to maternal child bonding, cardiac events, improved respiratory function, and decreasing the need for infants to be admitted to neonatal intensive care. Moreover, our team members based in the Imperial Valley have created programs to influence patients’ diabetic outcomes including reducing serum AIC, a direct measure of glycemic control in an outpatient setting. 

Descripción: El papel de la enfermera clínica especialista (CNS) no se comprende bien; sin embargo, las CNS son clave para mejorar el bienestar de las comunidades. El CNS es un enfermero registrado que tiene preparación adicional a nivel de posgrado/doctorado como enfermero registrado de práctica avanzada (APRN). El CNS está excepcionalmente preparado para influir en los resultados de la población mediante la implementación de iniciativas de prácticas basadas en la evidencia basadas en la evaluación del estado de salud actual de la población. Esto se basa en los determinantes sociales de la salud, el bienestar físico y mental real y la utilización de la atención sanitaria.
Entre las iniciativas que nuestro equipo ha implementado se encuentran educación transfronteriza y orientación sobre prácticas innovadoras para el manejo de pacientes gravemente enfermos con insuficiencia respiratoria relacionada con el covid-19 en hospitales de Tijuana y Calexico. Esto incluyó viajes interdisciplinarios para ayudar a los hospitales a adoptar prácticas que incluyan la posición boca abajo para salvar vidas para prevenir o controlar la insuficiencia respiratoria grave en la COVID-19. La mitigación de la insuficiencia respiratoria grave fue la intervención que más contribuyó a la supervivencia.
Uno de los resultados específicos influenciados es la reducción de la cesárea electiva, lo que influye en muchos resultados del recién nacido, incluidos, entre otros, el vínculo materno-infantil, los eventos cardíacos, la mejora de la función respiratoria y la disminución de la necesidad de que los bebés sean admitidos en cuidados intensivos neonatales. Los miembros de nuestro equipo con sede en el Valle Imperial han creado programas para influir en los resultados diabéticos de los pacientes, incluida la reducción del AIC sérico, una medida directa del control glucémico en el ámbito ambulatorio.

Speakers:

Berenice Sanchez: A Clinical Nurse Specialist in Women’s & Infants’ Services at Sharp Chula Vista Medical, pursuing her Ph.D.
Christina Kelley: Director of Education, Research and Professional Practice, and Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center as well as an Associate Professor and Director of the RN to BSN Program, Point Loma Nazarene University.

Julie-Kathryn Graham: Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the SDSU School of Nursing. Her research focuses on immunologic and metabolic sequelae of shock and respiratory failure. Her widely disseminated research is currently funded by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. 

Languages: English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Multidisplinary Panel

Location: Templo Mayor

Description: It’s difficult living between two cultures and languages, especially when there are few things in common. That has not been the case in Mexicali/Imperial Valley. Art, Alternative Rock, and Fanzines (armatuer and fan made magazines) have become tools that connected the youth of Mexicali/Imperial Valley. During the 90s, Alternative rock bands from Mexicali/Imperial Valley played together at Tocadas and brought political awareness to the public on Prop-187, which would have restricted public serves for undocumented immigrants. Tocadas were attended by young people from both sides of the border. The lyrics of local bands talked about the how it was to live the border. Fanzine became a tool of expression for the diverse sub-topics in the borderlands because there was no censorship, which created anti-hegemonic speech and brought various topics into the conversation, such as art, politics, and environmental issues. In the past years, art sessions named the Co-Creation Conversation have held activities to set a dialogue with the community of the Imperial Valley/Mexicali borderlands by collecting verbal and graphic material, and co-created an iconographic communication system. The use visual art and nonverbal communication has become a tool that allows understanding the Mexicali/Imperial border beyond verbal language. These tools of expression have given a voice to a community that has been ignored by mainstream media and academia. These movements have become a symbolic way to erase the border, and to heal the trauma that for so many years we´ve been suffering from being divided. 

Descripción: Es difícil vivir entre dos culturas e idiomas cuando se supone que hay pocas cosas en común. Ese no ha sido el caso en Mexicali/Valle Imperial. El arte, el rock alternativo y los fanzines (armaduras y revistas hechas por fanáticos) tienen el trabajo como herramienta que ha conectado a la juventud de Mexicali/Valle Imperial. Durante los años 90, bandas de rock alternativo de Mexicali/Valle Imperial tocaron juntas en Tocadas y trajeron conciencia política al público sobre la Proposición-187. A las tocadas asistieron jóvenes de ambos lados de la frontera. Las letras de bandas locales que hablaban de cómo era vivir la frontera. El fanzine se convirtió en una herramienta de expresión para la diversidad de subtemas en las zonas fronterizas. Esto se debe a que no existe censura lo que creó un discurso antihegemónico y trajo diversos temas a la conversación como arte, política y cuestiones ambientales. En los últimos años, la serie de sesiones de arte/diseño denominadas Conversación de Co-Creación, han realizado actividades para establecer un diálogo con la comunidad de la zona fronteriza del Valle Imperial/Mexicali mediante la recopilación de material verbal y gráfico, junto con la comunidad, y co -creó un sistema de comunicación iconográfica. El uso de las artes visuales y la comunicación no verbal se ha convertido en una herramienta que permite comprender la frontera Mexicali/Imperial más allá del lenguaje verbal. Estas herramientas de expresión han dado voz a una comunidad que ha sido ignorada por los principales medios de comunicación y el mundo académico. Estos movimientos se han convertido en una forma simbólica de borrar la frontera y de sanar el trauma que durante tantos años hemos sufrido al estar divididos.

Speakers:

Héctor Rafael Ruiz Verduzco:  Designer from Mexicali currently enrolled at the School of Visual Arts NYC and pursing a Fine Arts graduate degree in Design for Social Innovation.

David Santiago Álvarez Durón: A graduate of UABC, he is director, screenwriter and producer of various short films and documentaries in Baja California and creates a digital archive on the fanzine scene in Baja.

Gilberto Reyes Morgan: Academic expert on the historic, cultural, economic, and social impact that the Japanese and Chinese communities had in Mexicali and how colonization of the Colorado River affected the Cucapa community from Mexicali, Baja California and El Centro.

Luna Torrez: Psychologist and photographer promoting photographic practice in Baja California. She is a founding member Photographic Tours in the Central Zone of Mexicali.

Languages: English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Legacy Suite

Description: Se trata de un panel con representación inter y multidisciplinaria de la Enfermería, Psicología, Ciencias Sociales y Políticas, y Sociología. Las innovaciones a presentar y discutir tienen la intención de diagnosticar y transformar la salud colectiva en el contexto transfronterizo, mediante intervenciones con énfasis en el tema de las violencias de género. El panel se compone de personas que han liderado intervenciones en el contexto transfronterizo con relación a 1) violencia en el ámbito comunitario mediante el caso de Mujeres Constructoras de Paz (MUCPAZ), 2) jóvenes que ejercieron violencia en internamiento, 3) embarazo infantil en el contexto de las relaciones asimétricas y la violación sexual, 4) el arte como herramienta transformadora en las violencias, 5) acceso a salud en mujeres gestantes usuarias de drogas inyectables. La idea es fomentar la colaboración inter-multidisciplinaria, y compartir experiencias de intervención para promover la investigación y alianzas transfronterizas, para fortalecer la salud colectiva.

Panelists:

Alma Angélica Villa Rueda: Ph.D., enfermera-feminista-interseccional abocada a los estudios género y salud, con énfasis en sexualidad. Actualmente, Profesora Investigadora de Tiempo Completo, forma parte de The Latin American Interdisciplinary Gender Network en la línea de Gender, Economy, Poverty, and Health para la Universidad de Yale. 

Yolanda Chávez Flores: Ph.D., Licenciada en Psicología (UABC). Maestra en Ciencias Sociales con especialidad en Estudios Socioculturales de la Salud (El Colegio de Sonora). Doctora en Psicología con orientación en calidad de vida y salud (Universidad de Guadalajara.)

Yair Hernández Peña: Ph.D, fronterizo y cooperante. Interesado en temas del desarrollo. Cuenta con más de 10 años de experiencia en proyectos y actividades sobre igualdad de género desde OSC e instituciones de gobierno en Baja California. 

Ana López Ricoy: Candidata a doctora en sociología por la Universidad de California San Diego. Tiene una maestría en Estudios Regionales, por el Instituto Mora y licenciatura en Relaciones Internacionales por El Colegio de México. Estudia temas de movimientos sociales y violencia de género y tiene 6 años de experiencia participando en procesos de investigación participativa con migrantes en la región fronteriza.

Language: Spanish

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 206

Description: The Cross-Border Renewable Energy Training Initiative between San Diego State University (SDSU) and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) is a pioneering model to address the skills shortage in the US renewable energy sector by leveraging Mexico's advanced educational programs. This project seeks to close the skills gap and facilitate access to educational and employment opportunities for U.S. citizens and green card holders residing in Mexico. This cross-border collaboration integrates practical experience and theoretical training that includes solar panel installation and microgrid management. This effort is seen as replicable in other emerging academic areas. By implementing similar programs in areas such as information technology, biotechnology, or environmental studies, these academic and professional exchange platforms could be established that strengthen educational and economic ties between both countries. This model not only responds to immediate labor market needs, but also promotes economic and sustainable development, establishing a precedent for international cooperation in education and workforce development. In the long term, this collaboration could transform the educational and professional landscape of the Cali-Baja region, fostering a significant impact on education and industry globally.

Descripción: La Iniciativa de Formación en Energía Renovable Transfronteriza entre la Universidad Estatal de San Diego (SDSU) y la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) es un modelo pionero para abordar la escasez de habilidades en el sector de energía renovable de EE. UU. Aprovechando los avanzados programas educativos de México, este proyecto busca cerrar la brecha de habilidades y facilitar el acceso a oportunidades educativas y laborales para ciudadanos estadounidenses y titulares de tarjetas verdes residentes en México. Esta colaboración transfronteriza integra experiencia práctica con Grid Alternative y una formación teórica que incluye instalación de paneles solares y gestión de microrredes. Este esfuerzo se vislumbra como replicable en otras áreas académicas emergente. Al implementar programas similares en áreas como tecnología de la información, biotecnología o estudios ambientales, se podrían establecer plataformas de intercambio académico y profesional que fortalezcan los vínculos educativos y económicos entre ambos países. Este modelo no solo responde a necesidades inmediatas del mercado laboral, sino que también promueve el desarrollo económico y sostenible, estableciendo un precedente para la cooperación internacional en educación y desarrollo de la fuerza laboral. A largo plazo, esta colaboración podría transformar el panorama educativo y profesional de la región Cali Baja, fomentando un impacto significativo en la educación y en la industria a nivel global.

Panelists:

Alexis Acuña Ramírez: Ph.D., in Engineering and is currently studying Clinical Psychology. His academic experience focuses on specialized areas such as applied solar energy, renewable energy, energy systems and the nexus between water, energy and food.   

Gustavo Valdez de Grid: Highly trained and experienced professional in engineering and project consulting. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Guadalajara, and has specialized in the area of ​​automation and control of industrial processes.

Alejandro Suastegui Macias: Ph.D., professor-researcher and responsible for the Renewable Energy Engineering educational program at the UABC. He has been a leader in national and international inter-institutional collaborations.

Nicolás Velázquez Limón: Ph.D., a chemical engineer noted for his academic and research career in renewable energies. Received his doctorate at the UNAM Renewable Energy Institute, specializing in renewable energy and solar cooling. 

Language:  English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 208

Description: The Faculty of Pedagogy and Educational Innovation at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, as an institution that trains trainers, seeks through links with universities and educational institutions in the United States to find common areas that enrich the training of future teachers and educational psychologists, as well as providing work spaces through collaboration agreements and degree validity. Collaboration in the border area leads us to not lose sight of the day-to-day life of those of us who are part of society both in the north of Mexico and in the south of the United States, seeking to strengthen the ties that impact both personal and professional development. 

Descripción: La vinculación es de suma importancia. La Facultad de Pedagogía e Innovación Educativa de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California como institución formadora de formadores busca a través de la vinculación con universidades e instituciones educativas de Estados Unidos, encontrar áreas comunes que enriquezcan la formación de las y los futuros docentes y psicopedagogos, así como el brindar a través de acuerdos de colaboración y validez de titulación, espacios de trabajo. La colaboración en el área fronteriza nos lleva a no perder de vista el día a día de quienes formamos parte de la sociedad tanto en el norte de México como en el sur de Estados Unidos, buscan fortalecer los lazos que impactan el desarrollo tanto personal como profesional. 

Panelists: 

Leidy Hernández Mesa:
Gricelda Mendivil Rosas:
Miriam Janeth Lugo Gómez:
Liliana Vizcarra Rivera:
Ana Lilia Tabares Delgadillo:

Language:  English and Spanish (Limited translation) 

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 209

Description: Este panel presentará la atención que se le brinda a los estudiantes que compartimos entre México y Estados Unidos respecto al tema de la inclusión educativa, en donde se identifica de acuerdo a un trabajo binacional organizado por la SDSU en el departamento de Educación de la universidad para la formación de los docentes  binacionales bilingües y biculturales que como resultado de la colaboración entre SDSU, CSUSD y Escuelas Normales en en estado de Baja California En este trabajo de colaboración se identificó que son 4 áreas sociopolítica, sociolingüístico, sociocultural y socioemocional en este sentido se atienden a los menores en su proceso de inclusión a un sistema educativo distinto.

Panelists:

Yara Amparo López: Coordinadora Estatal del PROBEM Programa Binacional de Educación Migrante, Maestra en Migración Internacional por el Colegio de la Frontera Norte, se ha desarrollado como asesora de programas binacionales por mas de 15 años, programas en donde se busca la integración de menores provenientes de otros países a la educación en México, generando programas desde formación docentes binacionales entre el Departamento de educación de  la Universidad de San Diego y escuelas formadoras de docentes de Baja haciendo énfasis en las áreas identificadas por el equipo binacional desde una perspectiva sociopolítica, sociolingüística, socioemocional y sociocultural entre Baja y California. 

Reyna I. Roa: Ph.D., Investigadora de tiempo completo de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, desarrollando proyectos para la formación docente ha colaborado con SDSU y con el COLEF para la atención internacional de la comunidad migrante internacional que llega a nuestro estado. Elaborando  materiales pedagógicos para la inclusión de los estudiantes que compartimos entre Baja y California, La Dra. Reyna se encuentra gestionando la estancia académica en Cálexico para colaborar con SDSU Campus Valle Imperial y las escuelas cercanas.

Language: Spanish

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 211

Description: In collaboration with Bartell Hotels located in San Diego, California, San Diego State University Imperial Valley’s (SDSU IV) Professional Skills Development Center (PSDC) has created a course for the employees of these hotels called English as a Second Language with Emphasis on Hospitality. This course is designed for Bartell Hotel’s employees who wish to learn or expand their knowledge of the English language while also learning basic hospitality soft skills, a model of how companies can invest in the career advancement of employees often held back by insufficient language skills. The culmination of the course is a final project where students record themselves using their newly acquired English knowledge to explain what they have learned throughout their instruction, including what new skills they have acquired and how they feel they have grown as students/employees.

Descripción:  En colaboración con Bartell Hotels ubicados en San Diego, California, el Centro de Desarrollo de Habilidades Profesionales (PSDC) de la Universidad Estatal de San Diego Imperial Valley (SDSU IV) ha creado un curso para los empleados de estos hoteles llamado Inglés como segundo idioma con énfasis en hotelería. Este curso está diseñado para los empleados de Bartell Hotel que desean aprender o ampliar sus conocimientos del idioma inglés y al mismo tiempo aprender habilidades sociales básicas en hotelería, un modelo de cómo las empresas pueden invertir en el avance profesional de los empleados que a menudo se ven frenados por habilidades lingüísticas insuficientes.  La culminación del curso es un proyecto final en el que los estudiantes se graban a sí mismos utilizando sus conocimientos de inglés recién adquiridos para explicar lo que han aprendido a lo largo de su instrucción, incluidas las nuevas habilidades que han adquirido y cómo sienten que han crecido como estudiantes/empleados.

 Panelists:

Sonya Garcia Bruce: San Diego State University Research Foundation (SDSURF) Professional Skills Development Center (PSDC), Program Specialist

Lydia Bartell: Bartell Hotels, Vice President

Liliana Vizcarra: Ph.D., SDSURF PSDC, Co-Director

Cristina Alfaro: Ph.D., San Diego State University, Associate Vice-President for International Affairs

Patty Sandoval: SDSURF PSDC, Program Assistant/Lead Facilitator

Jose Sanchez: Assistant Housekeeping Manager, The Dana on Mission Bay

Language: English and Spanish (Simultaneous Translation)

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Location: Mata’yuum

Description: This Arts Alive Discovery Series event is centered on the experience of family separation through deportation, and how this lived experience is represened in children's books. The discussion features a bilingual children's book written by Yolanda Verona Palacios, titled La Luciérnaga y Sus Estrellas Fugaces. Yolanda was living in Tijuana and participated in Artist and Educator Sophia Sobko's project called Cuentos Para Dormir (Bedtime Stories,) which helped guide the writing of the book. During the panel, Sophia and Yolanda will talk about their collaboration. Yolanda is now repatriated and living in El Cajon. This is the first time she can be part of an event about her story in person on the U.S. side of the border. 

Descripción: Este evento de la serie Arts Alive Discovery se centra en la separación familiar a través de la deportación y la representación de esa experiencia vivida a través de libros para niños. Incluye un libro infantil escrito por Yolanda Verona Palacios, titulado La Luciérnaga y Sus Estrellas Fugaces. Yolanda vivía en Tijuana y participó en el proyecto Cuentos para dormir de Sophia Sobko, una artista y educadora. Durante el panel, Sophia y Yolanda hablarán de su colaboración. Yolanda ahora está repatriada y vive en El Cajón; esta sería la primera vez que podrá ser parte de un evento sobre su historia en persona en este lado de la frontera.

Panelists:

Yolanda Verona Palacios: Children's book author.

Sophia Sobko: Artist, educator, researcher, and cultural organizer born in Russia, currently  a senior research associate at RISE Research & Evaluation and a strategic consultant at The AjA Project.

Language: English and Spanish (In Person Translation)

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Location:  Student Union Courtyard

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Location: Student Union Courtyard

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Location: Montezuma Hall

App to Stand Up Women's Vulnerabilities

Tijuana Help is an app designed to raise awareness about vulnerabilities experienced by women, and to provide training to avoid women’s vulnerabilities in organizational contexts. It is a result of a research project and involved the participation of a multidisciplinary team to characterize vulnerability.  By designing the app we aim to increase the potential for transformative experiences to promote gender equality, particularly among youth. Tijuana Help can be downloaded from Google Play  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tijuanahelp.tijuanahelp.

Language: English and Spanish

Designing Transformational Education in Engineering through Binational Senior Design Capstone Programs

In 2022, faculty engineering teams from SDSU and Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS,) worked on a CSU event called the 3D Printed Aircraft Competition.  For that competition, both SDSU and CETYS students exchanged information and joined each other at the competition which was held at Cal State Los Angeles.  For the 2023 to 2024 Academic year,  Prof. Scott Shaffar of SDSU has teamed with Prof. Roberto Salas at CETYS to establish a joint Senior Design project team to compete in the 2024 NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.  This poster presentation highlights this binational participation, with a focus on the 2023-2024 joint SDSU and CETYS RASC-AL team. The student exchange of knowledge, ideas, skills, and creativity concluded in an international experience and lessons learned in project management and systems engineering which add value to the learning outcomes of Mechanical Engineering programs on both sides of the border. 

Language: English and Spanish.

Designing Community-Building Schools on/for the Border

Schools are community spaces and vehicles for making community, although we often ignore that crucial function.  This poster brings together three panelist—a former elementary teacher and leader of San Diego State University’s Dual Language and English Learner Education department; an anthropologist who has spent 20+ years studying how students who have moved transnationally negotiate that change; and the coordinator of the Baja California Department of Education’s participation in Mexico’s federal Programa Binacional de Educación Migrante to consider school’s design and role in creating community. Our emphasis is not instrumental—i.e., not how does one learn to read or do algebra or become employable; rather it is both more philosophical and more sociological.

Language: English and Spanish

Successful and Innovative Student-Centered Curriculum: Empowering Multilingual Learners in the Imperial Valley Borderlands. 

This presentation focuses on the benefits of an innovative curriculum tailored to support multilingual students in the Imperial Valley. Our approach combines standards-based instruction with crucial life skills, emphasizing lesson design as the focal point. Through this dynamic framework, students thrive in technology, literacy, and language acquisition. Our curriculum, aligned with Common Core standards, integrates robotics, 3D printing, AI, and effective literacy strategies. Encouraging student agency, 21st-century skills, and high expectations, lessons are driven by ongoing assessment. This strategy not only boosts student engagement but also fosters a passion for learning, leaving students eagerly anticipating more. 

Language: English and Spanish

Transborder Transformation: Humanizing Education

The presentation focuses on social-emotional learning, and this project improves teacher candidates, students in California as well as the two institutions of SDSU and UABC. This Project focuses on experimental learning based on experience and research on both sides of the border, through the alliance with the Binational Committee United for Children of its Comprehensive Educational program that works with the various schools and communities that allows you to follow up on the work developed during classes. 

Language: English and Spanish

A Photovoice Collaborative Autoethnography of Transfronterizx College Students’ Sense of Belonging at the Imperial Valley-Mexicali Borderlands

The Transborder Scholar Collaborative at SDSU-Imperial Valley is dedicated to the social justice of Transfronterizx students in education along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. As Transborder Scholars we are committed to implementing critically conscious research and practices through liberatory methodologies centered on the holistic student development of our Transfronterizx community in education. In this panel we will present the findings of our photovoice collaborative autoethnography study titled, “Soy de Aquí y Soy de Allá: A Photovoice Collaborative Autoethnography of Transfronterizx College Students’ Sense of Belonging at the Imperial Valley-Mexicali Borderlands.” The purpose of this study is to illustrate the complexities of transborder identity development by exploring our sense of belonging experiences in higher education, community and families at the Imperial Valley-Mexicali Borderlands. In this study we are applying critical, liberatory and decolonial methodologies, while triangulating with visual methodologies. Altogether, these methods allow us to reminisce, reimagine, explore, and reflect on critical moments that shaped our experiences in education at the Imperial Valley-Mexicali borderlands. The findings of our research revealed the intersections of our transborder interactions and linguistic capital as we learn to love our identities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Beyond a research collaborative, the TSC is a space of inclusion, cultural validation and multigenerational mentorship for Transfronterizx students at SDSU-Imperial Valley. The guests of this panel presentation will have the opportunity to further learn from the Transborder Scholars who have developed the findings of this study, through their recommendations for practice in education at the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. 

Language: English and Spanish

Latina Líderes en STEAM: Sin Fronteras

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, so STEM careers are those that require science, technology, engineering, and math knowledge. STEAM is an educational approach that incorporates the arts (visual or performing arts, such as dance, design, painting, photography, and writing) into the more familiar STEM model. According to the Pew Research Center, despite Hispanics making up 17% of the total workforce, only 8% of Hispanics are in the STEM fields, and only 3% of these are females in STEM.

San Diego State University is a Hispanic-serving institution (HSIs), and one of our objectives as faculty is to encourage and support Hispanic and Latino/a students in their pursuit of STEM careers in various ways. One of those ways was this event, Latinas Lideres in STEAM: Sin Fronteras 2023, where the main objective is to showcase the leadership of Latinas talent in the Imperial Valley. The visibility of women in STEAM careers is crucial since clearly there is interest, but due to cultural and social prejudices, Latinas decide not to continue in these careers.

We had our first event, Latinas Lideres in STEAM: Sin Fronteras 2023, at the San Diego State University, Imperial Valley Campus. We had an art exposition of our eight extraordinary Latinas Lideres, in STEAM, and a discussion panel with them after the exhibition. This event counted 45 participants (students, faculty, and staff). We plan to organize it yearly and celebrate and highlight the wonderful Latinas in STEAM working for the future of our region, Imperial Valley (USA) and Mexicali Valley (Mexico).

Language: English and Spanish

Techno-didactic Practices for Well-Being and Peace Education

Culture of Peace is fundamental for preventing violent conflicts and building harmonious societies. It represents a positive state where peaceful coexistence and non-violent conflict resolution are promoted. It goes beyond mere absence of war and is grounded on the principles of human rights, justice, equality, dialogue, and cooperation. The transition from a culture of violence to a culture of peace requires conscious transformation, and technology-enhanced pedagogies play a crucial role in this process within educational practices in higher education. These pedagogical approaches foster critical reflection and the construction of peaceful alternatives. They contribute to genuine social relevance for and from human coexistence. This involves a deliberate shift in pedagogical practices, considering technology adoption and sustainability factors. From implementing multimedia resources that raise awareness about the importance of dialogue and empathy to utilizing collaborative learning platforms that promote peaceful conflict resolution, these tools can transform how violence and peace-related topics are addressed in the classroom. Creating an imaginary of peace within higher education institutions is essential. Consequently, techno-pedagogies have the potential to strengthen the Culture of Peace in the Cali-Baja region by facilitating the dissemination of peaceful values and the development of conflict resolution skills within educational and community contexts. From academia and with a binational vision, we invite different stakeholders to start acting on this important topic. 

Language: Spanish

Terminología Especializada: Dificultades y Ssolución

El sector de la traducción es vasto y complejo, sin embargo, no tiene la visibilidad suficiente en el sistema educativo. La búsqueda de la terminología especializada utilizada en el campo necesario (médico, jurídico, científico, técnico) es difícil de obtener al buscar en muchos sitios y muchas veces no es confiable por la falta de pragmática (contexto) de cada ámbito especializado. Tenemos una propuesta para esta problemática que nos interesa a todos, no sólo intérpretes o traductores, y es la comunicación clara y coherente. Entendemos la necesidad de comunicarnos claramente y con los términos correctos en las áreas que necesitamos. Ofrecemos una aplicación de terminología especializada llamada: CORPURY. Nuestra aplicación no es solo una manera fácil y confiable de buscar terminología especializada, contiene un escáner con Inteligencia artificial dónde puede ingresar documentos para conocer un resumen del contexto del que se está hablando de manera digerible para nuestro público meta. Además se subrayará la terminología contenida en el documento según sea el caso. Nuestra aplicación también contará con la opción de glosario personalizado para que así el usuario pueda guardar los términos recurrentes o potencialmente importantes de la manera que decida.Nuestra aplicación es útil para la formación de estudiantes ya que en la mayoría de las carreras universitarias, se solicita la lectura de documentos con terminología avanzada del desconocimiento del estudiante. Iniciaremos con los idiomas español e inglés y nuestra visión es expandir nuestro catálogo de idiomas y los sectores de terminología especializada ya que iniciaremos con médico, jurídico y científico.

 Language: Spanish and English

How Otros Dreamers Students Have Impacted Our Classroom Pedagogy: Designing Solutions to Improve Education 

This poster highlights our project's aim at understanding how México-US realities are reshaping our teaching practices at our UABC campus. This project is aimed at better understanding how these binational educational realities can inform our everyday classroom practices and considers the key projects we have undertaken to update our undergraduate Language Teacher Program in response. Specifically,in this panel we address our preliminary findings in applying current theories of writing and "languaging”, broadly conceived, to our own Mexican northern border-region university educational setting. Our findings seek to answer, "what and how does it mean to truly develop a binational, transnational, and/or global writing pedagogy that respects and works with, rather than against, historically marginalized local, regional, and national (such as Mexico's) educational contexts and concerns?" 

While our focus is on the Mexican (specifically, Baja California) context, our study holds important implications for US Composition studies as well. For instance, when we speak of concepts like translanguaging, and second language teaching, we often speak of them in terms of students who will largely remain in the US, or we speak from a singular national perspective that rarely, if ever, considers the impact that other national educational policies may place upon our own teaching practices. Such work was not undertaken in a vacuum but in conversation with both larger global pedagogical tendencies and our own national conversations on "internationalizing" the curriculum to better meet our student's needs. Our study aims to highlight these solutions to incorporate into our classrooms. 

Language:  English and Spanish

Se Partió el Suelo: Resilience Amidst Crisis

A visual narrative of cross-border collaboration, dialogue, and diplomacy between the United States and Mexico to address humanitarian issues affecting border communities and migrants while upholding values of compassion, dignity, and human rights. The presenter is Jesus Corral, a visual artist from Mexicali living in El Centro and San Diego. Corral likes to create cultural projects involving the community and is currently a Far South Border/North Grant Recipient as part of the SDSU Research Foundation. His work concentrates on project development of a visual campaign and cultural workshops addressing healthy eating habits, water and energy conservation in Imperial Valley.

Language: English and Spanish

Entrenando a los Entrenadores: Rescuing the Burden of Rocky Spotted Mountain Fever in San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico

Our poster presentation will showcase the Training of Trainers educational model implemented in San Ramon, Baja California through SDSU's VIDAII global health course. We aim to explore the effectiveness and impact of using community health workers to disseminate information regarding etiology, prevention, and treatment of RMSF, rocky mountain spotted fever, infections to produce long term protective effects in the rural farmworker communities of San Quintin. 

Language:  English and Spanish

Preserving Our Shared History

The SDSU Library and the SDSU Center for Regional Sustainability are collaborating with the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura in Tijuana to organize, digitize, protect and make available the cultural heritage materials of the Archivo Histórico de Tijuana.  This binational project is funded through a grant from the Modern Endangered Archives Program and has just received additional funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  The partnership’s goal is to make these valuable resources such as images, maps and documents available online to our local community and researchers worldwide.  The resources document the history of Tijuana and the border region and highlight our shared region and culture. They show the changes in our urban environment and the development of the border itself.  The materials are going online with both Spanish and English metadata to make them as accessible as possible to our entire community.  This is bi-national team effort includes a great deal of student involvement with graduate students from universities in Baja California as well as graduate students from USC and SJSU, in addition to undergraduates students at SDSU.  The poster will outline our process, our progress to date and will highlight a number of the wonderful, historical images of Tijuana and the border region contained in the collections.

Language:  English and Spanish

Citizenship and Territory Workshop as a Collective Tool to Activate Dialogue in Contemporary Artistic Practice

The objective of the workshop is to serve as a space for experimentation, cooperation, and collaboration where interpersonal and intrapersonal connections are activated. It is based on the concept of artistic mediation as it combines art and pedagogy. The process involves trust among participants to establish new ways of thinking about art, society, and the environment, thereby creating a space for collective creation. The workshop is part of the research project entitled: "Territoriality and its relationship through contemporary artistic practice in the northwest of Mexico."

The methodology is based on the review of theoretical aspects addressed in human geography regarding territory, territoriality, space, concepts relevant in contemporary art that question human living conditions, specifically in the border region. As a didactic strategy, the work of artists from the region, both binational and international, is examined to understand their conceptual and formal discourses. Triggering questions are asked with the intention of discussing, reflecting, and generating comparisons among participants, as well as intertwining experiences that lead to collective work. The exercises proposed in the workshop link concepts in the pairs: body-territory and space-memory. The result is a series of collective pieces that give rise to further inquiries and facilitate dialogue in a border geographic context.

Language: English and Spanish

Educación comunitaria como una estrategia de alfabetización para la justicia ambiental y la resiliencia climática en Mexicali y Calexico

Mexicali y Calexico transitan una emergencia por eventos de calor extremo y calidad del aire derivado del aumento de las temperaturas promedio, mayor duración e intensidad de olas de calor y días con altos niveles de material particulado “PM2.5“.  Los habitantes están expuestos a quemaduras solares, deshidratación y agotamiento por calor. En 2023, Mexicali registró un incremento del 41% de muertes por golpes de calor respecto al 2022 (principales ciudades por esta causa en México), y Valle Imperial cuenta con un alto índice de vulnerabilidad social por la CDC/ATSDR.

Esta propuesta busca impulsar la justicia ambiental, participación y empoderamiento de comunidades vulnerables y la formación educativa de estudiantes de enfermería de salud comunitaria de la UABC. Mediante sensores móviles de temperatura y calidad del aire se mapearán islas de calor urbano en ambas ciudades durante el verano 2024, este mapeo permitirá a) la formulación de un diagnóstico socioambiental; b) crear un programa de educación formal de cambio climático y salud pública bilingüe para estudiantes; c) focalizar estrategias educativas en actores claves (jefas de hogar, personal de salud y líderes locales) de comunidades vulnerables.

Resultados: a) Identificación de zonas y hogares susceptibles a eventos de calor extremo; b) Formación de recursos humanos en salud y líderes comunitarios para la comunicación de riesgos y promoción de salud; c) Empoderamiento de la comunidad mediante el derecho al acceso de información actualizada y fácil de entender; f) Generación de evidencia científica innovadora para implementar intervenciones de mitigación y resiliencia climática en la región.

Language:  Spanish

From Barriers to Portals: Dreams, User Experience Design, and Borders (or how an artist-librarian creates worlds)

This poster will share connections between librarianship, user experience design, dreams, and borders that developed an approach to radical imagination and creating possibilities. Being a Los Angeles-born daughter of Tijuana immigrants who grew up in San Diego and went to library school in New York City eventually produced a weird dream land that was a combination of all four cities. Imagine it like a quadruple exposure photograph, except everything blended seamlessly. My dreams traversed state and country lines to create one city that somehow felt familiar. In NYC I studied user experience design in library school and identifying barriers faced by users reminded me about growing up in a border city. When I eventually moved back home, I learned that there were communities of librarians from both sides of the border in San Diego and Tijuana that would meet for conferences, have exchanges, and collaborate. It sparked an interest in transborder librarianship research. Years later, I’m a User Experience Librarian and my philosophy is that UX design is about co-creating, radical imagination, and creating possibilities. My design approach is informed by my artistic practice, to be a creator of worlds, and dismantle borders (both physical and conceptual) to build and create meaningfully. Radical imagination and empathy are portals to future experiences and design justice. As part of this poster, a zine version will be available while copies last.

Language:  English

Designing Health & Wellbeing Solutions /Diseño de soluciones de salud y bienestar: Diseño universal para ciudades justas y accesibles

 El objetivo es presentar propuestas de diseño universal para la inclusión de personas con discapacidad en el espacio público y establecimientos comerciales. En colaboración con el Instituto Municipal de Participación Ciudadana de Tijuana y el Colectivo ANDA, investigadores y estudiantes de arquitectura de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California desarrollaron una serie de propuestas para la adecuación de diferentes tipos de establecimientos comerciales y espacios urbanos que puedan reescribirse en términos de accesibilidad y diseño universal. El conversatorio que se propone servirá como espacio para dialogara en torno a las diferentes alternativas que se hjan estudiado en Tijuana y sus implicaciones.

Language:  English

Organizing Transnational Care Workers 

This poster is presented by Gülten Gizem Fesli, a Ph.D., candidate in Sociology at Bayreuth University, Germany, with a focus on Intersectionality Studies. Her dissertation is titled “Labor Union Organizing Strategies of Transnational Care Workers in Germany and the USA”, and is a comparative study of contemporary labor union organizing of transnational care workers. She is currently a Visiting Graduate Scholar at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at University of California San Diego (UCSD.)

Language: English

Preservación arquitectónica e identidad. Heterotopías patrimoniales en Valles Centrales, Oaxaca. 

Lorena Carina Broca Domínguez, originaria de Xalapa, Veracruz, México, es arquitecta con Especialidad en Construcción por la Universidad Veracruzana. Realizó sus estudios de Doctorado en Arquitectura del programa interinstitucional de la Universidad de Guanajuato y Universidad Michoacana San Nicolás de Hidalgo en la línea de investigación en Historia y conservación de la arquitectura y de la ciudad sustentable. Sus campos de interés giran en torno a la sustentabilidad urbana y arquitectónica, semiótica arquitectónica, crítica, patrimonio histórico, artístico e industrial, preservación arquitectónica y procesos interculturales en el ámbito de la apropiación espacial y memoria. 

Language:  Spanish 

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Montezuma Hall

Description: The project focuses on reducing resource waste and promoting the reuse of materials, aligning with production practices that not only minimize environmental impacts, but also enhance biodiversity and community well-being. Circular design leverages waste from the furniture and food industries as raw materials. Moreover, Light Straw Clay is portrayed as an ideal material in construction, advocating for alternative production methods that prioritize recycling and the recovery of materials for various products. This initiative not only progresses in the field of industrial design, but also promotes education and research in sustainability, optimally utilizing local renewable resources to effect a positive change in the environment.

Descripción: Se presenta la aplicación de principios de economía circular en el diseño y la fabricación usando materiales naturales como la madera y una mezcla de pajarcilla, con una intención social y visionaria. Esta iniciativa no solo avanza en el campo del diseño industrial, sino que también promueve la educación y la investigación en sostenibilidad, utilizando de manera óptima los recursos locales renovables para generar un cambio positivo en el ambiente.

Presenters:

Vladimir Becerril Mendoza: Ph.D., research professor with a significant contribution to the field of industrial design, specifically in wood technologies, design and manufacturing.

Tonatiuh Magaña Guzmán: Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Master's degree in Architecture focused on Natural building materials from the Autonomous University of Baja California and is currently a Ph.D. student with the research topic in Light Straw Clay roofs.

 Language: English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Montezuma Theater

Description: This session will present the experiences of the 2024 San Diego Tijuana World Design Capital (WDC) from the perspective of the Planning and Placemaking Design Action Network (DAN) team led by SDSU Professor Bruce Appleyard and COLEF Postdoctoral Scholar Dinorah Gonzalez, who will discuss the experience of curating 19 Impact Projects for the WDC on both sides of the border.

Among these projects include the work related to the timeless and transcendent vision plan for the San Diego Tijuana transnational region, “Temporary Paradise?”, which includes the work related to the Declaration of Interdependence for San Diego Tijuana that argues that the border should become a “zone of confluence” sharing its environment, its economy, and its cultures.

This session will also discuss the Re-imagining our Region Charrette, which involved architecture students throughout our binational region as they reimagined our public places, our environment, our economy, our housing, etc.

We will also feature other WDC Impact projects, including “Converging Horizons” and “Friendship Park.” Marcel Sanchez of USD leads “Converging Horizons” which brings together architectural communities from both sides of the border to showcase and represent the vibrant San Diego-Tijuana region through dynamic events, engaging workshops, and thought-provoking exhibitions. James Brown leads Friendship Park, which envisions a binational park along the border, where traditionally, families who are separated. 
The panel will reflect on the experiences working on all these individual projects, and the WDC in general.

Presenters:

Bruce Appleyard: Ph.D.,  Professor of City Planning and Urban Design, SDSU School of Public Affairs, co-lead for the Planning and Placemaking Team for World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana 2024.

Dinorah Gonzalez: Ph.D., professor and researcher and in the area of urban planning, economic development and housing, co-lead for the Planning and Placemaking Team for World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana 2024.  

Marcel Sanchez: Associate Professor in the Architecture program at the University of San Diego and co-founder of CRO Studio, a collaborative practice centered on architecture as a social catalyst to address societal challenges, particularly in the border region. 

Jim Brown: SDSU Lecturer, architecture, School of Art and Design. His experience spans public art to architect and developer of urban infill projects that redefine the role of architecture. He is a long-time advocate of a proposed 80-acre expansion of Friendship Park that spans the San Diego-Tijuana border. 

Language:  English

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location:  Legacy Suite

Description: We analyze from an innovative perspective ways to influence a new lifestyle for adults and young people who inhabit the Cali-Baja region. To this end, the topic of prevention is widely discussed as a key element to reduce both the number and the effects of chronic diseases, which are becoming more frequent and which have been proven to be seriously linked to a sedentary lifestyle, with a high percentage of foods that are harmful to health, and with high monetary costs for both people and society.  Likewise, it has been shown that the improvement in quality of life also manifests itself in the psychological well-being of people, since with this they manage to maintain their functionality, independence and also productivity. The Cali-Baja region experiences high rates of chronic-degenerative diseases such as hypertension, smoking and diabetes mellitus, and their worsening generates psychological impacts that could be avoided by improving the lifestyle of the affected population.

Descripción: Analizamos desde una perspectiva innovadora formas de incidir en un nuevo estilo de vida de las personas adultas y jóvenes que habitan la región Cali-Baja. Para ello se discute ampliamente el tema de la prevención, como un elemento clave para reducir tanto el número como los efectos  de las enfermedades crónicas, que cada vez son más frecuentes y que se ha comprobado se encuentran seriamente vinculadas a un estilo de vida sedentario, con un alto porcentaje de alimentos nocivos para la salud, y con altos costos monetarios tanto para las personas como  la sociedad.  Así mismo, se ha demostrado que la mejora en la calidad de vida también se manifiesta en el bienestar psicológico de las personas, ya que con ello logran mantener su funcionalidad, independencia y también productividad. La región Cali-Baja experimenta altas tasas de enfermedades crónico-degenerativas como la hipertensión, el tabaquismo y la diabetes mellitus, y su agravamiento genera impactos psicológicos que podrían evitarse de lograr mejorar el estilo de vida de la población afectada.

Panelists:

Fabiola Flores Monsiváis: Ph.D., Leader 
María Guadalupe Delgadillo Ramos: Ph.D.
Melina Ortíz Ortíz: Ph.D.
Teacher Marcela Merin:
Eduardo Morales: Ph.D.

Language:  English

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 208

Description: The panel presents the proposal for the curricular design of the Master's Degree in Cross-border and Intercultural Education as a collaborative project between the academic institutions of San Diego State University and the National Pedagogical University. From an introspection to the contemporary educational context focusing on interculturality and cross-border issues, the role of interculturality as a philosophical, educational and political perspective in the recognition of diversity is emphasized, particularly in the communities located in the San Diego-Tijuana region. It seeks to challenge traditional knowledge systems and advocates for inclusive educational programs to facilitate dialogue between diverse communities, languages ​​and cultures and highlights the importance of critical interculturality in education to break homogeneous models of teaching and learning, promote the production of knowledge diverse and address the needs of transnational students in border regions.

The pedagogical model focuses on the promotion of critical intercultural practices, decolonization and inclusion in education, underscoring the importance of reflective teaching practices and the integration of socio-emotional dimensions in education. It advocates an educational approach that values ​​the linguistic and cultural diversity of students, promotes dialogue and aims for social transformation through processes of decolonization.

Descripción: El panel presenta la propuesta del diseño curricular de la Maestría en Educación Trasfronteriza e Intercultural como proyecto colaborativo entre las instituciones académicas de San Diego State University y la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Desde una introspección al contexto educativo contemporáneo centrándose en la interculturalidad y las cuestiones transfronterizas, se enfatiza el papel de la interculturalidad como perspectiva filosófica, educativa y política en el reconocimiento de la diversidad, particularmente en las comunidades situadas en la región de San Diego-Tijuana. Se busca desafiar los sistemas de conocimiento tradicionales y aboga por programas educativos inclusivos para facilitar el diálogo entre diversas comunidades, idiomas y culturas y destaca la importancia de la interculturalidad crítica en la educación para romper modelos homogéneos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, promover la producción de conocimiento diverso y abordar las necesidades de los estudiantes transnacionales en las regiones fronterizas.

El modelo pedagógico centra la promoción de prácticas interculturales críticas, la descolonización y la inclusión en la educación subrayando la importancia de las prácticas de enseñanza reflexivas y la integración de las dimensiones socioemocionales en la educación. Aboga por un enfoque educativo que valore la diversidad lingüística y cultural de los estudiantes, promueva el diálogo y apunte a la transformación social a través de procesos de descolonización.

Panelists:

J. Javier González Monroy: Professor and Coordinator of the Master's Degree in Teaching Practice and Cultural Intervention at the National Pedagogical University.  

Sera J. Hernandez: Ph.D., chair of the Dual Language and English Learner Education Department at SDSU.

 Saul Maldonado: Ph.D., Associate Professor Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education at SDSU

Norma Bocanegra Gastelum: Ph.D.,  Educational Sciences and Professor at the National Pedagogical University.

Josefina Pérez: National Pedagogical University.

Yara Amparo López López: Teaches International Migration Studies and is a specialist in International Migration from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (El Colef).

Language:  English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center: Room 209

Description:  Four SDSU faculty present their experiences using the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) framework in cross-border teaching. The focus is on re-designing their current courses to implement transformational international experiences for their students through collaboration with partner professors at universities worldwide in joint higher education online programs.

Descripción: Este panel incluye cuatro presentaciones de profesores de SDSU sobre sus experiencias utilizando el Collaborative Metodología Online International Learning (COIL) en la enseñanza transfronteriza. La atención se centra en re-rediseñar sus cursos actuales e implementar y mejorar la transformación internacional
experiencia para sus estudiantes en educación superior a través de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México.

Panelists:

Mei Zhong: Ph.D., professor in the School of Journalism and Media Studies &  International Studies minor, worked with COIL Partner Dr. Abraham Navarro Garcia and Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC) to design a course with a research project for students in both countries to learn abouit each other's culture. 

Carlos Paternina Arboleda: Ph.D., a professor in SDSU's Fowler College of Business, taught a graduate course utilizing COIL to guide student research on both sides of the border.

Sarah Maheronnaghsh, Ph.D., of the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education & Child and Family Development, implemented a COIL course with bilingual credential candidates from SDSU and school psycholgist candidates at UABC. The project centers on humanizing teacher preparation on both sides of the border by promoting the social-emotional intelligence of teacher and psychologist candidates.

Lourdes Cueva Chacón: Ph.D., School of Journalism and Media Studies, joined partner Dr. Armando Gutierrez Ortega of UABC Mexicali to use COIL to teach best journalism practices for researching and reporting along the dynamic U.S.-Mexico border. 

Language:  English and Spanish (Limited Translation)

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Education Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center Room 211

Descripción: Con base en los principios de la educación transformacional, la cual sugiere un cambio de perspectiva en el que intervienen elementos que permiten adquirir apertura para modificar creencias y opiniones (Mezirow, 2000 y Felix 2021). Mismos que se pueden dar a partir de la creación de acciones específicas, por ello el objetivo de este trabajo es empoderar a comunidades para que se conviertan en agentes activos de cambio, utilizando la educación como herramienta fundamental para mejorar su entorno, en este sentido nuestra propuesta se centra en la creación de un “modelo de educación para la vida diaria medioambiental”. Sustentando en hallazgos de nuestra investigación anterior “Secondary Cities: Tijuana”, el cual tuvo como objetivo la generación de mapas en zonas de alto riesgo de Tijuana, integrando información que puedan proveer de herramientas para la toma de decisiones, identificamos que además del ya conocido problema de tiraderos ilegales de basura entre otros, estas zonas necesitan de una intervención urgente educativa que les permita visibilizar su problemática ante las instituciones universitarias como lo es UABC, pero además que también los involucre activamente en la búsqueda soluciones. 

Panelists:

Alma Beatriz Navarro Cerda: Doctora en Estudios del Desarrollo Global, miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores nivel 1, cuenta con reconocimiento PRODEP, miembro del comités académicos de CENEVAL-EGEL-SEP-ACCECISO. Responsable de varios proyectos de investigación, donde destaca “Secondary Cities” capítulo Tijuana, realizado en conjunto con SDSU, es colaboradora del VIZ center at SDSU. 

Juan Antonio Meza Fregoso: Un destacado investigador con un Doctorado en Ciencias Económicas, miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI) nivel 1 y con perfil PRODEP. Su trayectoria académica incluye la participación en proyectos de investigación, además de haber dirigido tesis a nivel licenciatura y posgrado. Ha realizado proyectos significativos como la simulación de adicciones en Tijuana y la detección de las capacidades tecnológicas de las MIPYMES en Baja California. 

Carlos Alberto Flores Sánchez: Profesor investigador de la FCA, es Ingeniero en Computación, Maestro en Administración de Empresas y Doctor en Ciencias Económicas por la UABC. Su interés de investigación es sobre Transformación Digital, Gestión de la Innovación y Economía de la Innovación.

Carlos Reyneiro Acosta Araiza: Un profesional altamente versátil en el ámbito de la Administración Pública y las Ciencias Políticas, con una especialización notable en la gestión de riesgos, el análisis geoespacial y la respuesta a emergencias. Formado en la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, como complemento sus estudios con maestia en tecnologias que apoyan ampliamente su capacidad en el manejo y gestión Integral de riesgo, asi como los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG) y los drones.

Language: Spanish

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Multidisciplinary Panel

Location: Extended Studies Center, Room 206

Descripción: Nuestro conocimiento actual sobre los cuidadores de niños autistas se limita a las familias de inmigrantes mexicanos en general, lo que afecta nuestra comprensión de las disparidades en el acceso a los servicios. La frontera entre Estados Unidos y México representa una barrera física, cultural y social con disparidades interseccionales únicas para la intervención en el autismo. Los ciudadanos estadounidenses y mexicanos con doble ciudadanía que cruzan la frontera a diario para trabajar, estudiar, recibir atención médica y otros servicios han estado subrepresentados en la investigación sobre el autismo: transfronterix. Aunque la tasa actual de prevalencia del autismo en Estados Unidos es de 1 de cada 36 (CDC, 2023), la incidencia del autismo en México es en gran medida desconocida, en parte debido al acceso a un diagnóstico oportuno. Esta presentación del panel unirá a investigadores, proveedores de servicios y miembros de la comunidad de SDSU a lo largo de las fronteras de San Ysidro y Calexico que trabajan con comunidades transfronterizas para acceder a servicios de intervención para el autismo.

Description:  Our current knowledge of caregivers of autistic children is limited to Mexican immigrant families more generally, this impacts our understanding of service access disparities. The U.S./Mexico border represents a physical, cultural, and social barrier with unique intersectional disparities to autism intervention. Dual U.S. and Mexican citizens who cross the border daily for work, school, health care and other services have been underrepresented in autism research–transfronterix. Although the current autism prevalence rate in the U.S. is 1 out of 36 (CDC, 2023), the incidence of autism in Mexico is largely unknown, in part due to access to timely diagnosis. This panel presentation will unite SDSU researchers, service providers, and community members alongside the San Ysidro and Calexico borders who work with transborder communities to access autism intervention services.

Panelists:

Ana Dueñas: Ph.D., SDSU Assistant Professor of Special Education, College of Education. A Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, her research focuses on identifying and validating social communication interventions delivered by natural change agents to individuals on the autism spectrum and related developmental disorders. 

Fernanda Castellon: Ph.D., post-doctorate research fellow at UC Riverside's SEARCH Autism Center and a sister to two autistic young adults. Castellon participated in multiple multi-site federally funded research studies aimed at reducing autism disparities.

Karely Valdez Lopez: A first-generation graduate student at Cal State Long Beach,  Lopez's master’s thesis project investigates the experiences of Latinx families in autism early intervention services, including associations between family satisfaction and engagement, as well as the experiences of Latinx transborder communities receiving autism-related services between the US and Mexico. 

Carmen Orendain:  A member of the San Diego Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities, she currently works as a project manager for the study imPACTO at the Child and Adolescent Service Research Center (CASRC) at San Diego State University. This study aims to understand the experience and barriers of transborder Latinx families to contribute to the cultural adaptation of early intervention for autistic children. 

Monica Espinoza Martinez: Belonging to the LGBTIQ+ community (DemiPansexual) and Neurodivergent (ADHD), she holds a B.A. in psychology from the Autonomous University of Baja California, Valle de las Palmas unit (UABC). She has completed specialized studies in psychotherapy at the University of Advanced Studies (UNEA), is certified in the evaluation and diagnosis of Autism as well as in the administration of various intellectual diagnostic tests and the PECS methodology.

Dhana Michelle García Vielma: Psychologist,  is an autistic psychologist specializing in autism.  She earned a bachelor’s degree with a specialization in Child Development from CETYS University in 2021 and now is pursuing a Master’s in Neuropsychology, focusing on the implementation of autism diagnosis and cognitive therapy.  She practices at the Hospital del Prado. 

Language: Spanish 

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Location:  Templo Mayor

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Location: Montezuma Hall

Presentations:

A Comprehensive View of Critical Literacy & Biliteracy Development for Multilingual Learners

This project presents a comprehensive view of critical literacy/biliteracy pedagogy for multilingual learners that includes the research-based factors, skills, components, and instructional practices to ensure achievement for multilingual learners.

Presenters: 

• Rubí Flores: Director of Professional Learning for the California Association for Bilingual Education.
• Amanda Vanessa Noriega: Dual language educator, teacher, and Assistant Director of Professional Learning for the California Association for Bilingual Education.

Transborder Graduation Initiative

This proposal is for Building Bridges: Transborder Graduation Initiative, dedicated to the social justice of Transfronterizx students at the SDSU Mesa campus and SDSU-Imperial Valley. In 2022, SDSU-Imperial Valley implemented the first-ever transborder graduation in the history of education at the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Transborder graduation expanded to both SDSU-IV (2022, 2023, 2024) and SDSU Main Campus (2023, 2024,) serving Transfronterizx students and their families along the California-Baja California borderlands. For this Think Tank Challenge, we propose making this transborder graduation an institutionalized initiative at SDSU.

Presenters: 

• Vannessa Falcón Orta: Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Education at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley.
• Carlos A. Fitch: Doctoral candidate researching trans-borderism in rural border regions, among other topics.
• Efren M. Lopez: Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley.
• Gilberto Reyes Morgan: Transborder researcher on historic, cultural, economic, and social impact that the Japanese and Chinese communities had in Mexicali.
• Tanya J. Gaxiola Serrano: Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the College of Education at San Diego State University.

Building Trust and Understanding: AI Tutors Personalized by Teachers

This proposal explores how AI agents can become powerful extensions of teachers, fostering student confidence and deeper understanding. We present a novel approach where teachers personalize AI tutors by providing their own teaching style information.

Presenters: 

• Andres Edén Vargas Maldonado: Ph.D., Industrial Design program coordinator at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Mexicali.
• Alejandro Rangel: Technical Lead at Fender Musical Instruments and a driving force behind the innovative educational platform Fender Play and the popular app Fender Tune.

Conectando Horizontes

The "Connecting Horizons" program proposes an innovative approach to migrant shelters, specifically aimed at migrant children and adolescents, offering a platform for young migrants or cross-border migrants with experience in the United States to share their knowledge and experiences. This program seeks not only to provide practical guidance on how to adapt to a new cultural and educational environment, but also to create meaningful connections between migrant communities through peer mentoring.

Presenters:

•  Porfiria del Rosario Bustamante de la Cruz: Ph.D., professor-researcher at the Faculty of Pedagogy   and Educational Innovation at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. 
• Edmund 'Ted' Hamann:  Professor of education policy and practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
• Laura Marcela Rodríguez Benjumea: Doctoral student in Socio-educational Studies and Projects at the Faculty of Pedagogy at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

MEMS Bioelectronic Device for Diabetes Management

Introducing a novel Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) cuff electrode, designed for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in diabetes management. Emphasis is placed on the detailed design and fabrication of the device highlighting mechanical components optimized for safe and effective implantation. The design and fabrication represent a significant advancement in the development of next-generation medical devices.

Presenters: 

• Paulette Suro: a Mexican American student majoring in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Bioengineering at San Diego State University.
• Marco Antonio Flores Garcia: A first generation Mexican American and college student majoring in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in Bioengineering.

Science & Technology Innovations / Innovations in Science and Technology: The construction of a scientific laboratory of the Border: UABC and SDSU

On the border of California and Baja California, we can clearly observe the lack of coordination in the resolution of environmental problems that impact the health of border communities, from rivers to seas to air quality. This binational border laboratory has, as its main objective, the formation of “mirror” laboratories and the creation of researchers from SDSU and UABC as cross-border researchers for the development of binational projects with a common objective.

Presenters:

• Linda Lara-Jacobo: Ph.D., is developing liaisons between health, environment, gender equality, social inclusion and diversity, indigenous engagement, and science diplomacy toward a sustainable world. 
• Ernesto Beltran Partida: Ph.D., researcher at the Corrosion and Advanced Materials Laboratories and the Molecular Biology Laboratory.
• Benjamin Valdez Salas: Ph.D., founder and coordinator of the National Corrosion Network and professor in Sciences and Engineering at the UABC.

Human-Centered Design/Bee Says: Sensory toy for children in special education

This proposal presents an inclusive learning tool design crafted specifically for children in special education programs. This approach provides multi-sensory experiences and cognitive enhancements finely tuned to meet the unique needs of children with Autism.

Presenters: 

• Zurisadai Mendoza Limón:  Industrial Design student at Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and active participant in research assistantships, focusing on socially oriented electronic prototypes.  
• Alejandro Daniel Murga González: Co-Presenter on the project.

Development of a Digital Geostatistical Platform for Binational Water Quality Data in the Tijuana River 

This project aims to develop a digital geostatistical platform of the physicochemical and biological parameters that determine the binational water quality of the Tijuana River. The compilation of physicochemical and biological data on the binational water will be collected from open and closed access, governmental, academic and private information sources, scientific reports, reports from public and private institutions, as well as specialized sources. The data will be processed and analyzed to obtain high quality data. The data will be used to for  develop a geostatistical technology platform that will combine several advanced tools and technologies for collecting, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing the data with the general public. This platform will have various uses, including: geostatistical information system, data science platform, interactive dashboard, open data portal, real-time monitoring system, collaboration and project management platform, modeling and simulation tools, and for government, public and private institutions, as well as the population to be informed about the binational water quality.

Presenters:

• Carolina Silva Carrillo: Ph.D. in chemstry and professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Engineering at UABC, with her main area of specialization being applied environmental electrochemistry.
• Manuel Castanon Puga: Ph.D., works as a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Engineering at the UABC, with main areas of specialization including computer science and software engineering.
• Eva Viviana Sarmiento Gutierrez: Ph.D., works as a professor at the Faculty of Dentistry at UABC . Main area of specialization is development of applied materials in the environmental area. 
• Emigdia Guadalupe Sumbarda Ramos: Ph.D., and professor at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Technology at UABC, with specialization in electrokinetic degradation of pollutants.

Braitoy una puerta hacia el futuro

In the heart of Tecate, Baja California, a technological project is changing lives. Braitoy, an interactive toy, has become a beacon of hope for visually impaired children. Its purpose is clear: To teach Braille in an effective and playful way, opening doors to literacy and inclusion. Braitoy's mobile app give visually impaired children a connection to the world. For these children, technology is not just a tool; it is a learning companion. Through the app, parents and teachers can track each child's individual progress. It's a virtual beacon that guides little explorers through stories, puzzles and challenges. But the app goes beyond that. It is a window to the future.In a context where specific educational resources for children with disabilities are scarce, Braitoy is a paradigm shift. It not only teaches letters,  it teaches independence and self-confidence.  The technology tells them, "You can do it, too. Confidence is an invaluable resource that transcends the classroom and becomes a lifelong tool. Braitoy is a bridge to inclusion. Children can communicate with their peers, read books and actively participate in society.  The children are immersed in imaginary worlds, where words are beacons that illuminate the darkness. Braitoy is not only a technological project, it is an investment in human potential. Every child who uses Braitoy is a testimony that innovation can change lives. 

Presenter:

• Carlos Manuel Reyna Alvarez

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Location:  Montezuma Hall,

Reception: Third Floor Terrace: 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Session for LEAL Members: Templo Mayor, 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm

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