Profile

Emeritus Professor. Title granted in Academic Council Session No. 458, held on June 6, 2019.
Distinguished Professor. Title granted in Academic Council Session No. 292, held on October 11, 2007.

Dr. Rosa María Velasco Belmont’s academic career spanned approximately fifty years, during which she focused primarily on various aspects of statistical physics. Throughout those years, she acknowledged the valuable guidance she received from Professors De la Peña (undergraduate), García-Colín (Ph.D.), and De Gennes (postdoctoral).

Her research was theoretical and appeared in several prestigious journals recognized by both the national and international scientific communities. At the same time, she actively taught and mentored students and professionals while also engaging in science outreach through lectures in various forums.

She conducted her work at national institutions, including the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM, the Mexican Petroleum Institute, the School of Physics and Mathematics at IPN, and the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa Campus. Collaboration with colleagues and students remained a constant throughout her career, forming a collective effort framed within the role of Professor-Researcher.

She was named a Distinguished Professor (2007) and later an Emeritus Professor (2019) at UAM, and held a Level III position in Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNI). Her contributions earned her recognition as a referee for international journals and as a member of the jury for various national awards.

Her research focused on topics within the kinetic theory of gases, particularly the behavior of transport coefficients—such as viscosity and thermal conductivity—in polyatomic, rarefied, and moderately dense fluids.

In recent years, she applied kinetic theory methods to the problem of vehicular traffic flow on highways. This highly relevant topic led her to develop and study models describing traffic with aggressive drivers. She pursued this research in collaboration with faculty from Brazil, the Cuajimalpa Campus, and the Mathematics Department at the Iztapalapa Campus, forming an interdisciplinary project with practical applications.

Technological advances enabled experiments with micro- and nanoparticles, which she used to explore fundamental aspects of thermodynamic concepts in tiny systems. Stochastic thermodynamics provided the framework for these studies, employing stochastic process theory. Thermodynamic principles played a crucial role in her work, and their extension to the study of small systems proved especially significant. She has published some applications of this research in recent years.

She also investigated the structure of shock waves in rarefied gases since the late 20th century. Despite decades of work, the problem remained unresolved, with the equations describing dissipative processes at the heart of the challenge. In collaboration with Dr. Uribe, she continued the line of research she had initiated with Dr. García-Colín.