María del Carmen Benavides Cuéllar and Laura Patricia Villamizar Carrillo named university leaders

María del Carmen Benavides Cuéllar has been appointed director of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Systems and Automation at the University of León in Spain, becoming the first woman to lead the department. She aims to improve resource management, promote transparent governance, and strengthen research in areas such as energy, robotics, electronics, artificial intelligence and intelligent systems.

Laura Patricia Villamizar Carrillo, an engineer with a background in systems engineering and educational technology, has been selected as the new rector of the public University of Pamplona in Colombia. Her appointment follows the annulment of the previous rector’s election and is expected to guide the university’s academic and administrative direction, emphasizing quality, innovation, and the integration of technology in teaching and learning.

Both appointments highlight the growing presence of women in senior academic positions in Spain and Colombia and signal a focus on modernizing engineering education and research.