色情视频

The challenges at the San Diego-Tijuana border 鈥� migration, security, pollution 鈥� tend to make headlines. Potential solutions usually don鈥檛.

The fifth annual Re:Border 2023 conference hosted by Universidad Aut贸noma de Baja California (UABC) in Tijuana, wrapped up Oct. 25, shining the spotlight on binational projects and collaborations making the CaliBaja border region better.

The Re:Border 2023 conference, titled 鈥淒esigning Oportunidades," brought together about 400 people, including students, faculty, policy experts, artists and community leaders involved in border issues.

鈥淵ou will hear much today about 鈥榠nterdependence鈥� as we talk about California and Baja and our transborder region,鈥� 色情视频 President Adela de la Torre said in opening the event. 鈥淲e are really talking about synergy, the ability to be more than the sum of our respective parts, to create mutual benefit and support each other in the pursuit of progress and innovation.鈥� 

The region faces big challenges around migration, the economy and environment, to name a few, said Luis Enrique Palafox Maestre, president of UABC. 

鈥淏ut with great creativity, collaboration and a shared vision, actions can be generated that provide specific responses to these challenges,鈥� he said.

Earlier this year, San Diego and Tijuana earned the World Design Capital 2024 designation, which is akin to the Olympics of urban planning and design.

 It is the first time that two cross-border cities have received the title from the World Design Organization, a non-profit that every two years recognizes cities for their effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural, and environmental development. Previous World Design Capital cities include Seoul, Taipei, Helsinki and Cape Town.

鈥淒esign has become a fundamental tool for making cities more attractive, competitive, efficient, and sustainable,鈥� said Laura E. Araujo, director of programs for World Design Capital San Diego-Tijuana 2024. 鈥淲e have a once-in-a-lifetime, year-long opportunity to showcase our unique creative talent to the world.鈥�

Here are five noteworthy highlights from the conference:

Declaration of Interdependence

The conference kicked off with a 鈥淒eclaration of Interdependence for San Diego Tijuana.鈥� The statement frames the notion that San Diego and Tijuana are better together than separate, and the region鈥檚 sustainability depends on collaboration.

Presidents and representatives from 色情视频, UABC and other partner universities, including Colegio de la Frontera (COLEF) and Southwestern College, attended the signing ceremony. All attendees and community members are encouraged to read the Declaration and participate by  throughout 2024 and at events commemorating the region's designation as a World Design Capital.

Spotlight on Water Scarcity 

Tijuana relies on the Colorado River for much of its water and faces a problem with scarcity, said Gabriela Munoz-Melendez, a research professor at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. Re-using wastewater is among the possible solutions but is hindered by a lack of investment.

During the panel discussion, a member of the audience called the chronic sewage flows from Tijuana into coastal San Diego County 鈥渆mbarrassing鈥� and suggested pressuring governments in Mexico to do more about it.

This week, the Biden Administration requested $310 million from Congress to repair and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro, with the aim of mitigating the sewage problem from Tijuana. 色情视频 has a group of more than a dozen faculty, called Blue Gold, researching water scarcity, erosion, pollution, and other cross-border water issues, said 色情视频 Geology Professor Trent Biggs.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of investment (from both governments) to help resolve these issues,鈥� said Biggs. 鈥淲e are committed to documenting the success of those investments.鈥�

Binational Flash Pitch Think Tank

This year鈥檚 Re:Border introduced a Shark Tank-like quick pitch research competition sponsored by 色情视频鈥檚 Division of Research and Innovation. Thirteen research teams presented projects to a panel of judges in hopes of winning one of two $5,000 mini-grants.

Two binational teams received funding. The STEM prize went to an anammox anaerobic baffled reactor pilot study for nitrogen removal from wastewater. The project is co-led by 色情视频 Engineering Professor Natalie Mladenov and Tecnol贸gico Nacional de M茅xico, Instituto Tecnol贸gico de Tijuana Professor of Biochemical Engineering Mercedes Teresita Oropeza. The project will also include students from 色情视频 and Tijuana Tech at San Diego State鈥檚 Water Innovation and Reuse Lab.

While still in the research phase, the low-cost anammox reactors have the potential to be incorporated into decentralized wastewater treatment systems to reduce nutrient pollution in surface waters in Tijuana and worldwide.

The Education/Social Science/Arts $5,000 mini-grant went to a team that includes binational doctoral students and lead researchers Melissa NavarroMartell, 色情视频 professor, and Yara Amparo Lopez Lopez, state coordinador with La Secretaria de Educacion en Baja California and for a project aimed at preparing educators to teach STEM to 鈥渢he students we share'' within the Baja and California region.

Navarro Martell鈥檚 research focuses on bilingual science education. She is collaborating with Reyna Roa Rivera at UABC, as well as the Binational Migrant Education Program in Baja California. Student researchers also are involved. The project aims to develop a STEM-focused manual targeting educators in the U.S. and Mexico so they have better strategies for teaching transnational migrant students.

Social Innovation through Art

When 色情视频 Graphic Design Professor Arzu Ozkal learned Re:Border was titled 鈥淒esigning Oportunidades,鈥� she pondered what opportunities could be designed for art students.

After consulting with colleagues at UABC, the group came up with an experiment in collaboration, where 色情视频 students would be paired with UABC students to create artworks responding to the themes and conversations that were being discussed at the conference.

Six students from San Diego State and 13 from UASB participated. 鈥淲e teamed them up,鈥� said Ozkal. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 know each other. The students are from different backgrounds. These moments really surprise you and open your mind to possibilities.鈥�

Organizers want the relationships to continue, so they offered a $1,000 prize to one team to finish their piece and display it at the 色情视频 campus, possibly in the spring.

The winners are Gabrielle Berens, a Master of Fine Arts student at 色情视频, and Valery Anette Limas Alvarez and Oliva Carolina Ubi帽a Reynoso, both plastic arts majors at UABC. They created a sculpture that resembled a thin pyramid. A wire hung from the center, covered with multi-colored cloth and two-strand braiding to symbolize coming together. The ascending cloth-covered wire symbolized the transition from chaos toward hope in a re-imagined future on the border, said Berens.