Research & Innovation

Alianza MX Convenes US-Mexico Working Groups on Electrification of Transport

On September 6, Alianza MX convened the Heavy Vehicles Working Group of the US-Mexico High-Level Task Force on the Electrification of Transport for an in-person meeting in Puebla, Mexico to discuss the potential for reducing carbon emissions produced by heavy-duty trucks that move around two-thirds of binational goods trade. The meeting included researchers from the Institute for Transportation Studies (ITS) at the University of California, Davis, as well as representatives of Mexican government agencies and the private sector, most notably the National Association of Bus, Truck and Tractor Producers (ANPACT).

In collaboration with World Resources Institute Mexico (WRI-Mexico) and Red de Innovación y Trabajo en la Industria Automotriz Mexicana (ITIAM), the Task Force Working Group on Electromobility in Cities met virtually on November 30 and December 1 to discuss last-mile solutions to address urban mobility challenges in the US and Mexico. In addition to academic researchers from the UC and Mexican universities, participants in the meeting represented NGOs, such as the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), as well as US and Mexican government agencies, including the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Mexican Environment Ministry, US Department of Transportation, US Embassy in Mexico City, and California Air Resources Board.
Please see here for more information on the US-Mexico High-Level Task Force and its activities, including upcoming Working Group meetings and other events.

Casa de California Hosts Water Resources Management Workshop

Casa de California hosted several dozen researchers, public officials, and non-profit leaders from across California and Mexico on November 10–11 for a workshop on Water Resources Management led by Dr. Josué Medellín of UC Merced and sponsored by Alianza MX. Participants identified common binational research gaps and designed a shared research agenda, in addition to reviewing potential case studies for peer-reviewed research publications and policy briefs. A special plenary session also brought together key non-academic stakeholders from Mexico to discuss their perspectives on how to address core policy challenges through action research. For more information on the research project, please see here.

UC and Cinvestav Provide Joint Funding for Collaborative Research

In December, two research proposals were selected for two years of joint funding by the UC and the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) in Mexico.
The call for proposals was initially launched by Cinvestav and Alianza MX in September and marked the first-ever joint funding initiative supported by the UC and Cinvestav, a graduate research institute and key partner in collaborative research, particularly on issues related to agriculture, health, marine sciences, and plant genomics.

The two proposals selected for support will involve collaborative research between binational teams over the next two years. One research project will focus on Alzheimer’s disease and will be led by principal investigators (PIs) at UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and Cinvestav-Zacatenco in Mexico City. Another project will study antibiotic-resistant strains and will be led by PIs at UC Irvine, UC San Francisco, and Cinvestav-Irapuato in Guanajuato. Please see here for more information on the call and the projects

UCR Launches Incubation Challenge for Latin American Startups

UC Riverside’s Office of Technology Partnerships is providing Latin American entrepreneurs with an opportunity to receive a cash prize and incubation services through its UCR Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept and Innovation (EPIC) Incubation Challenge. As part of the challenge, Alianza MX is funding a special prize for a Mexican entrepreneur to travel to California for technology incubation and collaboration with UCR faculty. For more information on the competition and how to apply, please see here.

Alianza MX

Academic Exchange & Continuing Education

2023 Seed Funding Opportunity for Student Mobilities to Mexico

On occasion of the bicentennial celebration of the US-Mexico bilateral relationship, the University of California through Alianza MX has joined the challenge set out by the US Embassy in Mexico to increase the number of UC students studying in Mexico in 2023. In this spirit, Alianza MX has reserved a seed fund of up to $50,000 USD per UC campus to fund mobilities for UC students to Mexico in 2023. UC faculty members and administrators are welcome to submit proposals through the Call until March 2023.

UC and UNAM Launch Call for Virtual Joint Courses

In November, the UC, via Alianza MX, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through the General Directorate of Cooperation and Internationalization, launched a UC-UNAM Joint Call for Collaborative Online International Learning Courses. The objective of the call is to facilitate borderless classrooms and promote meaningful, sustainable and accessible international experiences for students and faculty from both institutions. The call seeks UC and UNAM faculty members interested in collaborating in course development and teaching with a colleague from the partnering institution. The application deadlines are March 31 and October 31. Further details are available on the Alianza MX website.

Extraordinary Mexico

Alianza MX has launched the Extraordinary Mexico campaign throughout the University of California to encourage the UC community to see Mexico in a new light for academic exchanges: a place where tradition intersects with innovation offering a unique learning experience for UC students and professors. We invite faculty to visit our website and review our current initiatives and funding opportunities aimed at increasing academic mobilities to Mexico. The Alianza MX team is available to support and increase UC’s academic collaborations with Mexico.

Alianza MX

Strategic Initiatives

Climate Ambassadors Initiative Consolidates Network

In November, Alianza MX launched a Climate Ambassadors microsite, where members of the initiative have a space for exclusive information and events. Our non-academic partners (Conservation International, World Resource Institute, World Environment Center, Asociación Mexicana de Energía Eólica, Mujeres en Energía Renovable, Elemental Excelerator and Iniciativa Climática de México) offered 25 internship opportunities for the Ambassadors for the 2022-23 cycle in areas ranging from nature-based solutions, renewable energy, restoration, blue carbon, and decarbonization to multi-disciplinary perspectives on climate, gender, and religion. Ambassadors have created different committees to consolidate their biantional network and are developing climate-related content for webinars and a podcast on the climate agenda. Please see the microsite to learn more about the initiative.

Alianza MX Presents UC Research at COP 27

The US-Mexico High-Level Task Force on the Electrification of Transport presented a progress report at the 27^thSession of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which took place in November in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The panel presentation included contributions from Dr. Isabel Studer, Director of Alianza MX; Dr. Gil Tal, Davis Institute of Transportation Studies-UC Davis; Reed Schuler, Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry; and Martha Delgado, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Mexican Foreign Ministry. Please see here for details of the presentation.

Stay Tuned: CAMX 2030 Summit

Together with the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento and the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), Alianza MX will be hosting the “California-Mexico 2030 Summit: Turning Climate Challenges into Opportunities” at Casa de California in Mexico City in April. This unique event will commemorate the US-Mexico Bicentennial by bringing together a high-level audience of policy stakeholders to engage with UC researchers focused on the most important topics in the binational climate agenda. Please check the Alianza MX website and our social media channels for additional updates.

Alianza MX

At Casa de California

Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples (Erip) Conference 2022

The 7th biannual conference "The Power of Discourse vs. the Discourse of Power in Indigenous and Afro-descendant Rights in the Americas". ERIP 2022, the conference took place in Casa de la Universidad de California en México, from October 28 - 30, 2022 in collaboration with the Stanford University Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), the Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS), and the Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies journal (LACES).

Casa de California hosts Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla, UC San Diego

On November 24, we hosted at Casa de la Universidad de California a delegation from UC San Diego (UCSD) , headed by its Chancellor, Pradeep K. Khosla, who was accompanied by Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Director, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (USMEX); Drew C. Hinsunger, Associate Vice Chancellor, University Development, Caroline Freud, Dean, School of Global Policy and Strategy and Catheryn Camacho, Associate Director, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

The objective of the meeting was to present the strategic initiatives of Alianza MX and explore how we can strengthen cooperation through research projects. Dr. Isabel Studer, Director of Alianza MX, highlighted the strategic projects that Alianza MX is currently funding, among which we have the project headed by Dr. Keith Pezzoli, from UCSD “Cali-Baja BioREG Plan 2030” (A US-Mexico-Tribal Nations Plan for Climate Action Research, Planning, and Design in the Cali- Baja Transborder Bioregion).”, whose goal is to identify and document transformational change that can benefit people and communities most vulnerable to, and impacted by, the climate emergency disrupting life and living in the Cali-Baja US-Mexico-Tribal Borderlands.

Alianza MX

From the Alianza MX Team

Jail Ixel Cruz G joined Alianza MX as Project Coordinator for the US-Mexico High-Level Task Force on the Electrification of Transport in January. Working with public and private sector stakeholders from both countries, as well as academic experts from Mexican and US universities, the project focuses on five strategic areas—innovation, human capital, supplier development, infrastructure development, and governance—as well as three sub-groups to study light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, and electromobility in cities, respectively.

Chemical Engineer with a Master's Degree in Economics of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (both from UNAM). Certified as Climate Leader from The Climate Reality Project, and trained by the World Bank in the Mitigation Action Assessment Protocol (MAAP), she has almost 10 years of experience assessing governments on Public Policies related to Climate Change, gender, Low Carbon development Strategies, Urban Sustainability among others.

Veronica Zamora Aguilar joined Alianza MX on December 2022, as Event Coordinator and Liaison. She has more than 22 years of experience in the Federal Public Administration, in the areas of economic promotion of Mexico abroad, International Cooperation and in the field of Gender Policies and Violence Prevention.
She is a former intern of the Training Academy for International Economic Officials of the Ministry of Economy of the People's Republic of China in the field of International Trade.
She is a member of the Association of Mexican Ex-Scholarship Holders in Japan (ASEMEJA). She completed an internship at the Tokyo International Center on International Cooperation Policies and Project Evaluation.

Antonio Alvarado joined Alianza MX as Outreach & Communications Coordinator in January. He has a degree in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana and an MBA from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Throughout the course of his career, he has developed strategic plans of communication, marketing and public relations for different companies and institutions, including Proméxico, Le Cordon Bleu Mexico, and Hannover Fairs Mexico. He also has more than 15 years of experience in coordinating events and managing social media.

Fabián Cerón graduated from Universidad La Salle, ULSA in 2022. He has a Bachelor 's Degree in Communications Science. As student, he was awarded at the Nubes de Oro Awards 2019 as the Best Short Film Script. During this period, Fabián was working as an assistant in the Special Programs Department of the Center for International Education La Salle. His duties involved the preparation of Summer 2022 catalogues; supporting with social media content creation; and supporting the CIEL Staff and Conference Speakers in the 2nd International Education Fair. As a professional, he also has experience providing production support for TV Ads and covering electronic music events.