One morning with Johanna Ochoa, a woman with an innovative vision

Environmental Engineering is the new career of the University of Azuay and Johanna Ochoa is its Coordinator.

In this interview with the correspondents, he tells us about the creation of the career and his stay in Australia due to his triumph at the Autralian Alumni Awards.

The race opened in September, this is our first cohort of students who will graduate in four and a half years. The project was approved in May of this year.

Has it been a very long and difficult process?

Delayed yes, but more than complicated has been strategic.

The idea was always to create a different study offer in the environmental area. Our challenge was to offer a different academic profile than others. 

We want our students to be able to calculate, design and even build wastewater treatment plants, process for the treatment of air pollution and soil contamination.

We take the risk of following a firmer line for our environmental engineers.

Could we say that the profile of the Environmental Engineer of the UDA is focused on water treatment?

Yes, mainly, it is the plus we give. The objective is that they can calculate, design and build the processes.

Could you tell us about your stay in Australia?

In 2012 I did my master's degree in Australia, I won a scholarship and I could go there. It was a very pleasant experience and I completed my mastery. I was even in Indonesia doing the practical part of my master's degree.

Since then I was always in contact with the Australian embassy, ​​and they launched a call for the 2019 Autralian Alumni Awards, and what they were looking for was to choose among the alumni a person who can go there to a mining and resources conference.

I applied and left favored. All expenses paid to spend two weeks in Australia and attend the congress where I could find out about new technologies.

They had very interesting projects, for example, the way the academy and the mining industry work together. They have technology by which you can simulate the inside of a mine and how to work within it.

The truth, the benefit will always be for our students, I learned a lot there and I could come up with fresh ideas of how things are done there to implement them in our classrooms.

UDA Correspondent