Profile

Dr. Juan Rubén Varela earned his Ph.D. in May 1989 at the Iztapalapa Campus of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), with a dissertation on the Atomization and Combustion of Liquid Hydrocarbons. In this field, he developed programs for the numerical simulation of reaction kinetics in the combustion of Methane, Ethane, n-propane, n-butane, and n-heptane.

Starting in 1993, Dr. Varela began working on air pollution issues in Mexico City. With the support of Dr. Leopoldo García-Colín (RIP), he organized seven events on Atmospheric Pollution at El Colegio Nacional. These events drew large national audiences and were unique for their time and subject matter. The proceedings from these events could be consulted at the El Colegio Nacional bookstores.

Dr. Varela also developed numerical simulation programs to model ozone episodes in Mexico City, using reaction mechanisms from the literature, such as CB4 and CBX.

Since 2006, he has focused on estimating the spectral solar radiation that passes through the atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface to evaluate the available energy for solar device applications. He also collaborated in an advisory role with a research group on Nuclear Energy, specifically in the area of neutron flux.

In his teaching, Professor Varela favored courses on Thermodynamics, Thermal Radiation, Atmospheric Radiation, and Nuclear Physics.