Alejandro de la Torre, tenured professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Austral and principal investigator at Conicet.
From a young age, we can develop a fascination with some aspect of life, which can later transform into a passion that propels us to reach unimaginable places. Alejandro de la Torre, Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Austral A principal investigator at CONICET, he knew from the age of 10 that he wanted to be a physicist. What he perhaps didn't imagine is that this passion would lead him to serve, since February of this year, as the new Director General of the National Meteorological Service (SMN).
Alejandro works at the Universidad Austral Since 2008, he has been based here with his research group, working on atmospheric physics, producing scientific papers, attending international conferences, regularly visiting prestigious institutions and, of course, teaching.
Alejandro, a Physics professor for Industrial Engineering and Biomedical Engineering students, is an expert in atmospheric physics. He maintains that, “We physicists are primarily interested in the whys and hows of meteorological events. We are curious, passionate about understanding the essence of phenomena, their causes and consequences, and how some processes are linked to others in sometimes astonishing ways. In particular, the atmosphere is a tremendously complex system, a natural laboratory where one can observe experiments, obtain results, and analyze them.” He adds, “In physics, it is interesting to observe natural phenomena, construct a theory to try to explain them, and, finally and most importantly, test whether the designed theory is capable of predicting future events. That is why I have always been more interested in applied physics, because one can test what one has developed and researched, and the conclusions one has drawn. And there is nothing more fascinating than observing the world, which is sometimes not exactly as we see it. That fascination is what I seek to transmit to my students . ”
It is definitely an honor, and an enormous responsibility. The Meteorological Service, founded by Sarmiento in 1872, is a pioneer in the Americas. It is an institution where many people work, including technicians, scientists, and observers of all kinds, throughout the country, from La Quiaca to Marambio Base in Antarctica. This entails a great deal of responsibility from a management perspective, and all that it means to lead an operational and scientific institution.
We have several challenges ahead. The first is to optimize the early warning system so that every location in the country receives timely and accurate alerts for any threat: flooding, Zonda winds, storms, or anything else. Second, we must finalize a previously proposed project that would represent a significant competitive advantage: the development and implementation of an Argentine geostationary meteorological satellite. This would allow us to greatly increase measurements across our country. Simultaneously, we must expand the network of meteorological observations at both ground level and altitude. And finally, we must promote the development of operational scientific work aimed at directly improving the meteorological observation system and the meteorological analysis achieved to date.
As we move forward with management, we will undoubtedly find more opportunities for improvement. And I must emphasize the importance of our connection with the World Meteorological Organization and the institutions with which the National Meteorological Service (SMN) has fundamental commitments related to climate change, its causes, and its consequences.
