National Polytechnic School

The National Polytechnic School (Spanish: Escuela Politécnica Nacional), also known as EPN, is a public university in Quito, Ecuador. Located in the suburb of El Giron, the main campus encompasses ten teaching and research faculties, in addition to four technical and specialized institutes. EPN was founded in 1869 with the aim of becoming the first technical and technological center in the country. Since its beginnings, EPN adopted the polytechnic university model, which stresses laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. Thus, the faculty members of EPN have traditionally been involved in both research and teaching activities simultaneously, with lectures, seminars, and laboratory demonstrations being key elements of systematic investigation and student instruction.

EPN is known for research and education in both pure science and applied science, with research groups advancing the fields of pure mathematics, applied mathematics, geophysics, astronomy, atmospheric physics, telecommunications engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and physical sciences.

EPN has been consistently ranked among the top universities (the so-called Group A) in Ecuador by CEAACES (Board of Assessment, Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Higher Education in Ecuador).^[1] In addition, Webometrics has placed EPN 2nd in Ecuador, 103th in Latin America and 1749th in the world in its 2015 Ranking Web of Universities ^[2]

CEC Classroom building on the National Polytechnic School campus in Quito, Ecuador.

History

The National Polytechnic School was founded on August 27, 1869 by the National Convention of Ecuador and the former Ecuadorian President Gabriel García Moreno. For this purpose, García Moreno hired members of a German Jesuit religious order to manage the university and the Quito Astronomical Observatory. Juan Bautista Menten, Teodoro Wolf and Luis Sodiro were among the first scientists who visited EPN. The newborn institution was conceived as the first research center of Ecuador and was created with the purpose of contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country. EPN is the second-oldest public university in Ecuador, after Central University of Ecuador. The university remained closed during some decades, until 1935, when Ecuadorian President José María Velasco Ibarra re-opened it. In 1964, the university moved from its old campus near "La Alameda" park to its current campus in El Giron, which was named after former Rector José Rubén Orellana Ricaurte. Since then, several new faculties opened and started offering degrees in electronic engineering, power electronics, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, geology, informatics engineering, mathematics and physics. In addition to science and engineering degrees, EPN also started offering technical and technological degrees, with the School of Information and Technology being founded in 1967.^[3]

Quito Astronomical Observatory

The Quito Astronomical Observatory ("Observatorio Astronomico de Quito" or OAQ in Spanish) is currently a research institute of EPN in Quito, Ecuador.^[4][5] Founded in 1873, OAQ is one of the oldest observatories in South America. It is located near the city's historic center, only 12 minutes south of the Equator. Its major research fields include astronomy, astrophysics, and atmospheric physics.^[6]

Geophysics Institute

Tungurahua at night, amazing photograph, as of July 2015 a constant monitoring by E.P.N. Geophysics Institute..

Tungurahua spews hot lava and ash at night (1999). As of July 2015 Tungurahua Volcano is still active and is under constant monitoring by EPN Geophysics Institute.

The Geophysics Institute ("Instituto Geofisico" or IG in Spanish)^[7][8] is another research center of EPN in Quito. IG houses an international team of seismologists and volcanologists^[7] whose responsibility is to monitor and study Ecuador's numerous active volcanoes and the constant seismic activity in the Andean Volcanic Belt and the Galapagos Islands. In order to study the country's seismic, tectonic and volcanic activity, IG has a large network of geophysical instruments and sensors distributed over the entire territory.^{[9][10][11][12] [13]}

Presently, one of IG geologists' main research areas focuses on studying the eruptive activities of several volcanoes in the country, including Tungurahua,^[14] Reventador and Cotopaxi^[15][16] volcanoes in the continental territory and Wolf volcano in the Galapagos Islands.^{[17][18][19][20][21]} Tungurahua restarted its volcanic activity on August 19, 1999,^[22] and is ongoing as of 2013, with several major eruptions since that period, the last starting on 1 February 2014.^[23] An important role of IG is to help improve the country's natural disaster policies in conjunction with local authorities. Outreach programs, training sessions and volcanic hazard and prevention lectures are organized by members of IG and offered to the general public, especially to inhabitants of disaster-prone areas.^[24][25]

Department of Extractive Metallurgy

The Department of Extractive Metallurgy, also known as DEMEX, is a center located on the National Polytechnic School campus that is centered on applied research in the area of mineral resources and the environment, with its main focus on mineral processing, extractive metallurgy and effluent treatment and recycling of industrial materials.^[26]

The Department of Extractive Metallurgy provides analysis, laboratory scale tests, pilot scale tests, an integrated laboratory, and a pilot plant with the ability to process and to chemically analyze atomic absorption, optical mineralogy and X-ray diffraction.

Nuclear Science Department

In 1958, research with radioactive isotopes focused mainly on the thyroid function with I-131 began in the Department of Biomedical Applications. In 1959, the Departments of Applications to Agriculture and Medicine were created.

At the end of 1966, the International Atomic Energy Agency sent the British expert Dr. Ivan Birchall to give advice during the organization of the Dosimetry section. The expert made the radiological control of all the facilities in the country using machines that work with X-ray and radioactive sources, with the collaboration of the staff of the Institute of Nuclear Sciences. Later, the IAEA sent the Austrian expert, Dr. Norbert Vana, to train the technicians of the Institute of Nuclear Sciences in thermoluminescent dosimetry techniques.

The Nuclear Science Department at EPN is the only one in Ecuador and has the large infrastructure, related to irrradiation factilities like cobalt-60 source and electron beam processing. The installation of a cobalt–60 irradiator, with an initial activity of 20,000 curies (740 TBq), was completed in 1974. In 1985 an Electron Accelerator^[27] was installed at EPN and then in 2000, the Department of Nuclear Sciences was created at EPN.

Nuclear Science Department has a LAE has a Linear Electron Accelerator ELU - 6U with electron energy up to 7 MeV and beam power up to 5 kW, made in Russia, manufactured by Techsnabexport^[28] and donated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The irradiation process is continuous, through a conveyor belt, with a daily capacity of five tonnes.^[29][30]

The Office of International Programs and Services at EPN

The Office of International Programs and Services provides a permanent and personalized service for the whole community at the National Polytechnic School.^[31]

School of Information and Technology

The School of Information and Technology at EPN has been in operation since 1967 and has a focus on Computer Networking, Telecommunications networking and teaching all about Computer programming and how computers exchange data.^[32]

Gustavo Orcés V. Natural History Museum

The Gustavo Orcés V. Natural History Museum is part of the Life Sciences Institute on the campus of the National Polytechnic School. The main focus is the conducting research in the Ecuadorian fauna in the fields of biodiversity, ecology, zoology, and environmental impact assessments and contributes to national environmental culture through the Natural History Museum Gustavo Orces.

The Institute of Biological Sciences, National Polytechnic School comprises two sections: the Center for Information and Research of Vertebrate Zoology and the Museum of Natural History Orcés Gustavo V. The institute, for more than half a century has been devoted to the study of Ecuadorian fauna; its history goes back to 1946, with the arrival of the French University Mission. One of its members, Professor Robert Hoffstetter was responsible for zoos and paleontological studies.

CEC-EPN, Continuing Education Center – National Polytechnic School

CEC-EPN, Continuing Education Center – National Polytechnic School (Centro de Educación Continua – Escuela Politécnica Nacional) is a division of National Polytechnic School is the Center for Continuing Education, CEC EPN^[33] which has an agreement with WorldTeach,^[34][35] a non-governmental organization that provides opportunities for individuals to make a meaningful contribution to international education by living and working as volunteer teachers in developing countries. Founded in 1986 by a group of Harvard University students, WorldTeach places volunteers in communities throughout the world in year-long and summer programs. Approximately 400 volunteers are placed yearly, with more than 7,000 placed to date. All volunteers must be enrolled in or have completed four year college programs, with most volunteers being recent graduates. Each instructor at CEC is able to take a free Spanish Class every day.

Starting in the Fall of 2015, CEC-EPN and The French Embassey in Quio,^[36] Ecuador now has a connection with the French Department of 2nd language learning at CEC-EPN.

Virtual Classroom at EPN

Students at the National Polytechnic School, EPN use the virtual platform as a tool to support the subjects taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs. ^[37] In addition, there are separate courses that are given specifically for the virtual classroom.^[38]

Campus

The campus, called "José Rubén Orellana", is located at the sector center-oriental of Quito. It occupies an area of 15.2 hectares and has a built area of around 62,000 metres². Its student body numbers approximately 10,000 of which thirty percent are women.

At the campus, there are some libraries with a content primarily oriented to engineering and scientific topics.

Faculties

See also

• List of universities in Ecuador

References

External links

• National Polytechnic School official website (Spanish)