IHCantabria Celebrates the Graduation of Future Coastal and Port Engineering Professionals

Established as a leading academic and scientific program in coastal and port engineering, the Master’s Program in Coasts and Ports of the Universidad de Cantabria contributes to the advancement of knowledge and the development of solutions to the challenges facing coastal and port areas both within and outside Spain

This Saturday, the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the Universidad de Cantabria (IHCantabria) held the graduation ceremony for the 11th graduating class of the Master’s Program in Coasts and Ports (CyP) of the Universidad de Cantabria (UC), a ceremony closed by the recto of the Universidad de Cantabria, Concepción López Fernández, closing an intense period of specialized training in coastal engineering.

The event began with a welcome address by Raúl Medina Santamaría, professor at the Universidad de Cantabria (UC) and director general of IHCantabria. Francisco Royano Gutiérrez, Director of Technology Transfer at IHCantabria, delivered the closing lecture, “Navigating the Future: Reflections on Your Professional Career.”

The 13 students in this year’s UC graduate program completed their studies last Thursday by defending their Master’s Theses (TFM) before the respective committees for the projects they developed throughout the academic year.

The master’s theses presented highlighted the challenges currently facing coastlines and port facilities in the context of global change. The research focused on topics such as adaptation to climate change, coastal flood risk management, beach and estuary dynamics, natural and artificial coastal protection, the resilience of maritime and port infrastructure, and the conservation of marine ecosystems. Several of the projects also incorporated innovative tools for numerical modeling, geospatial analysis, and artificial intelligence, which are closely linked to the research conducted by IHCantabria in the field of coastal engineering and management.

The defense of these projects is one of the program’s most important academic milestones, as it allows students to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired during the master’s program to solve real-world challenges in the coastal and maritime sectors.

The projects presented reflect the close relationship between academic training, research, and knowledge transfer that characterize this graduate program offered by the University of Cantabria in collaboration with IHCantabria.

The highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of diplomas to the 11th graduating class of the Master’s Program in CyP, consisting of Alays Ariza Barraza, Jader Osorio Tabares, Darío Gómez Clemente, Eneko Sanz Aramburu, Enric Calandria Arroyo, Yatzini Monserrat Baltazar Sotelo, María García Sanmarti, Alberto Márquez Martínez, Anna Girard, Camille Eloise Mauger, María Isabel Calderón Romero, Giulia Capaldo Colominas, and Paula Torre Tobar. The award for the highest academic achievement in this graduating class went to student María García Sanmarti.

The event brought together faculty, researchers, family members, and institutional representatives to recognize the students’ hard work and dedication throughout the academic year. Speakers included Mauricio González Rodríguez—coordinator of the Official Master’s Program in Coasts and Ports, professor at the Universitdad de Cantabria (UC), and head of the Coastal Engineering and Management Group at IHCantabria— Manuel del Jesus Peñil, associate director of the Department of Water and Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the Universidad de Cantabria; and Sergio Cicero González, associate director of International Relations at the School of Civil, Canal, and Port Engineering (ETSI) at the Universidad de Cantabria.

The Master’s Program in Coasts and Ports has established itself as a leading program for training professionals specializing in the analysis of coastal processes, the design and management of maritime and port infrastructure, and the adaptation of coastal areas to the effects of climate change. For more than ten years, its international scope and close ties to IHCantabria’s research activities have helped train professionals who are now conducting scientific work in numerous countries.

With this new initiative, the Universidad de Cantabria and IHCantabria are reinforcing their commitment to providing an education of excellence aimed at addressing some of the major challenges facing coastlines and ports, preparing a new generation of professionals who will drive innovative solutions for the sustainable management of coastal and port environments on an international scale.