FRANCISCO SANTIAGO, PEDRO

I hold a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and am a member of the National System of Researchers (SNII) at the Candidate level. My background integrates physics, materials science and engineering, and computational modeling, focusing on the design and study of materials for applications in energy, health, and the environment. My career began with the study of photovoltaic materials synthesized via the sol-gel method. Subsequently, I developed SiO2 nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery and, during my doctoral studies, investigated the interaction between gold complexes and HIV-1-related biomolecules using first-principles methods. I completed a research stay at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona, ​​Spain), where I strengthened my expertise in molecular dynamics and computational simulation. Later, I undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, working on MXene-type two-dimensional materials for applications in energy storage, solar cells, and pollutant adsorption. My current objective is to develop advanced materials using computational tools that enable the understanding and prediction of their structural, electronic, optical, and thermal properties, while incorporating artificial intelligence methodologies to accelerate the discovery and design of new materials. My toolkit includes Density Functional Theory (DFT), TDDFT, molecular dynamics, QTAIM, and phonon simulations, as well as scientific programming in Python, R, and Fortran, alongside machine learning and deep learning techniques applied to materials science. I complement these activities with experience in research, teaching, and collaboration on multidisciplinary projects, aiming to generate scientific knowledge and contribute to Mexico's technological development.