Outreach

Dr. Julián David Sánchez de la Llave takes oath as General Director of INAOE, a public Secihti Center, for the 2025-2028 period

Santa María Tontantzintla, Puebla, April 7, 2025. In a solemn ceremony, the Secretary of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation (Secihti), Dr. Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez, swore in Dr. Julián David Sánchez de la Llave as General Director of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics, and Electronics (INAOE) for the 2025-2028 period.

The entire INAOE community was present at the ceremony, along with the virtual presence of Dr. Juan Luis Díaz de León, Undersecretary of Technological Development, Outreach, and Innovation; Dr. Feliú D. Sagols Troncoso, Director General of Public Research Centers and National Laboratories; and the Director of Research Center Coordination, Dr. Pascual Ogarrio Rojas.

In her message to the Institute's community, Secretary Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez thanked everyone who participated in the internal process. She noted that the opinion of the entire community and his tenure as interim director from May 2024 to the present were crucial in the decision to appoint Dr. Sánchez de la Llave as Director General of INAOE, a Secihti research center. She emphasized: "I will always take the community into account."

She recognized the five candidates who participated in the process and said that thanks to them she learned more about the Institute. All five, she emphasized, are excellent academics, and it is the new director's obligation to listen to them and take their ideas into account.

She referred to the important role INAOE plays in the national semiconductor project. She also acknowledged that the greatest challenge for the institution relates to services and the generation of its own financial resources. Finally, she asked the new director to work with and for the community.

For his part, Dr. Sánchez de la Llave thanked Secihti, the external auscultation committee, the Institute's Governing Body, and all members of the community who supported the process with interest, constructive criticism, proposals, and a vision for the future.

He accepted the appointment with a deep sense of gratitude, commitment, and responsibility and assuming this new term with a clear vision: that INAOE continues to be a driving force of cutting-edge knowledge, an institution committed to training new generations of scientists, technologists, and innovators, a relevant player in the country's technological transformation, and an institution committed to the social well-being.

He acknowledged that we are living in complex times and facing unprecedented challenges such as climate change, geopolitical tensions, structural inequalities, and the transformation accelerated by artificial intelligence.

In this context, scientific and technological knowledge must be aligned with ethical principles and social needs, and with the construction of a more just and sustainable future.

He proposed four strategic axes for the next three years: strengthening the Institute's scientific and technological excellence, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, diversifying funding sources without jeopardizing the autonomy and public vocation, and strengthening its educational vision to guarantee dignified student trajectories and support the comprehensive education of our youth.

He emphasized that equity, inclusion, and transparency will be the guiding principles of his administration: "We must build an Institute free of discrimination, where all voices count, where decision-making spaces are open to dialogue, and where evaluation and accountability mechanisms are clear and accessible."

He invited the community to strengthen its connection with the society, which includes the dissemination of knowledge and active participation in regional and national development agendas: "INAOE must be a visible and present key player not only in the generation of knowledge but also in its application with a social purpose."

Finally, he said that he will do his best to create conditions for collaborative work, respectful dialogue, and a management approach that listens, resolves, and proposes solutions.

Dr. Julián David Sánchez de la Llave

Julián David Sánchez de la Llave studied Electronics and Communications Engineering at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), Monterrey campus, where he graduated in 1990. He earned his Master of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 1996 and his PhD in Engineering in 1998 from the same institution.

He has been a researcher at INAOE since 1999. His research interests include optical information processing, Fourier optics, diffraction, and physical optics. He is a member of the National System of Researchers, level 1.

At this research center, he served as Optics Coordinator (2014 to 2017) and Research Director (2017 to 2019). He also was responsible of the Research and Technological Development Departments (January to April 2024). He served as Interim General Director from May 1, 2024, to the present. He is the author of more than 75 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and five book chapters. He holds one international and two national patents.

Regarding the development of human talent, he has supervised one undergraduate theses, eleven master's theses, and two doctoral theses. He has taught Mathematical Methods I, Physical Optics I, Physical Optics II, and Fourier Optics in the Master of Science program with a specialization in Optics at INAOE, and Physics I, Mathematical Methods, and Optics at the University of the Americas in Puebla.

In November 2006, the work entitled "System for the Visualization of Transparent Objects" by Luis Olivos Pérez, David Sánchez de la Llave, David Iturbe Castillo, and Carlos Treviño Palacios, researchers at INAOE, won first place in the Mechatronics graduate level of the Technological Innovation Award granted at the Second National Convention on Applied Research and Technological Development by the Science and Technology Council of the State of Puebla.

Dr. David Sánchez de la Llave was also a member of the External Evaluation Committee of the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE) from 2018 to 2024.