Our Team – CENTRA

Board of Directors

Claudio Seebach

President

M.Sc. in Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University

Specialist in public management and modernization of the State, infrastructure, energy, climate change, sustainability and entrepreneurship.

Eduardo Bitran

Vice President

Ph.D. in Economics, Boston University

Specialist in economics of natural resources, economic regulation of markets, public policies, infrastructure and innovation for development.

Victor Pérez

M.Sc. in Finance (Imperial College London) and M.Sc. in Administration (Boston Univ.).

Specialist in green mining, traceability, copper uses, mineral market development, and responsible metals supply certification, with extensive experience in sustainability, innovation, and venture capital in the mining industry.

Francisco Pizarro

Ph.D., Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Director of Innovation and Institutional Transfer at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, with over 14 years leading R&D, open innovation, and university–industry collaboration.

Joris Van De Klundert

PhD in Operations Research

Académico especializado en investigación de operaciones y optimización de servicios de salud, con foco en el diseño y mejora equitativa de sistemas sanitarios. Cuenta con amplia producción científica en revistas líderes y experiencia en proyectos internacionales de investigación y consultoría.

Ricardo Úbeda

Ph.D. in Economics and Finance

Academic and consultant specializing in financial analysis, business modeling, management control, and supply chain design. He has extensive experience advising SMEs and multinational corporations and a solid academic output in supply chain and management control.

Executive Team

Rodrigo Barraza

CENTRA Director

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Expert in solar energy, heat and fluid transfer, and photovoltaic performance. His work covers solar desalination, thermal energy conversion, and microgrid systems.

José Cruz

Head of the Center

Master in Renewable Energies UAI

Specialist in operations management, project planning, and administrative coordination. His focus includes institutional collaboration, strategic development, and renewable energy initiatives.

Bernardo Severino

Head of Studies

Ph.D.(c) in Electrical Engineer, Technische Universität Berlin, Alemania

Expert in modeling, control, and stability of AC/DC microgrids. He works on renewable integration, energy storage systems, and distribution network analysis.

Academic Team

Felipe Larraín

Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Specialist in prototypes for energy generation, sustainable computing and technologies for the prevention of climate change.

Daniel Olivares

Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canadá

Specialist in control, operation and planning of electrical systems, microgrids, regulation of the electricity sector and market design.

Claudio Agostini

Ph.D. in Economics, Universidad de Michigan

Specialist in public finance, energy, applied econometrics and empirical industrial organization with an emphasis on free competition policies.

Javiera Barrera

Ph.D. in Mathematics and Engineering Science, Université Paris-Descartes

Specialist in stochastic processes, stochastic optimization, and reliable network design.

Luis Gutiérrez

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK

Specialist in the active operation and planning of electrical distribution networks, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and the integration of low-carbon technologies.

Tito Homem-de-Mello

Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Specialist in decision making under uncertainty, data analytics and risk management, with applications in energy, transportation and finance, among others.

Shahriyar Nasirov

Ph.D. in Economics and Policies, University of Basque Country, Spain

Specialist in sustainable energy transition, electricity markets, energy policy instruments, energy-based CGE modeling.

José Luis Opazo

Ph.D in Science and Technology Policy Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Specialist in diffusion and development of renewable energies in developing and innovation studies for sustainability, STS, evolutionary and economics geography.

Raúl O’Ryan

Ph.D. in Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Specialist in sustainable development, climate change, environmental regulation, general equilibrium modeling, valuation of externalities, governance and socio-environmental conflicts.

Francisco Ramírez

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Specialist in nanophotonics for solar energy: radiative cooling, solar fuel devices, smart windows, and solar desalination.

Pedro Reszka

Ph.D. in Engineering and Electronics, The University of Edinburgh

Specialist in combustion, energy conversion, pollutant emission, energy efficiency, process safety and forest fire safety.

Carlos Silva

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Specialist in regulation, operation and control of electrical power systems, energy efficiency, integration of NCRE, micro and macroeconomics, climate change and game theory.

María Thomsen

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California

Specialist in combustion, solid fuel burning, fire resistant materials, material flammability testing, aircraft and spacecraft fire safety.

Javiera Toledo

Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Montpellier, France

Specialist in environmental biotechnology, electrofermentation and bioelectrochemical systems for the removal of nitrates from groundwater and biohydrogen.

Verónica Diaz

Ph.D in Engineering Systems

Specialist in Marketing Analytics and consumer behavior modeling, applying statistics and data science to optimize business decisions.

Jorge Hernandez

Ph.D in Industrial Engineering

Researcher in operations and supply chain focused on applied solutions, with experience leading large international consortia and high-impact projects.

Professional Team

Cristian Araya

Lawyer. Master of Laws, The London School of Economics and Political Science

Specialist in energy, project development and sustainability. Solid contractual and regulatory background and extensive international experience.

Pablo Pastene

MBA, Adolfo Ibáñez University

Specialist in solar energy, innovation management and development of technological startups.