Selected research projects
• Funding Institution: FOREST TRENDS
• Amount: 15,000 USD
• PI: Dr. Pedro Rau (prau@utec.edu.pe)
Course in identification and formulation of water regulation ecosystem service recovery projects
Capacity building project for decision makers within the framework of the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security (INSH) project belonging to the consortium made up of Forest Trends, CONDESAN, SPDA, EcoDecisión and Imperial College London. UTEC – CITA was responsible for preparing and delivering a series of trainings in the modules of identification and formulation of water regulation ecosystem service recovery projects, in conjunction with JS Consultores. Being 14 working groups, including 7 regions of Peru with more than 70 participants trained in mountain hydrology issues and support of technologies for the recovery of water regulation ecosystems.
• Funding Institution: SECOSAN
• Amount: 250,000 USD
• PI: Dra. Mónica Santa María (msantamaria@utec.edu.pe)
Development of an early warning tool based on wastewater monitoring from the sanitation sector
This project aims to develop an early warning tool that allows knowing the incidence of COVID-19 in the towns of Metropolitan Lima, Callao and Metropolitan Arequipa from the determination of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater. The project includes the development of a monitoring plan and the constant analysis of wastewater at different monitoring points in primary collectors and wastewater treatment plants. The advantage of this monitoring strategy is that it allows detecting the virus from asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and sick people in a more comprehensive and cost-efficient way.
• Funding Institution: World Bank and Fondecyt
• Amount: 1’058,300 PEN – URL
• PI: Dr. Julio Valdivia (jvaldiviav@utec.edu.pe)
Implementation of a microfluidic device “point of care” (in situ) for the pre-concentration and separation by inertial forces of Plasmodium spp. in infected blood
This project designs and tests a lab-on-a-chip device with a “point of care” function that allows the detection of Malaria in a shorter time and smaller sample volumes than those required by current clinical diagnostic techniques.
• Funding Institution: World Bank and Fondecyt
• Amount: 2’697,100 PEN – URL
• PI: Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Reyes (jcrodriguez@utec.edu.pe)
Development of interdisciplinary strategies for the conservation of our heritage facing the national bicentennial: From paintings and gilded copper to altarpieces and burted mats
This project aims to find strategies to protect heritage objects through a) the understanding of the mechanisms of deterioration, and b) the monitoring and control of the storage conditions.
• Funding Institution: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
• Amount: 100,000 USD – URL
• PI: Dra. Mónica Moreno (mmorenob@utec.edu.pe)
Impacts of alluvial mining in the Madre de Dios Basin: physical effects and mitigation planning
This project explores the interactions between flow, sediment transport, and channel change in rivers in association with the distribution of mercury along the food chain. This project involves an integrated assessment of a coupled natural-human system in southeastern Peru where there is an urgent need to develop science-based sustainable practices and conservation of natural resources.
• Funding Program: Harvard – UTEC Research Seed Fund
• Amount: 45,000 USD
• PI: Dr. Carlos Rios (crios@utec.edu.pe) and Dr. Joost Vlassak (Harvard University)
micro-SNAP project
Peruvian agriculture has been technically abandoned in the last few years, endangering the future of this activity and promoting the spread of illegal/informal economic activities. This proposal looks to develop a soil analysis tool using microfluidic technology for farming applications in order to strengthen Peruvian agriculture.