The UNM Board of Regents awarded a Spanish business executive the University Medal on Monday.
I§igo de Oriol e Ybarra, the chairman of Iberdrola, one of Spain's leading energy corporations, received the award in appreciation of Iberdrola's financing of a $1.5 million science and engineering program at UNM.
Regents President Jaime Koch presented Oriol with the medal, which features Scholes Hall, UNM's administrative building.
Koch said the medal was awarded for Oriol's "illustrious transatlantic career in the electric utility industry, for his decades of leadership in civic engagement during Spain's miraculous transition from dictatorship to parliamentary monarchy, and for his remarkable ability to unite diversity and divisions, interests and institutions."
Oriol is the 7th recipient of the award, which was established in 1983 to honor contributions of renowned public figures.
The ceremony held in the SUB was closed to the public.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"This award that the University has so generously given to me really belongs only in part to me because I want to and must share with everyone who makes Iberdrola a world-class company," Oriol said.
Oriol was given the award in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Asturias.
The Prince of Asturias Endowed Chair was created to forge stronger ties between UNM's science and technology research and its Spanish counterparts.
Professor Manuel Hermenegildo, chair of the endowment and computer engineer from the Universidad PolitÇcnica de Madrid spoke about software engineering - the program's primary area of research.
He said it is impossible to create error-free software despite the dramatic advances of computer science and engineering.
"We simply do not know how to do it," he said.
Hermenegildo compared the problems computer scientists and engineers face with what physicists faced in that field's infancy.
"The potential benefits of solving these problems are immense because of the impact the solutions to those problems will undoubtedly have on productivity, competitiveness and welfare," he said.
The endowed chair selects three undergraduate and two graduate
students from Spain to study at UNM.
Amadeo Casas-Cuadrado was selected in January to pursue a doctorate degree in computer engineering. He said he has enjoyed his work at the University.
"We are very comfortable here," he said.
Prince Felipe de Borbon y Grecia noted the success of the scholarship holders and the advances the scholarship has made.
"I am more than happy to say that what I heard at this meeting made me smile to the future since approval was given to activities of great importance for the training of more young researchers," he said.
