National Polytechnic School (Ecuador)
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The National Polytechnic School ( Spanish: ''Escuela Politécnica Nacional''), also known as EPN, is a public university in
Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
, Ecuador. The campus, called "José Rubén Orellana", is located at the sector center-oriental of Quito. It occupies an area of 15.2 hectares and has a built area of around 62,000 metres2. Its student body numbers approximately 10,000 of which thirty percent are women. The main campus encompasses ten teaching and research faculties, in addition to four technical and specialized institutes. EPN was founded in 1869 with the aim of becoming the first technical and technological center in the country. Since its beginnings, EPN adopted the polytechnic university model, which stresses laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. At the campus, there are some libraries with a content primarily oriented to engineering and scientific topics. EPN has been consistently ranked among the top universities (the so-called Group A) in Ecuador by CEAACES.


History

The National Polytechnic School was founded on August 27, 1869 by the National Convention of Ecuador and the former Ecuadorian President Gabriel García Moreno. EPN is the second-oldest public university in Ecuador, after
Central University of Ecuador , image = Escudo de la Universidad Central del Ecuador.png , caption = , alt = , motto = ''Omnium Potentior est Sapientia'' , established = , type = National university , president = , ...
. For this purpose, García Moreno hired members of a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
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religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...
to manage the university and the
Quito Astronomical Observatory The Quito Astronomical Observatory ( es, Observatorio Astronómico de Quito – OAQ) is a research institute of EPN, the National Polytechnic School in Quito, Ecuador. Its major research fields are astronomy and atmospheric physics. The Quito As ...
. Juan Bautista Menten, Louis Dressel,
Theodor Wolf Franz Theodor Wolf (February 13, 1841 - June 22, 1924) was a German naturalist who studied the Galápagos Islands during the late nineteenth century. Wolf Island (Wenman Island) is named after him. The peak Volcán Wolf on Isabela Island is a ...
, Joseph Kolberg and
Luis Sodiro Luis Sodiro (1836–1909) was a Jesuit priest and a field botanist who described a large number of species from the area around Quito, Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Repub ...
were among the first scientists who taught at the EPN. It received the name of "Instituto Superior Politecnico", and Menten was its first director; some other notable professors include: Emilio Muellendorf, Armando Wenzel, Cristian Boetzkes, José Epping, Eduardo Brugier, Luis Heiss, Alberto Claessen, P. Clemente Faller; and Joseph Honshteter. The newborn institution was conceived as the first research center of Ecuador and was created with the purpose of contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country. And these academics excelled in several fields such as cartography and mineralogy (Wolf), Chemistry (Dressel), Botany (Sodiro), Architecture (Kolberg), and other fields of engineering. The advent of electricity to the city of Quito was in part the work of Kolberg and Brugier. The university was closed by president Borrero in 1876 and remained closed for some decades. In February 1935, President José María Velasco Ibarra re-opened it and in 1946 the name was changed to Escuela Politecnica Nacional. In 1964, the university moved from its old campus near "La Alameda" park to its current campus in El Giron, which was named after former Rector José Rubén Orellana Ricaurte. EPN offers many degrees in engineering and science including civil engineering, electric and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, power electronics, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, bio-agricultural engineering, food technology, geology, informatics engineering, mathematics and physics. In addition to science and engineering degrees, EPN also started offering technical and technological degrees, with the School of Information and Technology being founded in 1967.


Faculties

The university has 8 faculties that house 24 professional undergraduate schools, 18 master's degrees and 6 postgraduate doctorates. These specialties belong to the field of knowledge of science, engineering and technical training school (ESFOT). All professional faculties, except the Technical Training School, offer masters and doctorates in various fields of specialization. * Administrative Sciences * Chemical Engineering and Agro-Industry * Civil and Environmental Engineering * Computer Science Engineering * Electrical and Electronics Engineering * Geology and Petroleum * Mechanical Engineering * Exact Sciences: Mathematics, Physics


Technical Training School

The Technical Training School (ESFOT) has been in operation since 1967 and has a focus on Computer Networking, Telecommunications networking and teaching all about Computer programming and how
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
s exchange data.


Volcanic monitoring

In Ecuador, the National Polytechnic School department looks to the monitoring of the volcanic activity in this andean nation. Cotopaxi is a
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...
in the
Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
, located about south of
Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of . Some consider it the world's highest active volcano, while others give this status to the considerably higher Llullaillaco, which most recently erupted in 1877 and is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Since 1738, Cotopaxi has erupted more than 50 times, resulting in the creation of numerous valleys formed by
lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...
s (mudflows) around the volcano. In October 1999, Pichincha Volcano erupted in Quito and covered the city with several inches of
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
. Prior to that, the last major eruptions were in 1553Climate and Weather, Kington, J. Collins London,(2010) and in 1660, when about 30 cm of ash fell on the city. At 5230 meters, Sangay Volcano) is an active
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...
in central Ecuador and is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and one of Ecuador's most active ones, erupting three times in recorded history. It exhibits mostly strombolian activity; the most recent eruption, which started in 1934, is still ongoing. Geologically, Sangay marks the southern bound of the
Northern Volcanic Zone The Andean Volcanic Belt is a major volcanic belt along the Andean cordillera in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South Ame ...
, and its position straddling two major pieces of crust accounts for its high level of activity. Sangay's approximately 500,000-year-old history is one of instability; two previous versions of the mountain were destroyed in massive flank collapses, evidence of which still litters its surroundings today. Sangay is one of two active volcanoes located within the namesake Sangay National Park, the other being Tungurahua to the north. As such it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. Reventador is an active stratovolcano which lies in the eastern Andes of Ecuador. Since 1541 it has erupted over 25 times with most recent eruption in 2009,Reventador volcano spews lava near Ecuador capital - AP Online , HighBeam Research
/ref> but the largest historical eruption occurred in 2002. During that eruption the plume from the volcano reached a height of 17 km and pyroclastic flows went up to 7 km from the cone. On March 30, 2007, the mountain spewed ash again. The ash reached a height of about two miles (3 km, 11,000 ft). Cotopaxi, outside of
Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
started activity in April 2015, the volcano began to show signs of unrest, and came back to life. There was a large increase in earthquakes (including harmonic tremors) and SO2 emissions. IGPEN reported slight deformation of the edifice, suggesting an intrusion of magma under the volcano. As of 25 July, the unrest continued, and the most recent major eruption was an ash and steam eruption that occurred on August 14 and 15, 2015.http://www.igepn.edu.ec/cotopaxi National Polytechnic School Geophysics Institute is constantly monitoring Cotopaxivolcanodiscovery.com/cotopaxi/news/53218/Cotopaxi-volcano-Ecuador-increased-seismic-activity-volcanic-unrest.html


Gustavo Orcés V. Natural History Museum

The Gustavo Orcés V. Natural History Museum is part of the Life Sciences Institute on the campus of the National Polytechnic School. The main focus is the conducting research in the Ecuadorian fauna in the fields of biodiversity, ecology, zoology, and environmental impact assessments and contributes to national environmental culture through the Natural History Museum Gustavo Orces. The museum has the remains of the only complete Mamooth found in Ecuador.


See also

* List of astronomical observatories *
List of universities in Ecuador This is a list of Ecuadorian universities, grouped by location: Ambato *Universidad Técnica de Ambato Cuenca * Politecnica Salesiana University * Universidad Católica de Cuenca *Universidad de Cuenca * Universidad del Azuay Guayaquil * Blue H ...


References


External links


National Polytechnic School official website
{{Authority control 1869 establishments in Ecuador Educational institutions established in 1869 Public universities Technical universities and colleges Universities in Quito Astronomical observatories in Ecuador Museums in Quito Buildings and structures in Quito