The Project "Huella Amazónica", created by environmental engineering students Madison Herrera and Lisseth Carlosama from our branch campus in Quito, won third place in the "Premios Sacha" in the forest research category. The project was chosen out of 550 projects from Mexico, Peru, Colombia and other countries. The jury was made up of 25 national and international experts. 

These awards are part of a biannual initiative promoted by the forestry sector with the support of collaborators from public and private sectors whose purpose is to promote and encourage good forestry practices. "Huella Amazónica" originates from the final graduation project "Tropical Dendroclimatology on the Amazon Region: Mera, Pastaza", by our students Madison Herrera and Lisseth Carlosama, under the supervision of Sheila Serrano and the support of Marco Cerna, professors and researchers at UPS. A paleoclimatic reconstruction is carried out in the canton of Mera, province of Pastaza, it is of multidisciplinary nature and international cooperation between UPS and the Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Center (ICER), part of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The cooperation is carried out within the project "Paleoclimatic Reconstruction in the Amazon Basin" based on the analysis of the rings of tropical trees to learn what the weather was like in the past.

Herrara and Carlosama analyze the rings in tropical trees to know the behavior of the climate in the past since there are no instrumental climatic records provided by the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMHI) and thus be able to have climate change controls (weather forecast).

"We decided to participate by presenting a proposal that enhances the care and conservation of forests, in addition to promoting our undergraduate program and highlighting the research and business ventures carried out at UPS," said Herrera; while Carlosama assures that she will continue her research in dendroclimatology in order to publish her results in a specialized journal