UPIICSA Inaugurates the 42nd Interdisciplinary Week

Reporter: Enrique Soto / Photographer: Jorge Aguilar

Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation Jesús Antonio Esteva attends the landmark event, highlighting the IPN's contributions to major national projects.

Featuring a tribute to Engineer Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano and honoring the Instituto Politécnico Nacional's (IPN) contributions to strategic national projects, the Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering and Social and Administrative Sciences (Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería y Ciencias Sociales y Administrativas, UPIICSA) inaugurated its 42nd Interdisciplinary Week under the theme: "Global Interdisciplinary Transformation for a Smart and Sustainable World."

The head of the federal Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes, SICT), Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina, acknowledged the Polytechnic's vital role in training specialized human capital to address Mexico's complex infrastructure challenges. He specifically highlighted the contributions of engineering graduates from both UPIICSA and the Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering, Palenque Campus (UPIIP), to the development and operation of the nation's expanding passenger and freight railway systems.

The federal official congratulated UPIICSA on hosting this flagship meeting as part of its 54th anniversary celebrations. Visiting an IPN campus—an institution representing the historic legacy of President Lázaro Cárdenas—serves as a constant reminder of its core mission to train ethical professionals equipped to resolve national priorities, he noted.

Esteva Medina emphasized that UPIICSA fulfills this commitment daily through its alumni serving as public servants and technical experts across the public sector, affirming that the IPN continues to educate the generations driving the country forward.

The event commenced with an opening keynote address by the head of SICT, who detailed the Mexican Government's master plan for infrastructure expansion across highways, passenger rail networks, bridges, airports, and rural access roads.

Addressing the student body, Esteva Medina urged Polytechnic engineers to commit fully to academic excellence to assume future leadership roles, asserting that federal megaprojects must leave a lasting social legacy benefiting underserved communities.

IPN's Secretary of Innovation and Social Integration, Yessica Gasca Castillo, emphasized that modern mobility, regional infrastructure, and railway engineering require comprehensive planning, cutting-edge technology, efficient administration, and deep social awareness.

"These are fields where UPIICSA directly contributes to enhancing the quality of life for millions," Gasca Castillo stressed. "For this reason, we must continuously bridge Polytechnic talent with Mexico's strategic national projects. The IPN possesses both the capacity and responsibility to consolidate its role as the technological arm of the Mexican Government."

She added that institutional leadership remains focused on ensuring optimal academic conditions for every student to complete their professional training successfully.

Accompanied by IPN's Secretary of Educational Services, Marco Antonio Sosa Palacios, Gasca Castillo noted that throughout Interdisciplinary Week—which runs through Friday—specialists, academics, and alumni will analyze critical topics, including water resource management, sustainable manufacturing, scientific research, and humanistic studies. The event also features an industry career fair alongside cultural and athletic activities.

UPIICSA Director Antonio Romero Hernández reflected that over more than five decades, the unit has proven to be a visionary academic model: "We were founded on the conviction that society's greatest challenges cannot be solved through the isolated lens of a single discipline, but rather at the fertile intersection of engineering, social sciences, and management."

In response to rapid digitization, Artificial Intelligence (AI), sustainable manufacturing standards, and energy transition demands, UPIICSA addresses national needs with scientific rigor and social responsibility, he maintained.

"Through this gathering, we celebrate two major golden milestones: the 50th anniversary of the Transportation Engineering degree—from whose classrooms the professionals who move Mexico have graduated, proving that national mobility continues to be written in Polytechnic ink—and the 50th anniversary of the Ola Verde (Green Wave) American football team," Romero Hernández concluded.