Profile

Dr. Salvador Cruz Jiménez was born in May 1948 in Mexico City. He studied a bachelor's degree in Physics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), obtaining his degree in 1972. Later, after passing his general exams in 1975, he completed a one-year residency at the H.C. Oersted Institute at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he worked in the field of atomic collisions, and obtained his doctorate at UNAM in 1978. From that point, he began his research on the mechanisms of energy loss in heavy ions within materials.

He was a researcher at the Institute of Physics at UNAM (1973-1985), at CINVESTAV-IPN (Mérida Unit, 1984-1986), and at the Institute of Materials Research, UNAM (1986-1990). Since 1990, he served as a Research Professor in the Physics Department at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Iztapalapa Campus, where he conducted research on atomic collisions, confined quantum systems, and intermolecular interactions.

He published around 100 research articles in internationally circulated, specialized journals on topics related to the theory of energy loss of ions in matter, interatomic and intermolecular potentials, and confined quantum systems. He supervised eleven doctoral theses, eight bachelor’s theses, and three master’s theses, all related to his research topics.

He was invited as a visiting researcher at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA), Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Salford (England), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia), Physics Department, University of Connecticut (USA), Australian National University (Canberra, Australia), and the Mexican Petroleum Institute (CDMX, Mexico).

He was an Associate Editor of the international journal Radiation Effects and Defects in Solids, published by Taylor & Francis. He also served as a guest editor for two volumes of Advances in Quantum Chemistry focused on confined quantum systems (2008) and as a guest editor for Applied Radiation and Isotopes (2013). He acted as a reviewer for various internationally circulated, specialized journals, as well as for several national and international academic and scientific evaluation bodies.

He was a member of the National System of Researchers since 1984 and, starting in 1996, held the designation of Level III.

In science outreach, he participated as Co-director of the program "Sundays in Science," sponsored by the Mexican Academy of Sciences (1990-2011), and delivered various science outreach lectures in different locations across the country. He also collaborated with the "Instituto Carlos Graef: Young People Toward Science" established by UAM Iztapalapa Campus to foster motivation toward science among high school students.

In institutional life, he was Director of the journal “ContactoS,” published by UAM Iztapalapa Campus (1991-1993), Head of the Department of Physics at UAM Iztapalapa Campus (1994-1998), and participated as a member of the Academic College (1993-1994; 2017-2019) and the Academic Council (2011-2013; 2017-2019).

In 1993, he received the Research Award in Basic Sciences and Engineering, granted by UAM. In 2002, he received the “Francisco Mejía Lira” research award from the Mexican Society for Surface and Vacuum Sciences. In 2013, he was recognized by the IV Workshop on Dynamics and Structure of Matter for his scientific career and contributions to the field of atomic collisions. In 2014, he received the Teaching Award from UAM.