Inter American-Ponce and UPR-Ponce Make "The City of Lions" a MeasureNet City
December 23, 2006
Inter American University and the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce have purchased MeasureNet systems for their chemistry laboratories to bolster ongoing efforts to better train and prepare students for future science research and employment. The two institutions join Pontifical Catholic University in featuring MeasureNet in their chemistry teaching laboratories—making all major 4-year college programs in Puerto Rico's southern cultural and economic center MeasureNet users.
Known as "Ciudad de los Leones," Ponce was founded by the grandson of Spanish explorer Ponce de León in 1692 and is presently Puerto Rico's third largest metropolitan area numbering 264,000. Elegant neoclassical Spanish architecture graces the central plaza and surrounding residential neighborhoods. Pastel-washed buildings fan out along turquoise-hued marble sidewalks housing everything from dance studios to cafes. Ponce boasts what is arguably the finest art museum in the Caribbean, as well as the famous red and black "Parque de Bombas:" a fire station turned museum commemorating the efforts of firemen in 1883 who saved the town and much of the island's south coast from a raging fire.
Puerto Rico itself is a major commercial center in the Caribbean and has considerable pharmaceutical-related infrastructure that employs many in the sciences. The island's American Chemical Society student affiliates are regarded as some of the most active in all of the United States.
Inter American University of Ponce was founded in 1910 and is located on the south-eastern quadrant of the city. It's 30 acre campus is home to over 5,100 students and is part of the larger nine-campus Inter American University system founded in San German in 1912. The Ponce campus offers degree programs in Biomedical Sciences, Radiological Science, and Optical Science Technologies.
The University of Puerto Rico-Ponce is just south of the city center near the Ponce Playa interchange of the island's main toll road. It hosts some 3,400 students offering a variety of degree programs including ones in Health Care and Life Sciences. UPR-Ponce is the first branch of Puerto Rico's public university system to employ MeasureNet in its teaching laboratories.
"We are very pleased by the adoption of UPR-Ponce as the first of the UPR campuses to use MeasureNet. I am very grateful for the patient efforts of its Chemistry department and allied administrative personnel who made MeasureNet a top priority," says MeasureNet President Robert Voorhees. "Inter American-Ponce is also a significant and prestigious addition to our company's user family" Voorhees adds, "These two institutions are true leaders in Puerto Rico for giving their students the most advanced tool available to prepare students for real-world chemistry."
Inter American and UPR-Ponce join the city's Pontifical Catholic University, the Caribbean's first user of MeasureNet. Its department recently authored MeasureNet's first General Chemistry Laboratory Manual in Spanish and has been active in promoting the benefits of MeasureNet across the island. Pontifical Catholic University's Professor Myriam Quintana and Carmen Collazo presented research at the 2004 San Diego American Chemical Society National Conference documenting the positive impact of their MeasureNet Networks on the program's curriculum and student learning experience.
MeasureNet Technology Ltd. manufactures patented, network-based data acquisition interfaces for science teaching laboratories. It is a spin-off of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Chemistry and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Measurenet's award-winning, PC-reducing design helps reduce laboratory maintenance and operational costs while giving students access to high quality shared UV-vis spectroscopy, gas chromatograph connectivity, and an array of innovative probeware. Its acclaimed intuitive design provides improved transparency to enable better science-focused, not technology-focused, learning. Winner of the Ohio Governor's Award For Excellence in Energy Efficiency, MeasureNet networks are found in universities, community colleges, high schools, and vocational training centers across the United States and around the world.
For more information contact:
Len Weibel
Director of Business Development
tel. toll-free: 866-396-6765
lenweibel@measurenet-tech.com