Meet CEGA’s new postdoctoral researchers

Monday, 26 de September

Saskia Roels (Holland) and Santiago Maza (Argentina) joined our team of professionals that each year integrates new members in order to contribute to the study and knowledge of Andean geothermal systems.

Chile keeps drawing the attention of foreign researchers seeking to promote geothermal energy. Since the creation of CEGA on 2011, over 10 researchers, from Chile and overseas, have been part of CEGA’s postdoctoral team, who contribute to develop new studies in different geothermal systems of our country.

This year was no exception, and two new researchers are already part of CEGA`s team: Saskia Roels (Holland) and Santiago Maza (Argentina), who recently came to Chile to join our Center.

Saskia is an hydrogeologist of the Utrecht University and PhD in Oil Engineering of the Delft University of Technology. Before coming to Chile, she worked four months in Bolivia in a project of environmental conservation and one year in Perú as consultant of water management in mining: “after working in Peru I started to look for other opportunities within Latin America and just saw that CEGA was looking for hydrogeologists. I had some friends in Peru who knew Santiago and told me that it was a great place, so I did not hesitate to apply”.

Saskia arrived in July to join the postdoctoral researchers. During her stay she will work together with researcher Linda Daniele in numerical models to contribute to the hydrogeological knowledge of the Chilean geothermal systems. On the other hand, Santiago Maza is a geologist of the National University of Córdoba and PhD in Geological Sciences at the same institution. His project at CEGA will contribute to the studies of hydrothermal alterations in current and fossil systems of the Andes.

Previously, Santiago worked as a postdoctoral researcher and deputy Professor of the Earth Sciences Research Center of Córdoba, a period in which he studied the space and temporal behavior of the acid drainage of Amarillo River system, an area located at the Sierra de Famatina, Rioja Province (Argentina).

He comments on the experience of coming to Chile: “In Córdoba I was developing clay minerals dating from alteration environments , which is related to geothermal systems. When I learned about CEGA’s work it immediately seemed interesting because it is associated with subjects that I had developed during my thesis. I wanted to do an internship abroad and gain experience, in addition to work with CEGA’s team and lab facilities”.

Along with the arrival of these two new researchers, CEGA will soon incorporate two Chilean postdoctoral fellows: Juvenal Letelier, PhD in Engineering Sciences who is currently taking an internship in the Geothermal Institute (University of Auckland), and Carolina Muñoz, who has just completed her PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.