2011-2012 Lectures

The Center for U.S. – Mexico Studies, seeking to foster greater understanding between our two nations, is pleased to host and promote lectures on issues of interest to both Mexico and the U.S. Previous lectures have included such issues as the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), analysis of domestic politics and foreign policy, issues in science and technology, transborder population, and cultural development in both countries. The Center has hosted Carlos Fuentes, Andres Oppenheimer, Elena Poniatowska, Ana Maria Salazar, Monica Verea, Peter M. Ward, Victoria Rodriguez, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Jacqueline Peschard, Arexi Urrutia, Mario Moises Alvarez, Adolfo Sanchez, Thomas Linehan, Larry D. Terry, Stephanie Newbold, Paul Ching-Wu Chu, Douglas Watson, Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, Anvar Zakhidov, Jose Carlos Gomez, Juan Guillermo Figueroa Perea, Jesus Silva Herzog, Robert Nelsen, Rita Lepe, Jorge Volpi Escalante, Enrique Hubbard Urrea, Susan Briante, Coral Bracho, Alejandro Tirado, Monica Rankin, Enric Madriguera, Octavio J. Esqueda, Raul and Daniel Olmos, Ma. Elena Labastida, Ruben Nieto, Soledad Loaeza, Ana Cervantes, and Darla Deardorff, among others, under the frame of this series.

Brian J.L. Berry, Monica Brussolo, Manuel Quevedo, Servando Aguirre Tostado, and Monica Rankin are scheduled in this academic year. The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) students, faculty and staff, and those interested in U.S. – Mexico affairs from the metropolitan area of Dallas – Fort Worth, Colegio Mexiquense, Autonomous University of Hidalgo, Research Center for Advanced Materials (CIMAV), and Autonomous University of Yucatan will benefit from the experience and expertise shared by these scholars.

If you have questions or need further information, please contact us telephonically at (972) 883 6401.

We look forward to seeing you in this series.

Commercial and Economic Geography: Past and Future, Brian J.L. Berry.Co-sponsored by El Colegio Mexiquense and UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.Casa Toluca, Toluca, Estado de Mexico, September 22, 2011, 10.30 a.m.

Co-sponsored by Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH), U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, and UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.Abasolo No. 600, Col. Centro, Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, September 23, 2011, 10.30 a.m.

Brian J.L. Berry is Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor. He received his B.Sc. (Economics) degree at University College, London in 1955, the M.A. in geography from the University of Washington in 1956 and the Ph.D. in 1958. He was a chaired professor at the University of Chicago (1958-1976) and at Harvard (1976-1981), followed by a period as dean of the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie-Mellon University (1981-1986), joining UTD in 1986. In the 1960s his urban and regional research sparked geography’s social-scientific revolution and made him the most-cited geographer for more than 25 years. Subsequently, his inquiries have focused on long-wave dynamics and their relationships to macrohistorical phasing of economic development and political behavior. The author of more than 500 books and articles, he has attempted to bridge theory and practice via involvement in urban and regional development activities in both advanced and developing countries. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975, is a fellow of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AAAS and University College, London. He received the Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1988. In 1999 he became the first geographer and one of the few social scientists ever to serve as a member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences and in 2004 he was one of the founding members of the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). In 2005 Dr. Berry was the recipient of the Vautrin Lud Prize, the highest award that can be bestowed on a geographer and modeled after the Nobel Prize, which does not have a category for geography.

Fifteen Years of Social Inequality in Mexico: A Sub-National Kuznets Analysis, Monica Brussolo Co-sponsored by UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.The University of Texas at Dallas, Cecil H. Green Center (GC) 1.208 B, October 11, 2011, 2.30 p.m.

Monica Brussolo is assistant director of Institutional Research at the Collin College. She obtained her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Economy and a Master degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as an MBA from Texas A&M International University. Her main research interest lies on regional economic development and its spatial analysis. She has focused her work on examining inequality for diverse demographic groups, its determinants and the implications for social domestic policy in the Mexican context. She is interested on education and labor outcomes for disadvantaged social groups, and the effects of Latin American migration on segmented job markets for the American border region. She has collaborated with Mexican local governments in the definition and implementation of their economic strategic plans. She has taught courses of Corporate and International Finance, Management, Applied Statistics and Economics at UTD, Collin College and the State University of Tamaulipas (UAT). At her first alma mater (UAT), she earned bachelor degrees in Management and in Public Accounting.

Classic Kuznets theory suggests an income-inequality relationship with a rise in inequality as modernization of the economy occurs until the benefits of diffusion are realized and inequality declines. In the Mexican case it has been suggested that market openness provided the conditions to accelerate this process. The National Employment and Occupation Survey (ENE/ENOE), a previously unutilized dataset, enables a new analysis of Mexican inequality to be undertaken in the context of the Kuznets hypothesis, estimating Gini coefficients and their trends at the sub-national level. By introducing the effects of technology and migration, Dr. Brussolo studies the dynamics of income distribution and its main determinants in a pooled cross sectional specification for 1996 to 2009.

The Road to Establish the First Private MEMS/NEMS Foundry and Biomedicine Research Center in Mexico, Manuel QuevedoCo-sponsored by the UT Dallas School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Center for Advanced Materials (CIMAV) .Parque Fundidora, Ave. Fundidora y Ave. Obrera s/n Col. Obrera, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. C.P. 64010, November 9, 2011, 4:00 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the UT Dallas School of Engineering and Computer Science and R&D Technology, Hermosillo, Sonora, December 16, 2011, 5.00 p.m.

Manuel Quevedo-Lopez received a B.S. in Chemistry (1996) and a M.S. Materials Science (1998) in Mexico. He received his PhD in Materials Science from the University of North Texas (2002). In 2002 he joined the Texas Instruments Silicon Technology Development Group as a Member of Technical Staff (MTS). While at Texas Instruments He was appointed SEMATECH assignee from 2004-2006. In April 2007, He joined the University of Texas as Dallas as Senior Research Scientist and in September 2008 he was appointed Research Professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. He has been appointed Associate Professor in May 2010. Prof. Quevedo has authored or co-authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings and holds 10 US patents. He is a member of the Materials Research Society and the IEEE. His interests include materials and integration issues for flexible electronics, including organic and inorganic-based devices.

The Nanotechnology Business Incubator of Nuevo Leon, Francisco Servando Aguirre TostadoCo-sponsored by the UT Dallas School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Center for Advanced Materials (CIMAV) .The University of Texas at Dallas, Natural Science and Engineering Research Lab (RL) 3.204, December 8, 2011, 11.00 a.m.

F. Servando Aguirre-Tostado is director of the Nanotechnology Incubator of Nuevo Leon (NINL), Mexico, and professor at CIMAV-MonterreyServando Aguirre pursued a BA in Physics at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa and received Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the Department of Physics of CINVESTAV in Mexico City in 2004. After his postdoctoral training with the Electronic Materials Group at The University of Texas at Dallas, he occupied a Research Scientist position to develop more stable and efficient semiconductor interfaces for next generation Integrated Circuits. In 2008 he joined CIMAV to start a research area in Advanced Electronic Materials. In September of 2009 was appointed Director of the NINL to lead a novel Incubation Model for nanotechnology businesses starts in the State of Nuevo Leon. Servando Aguirre is Author and co-author of more than 30 research papers and is participating in more than 20 projects related to nanotechnology product development.

Mexico la patria! Propaganda and Production in World War II, Monica Rankin.Co-sponsored by the UTD School of Arts and Humanities and Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan.Auditorio de la Facultad de Ciencias Antropologicas, Km 1 Carr. Merida – Tizimin Cholul, Merida, Yucatan, 97305. March 14, 2012, 12.00 p.m.

Monica Rankin is an Assistant Professor of history at The University of Texas at Dallas. She specializes in the history of Mexico, Latin America, and U.S.-Latin American relations. She completed her Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Arizona in 2004. She is the author of !Mexico, la patria! Propaganda and Production during World War II (University of Nebraska Press, 2009) and Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture: The Search for National Identity, 1820s-1900 (Facts on File, 2010). She has also written several chapters and articles on various aspects of Mexican foreign policy, gender, and popular culture during World War II. Her current research continues to examine popular culture, gender, and nationalism in 20th century Mexico as well as issues of U.S.-Latin American relations in the 1940s.