The Second Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology took place in Miami, Florida, during June 2 to 4 of 2004. This conference was organized by The Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI) and it was hosted by Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, University of Florida, and University of South Florida. This year topic for the conference was "Challenges and Opportunities for Engineering Education, Research, and Development". Several plenary and parallel sessions were carried out with over 125 oral presentations during the three days. This second conference brought together people from different parts of the world, including United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Spain, interested in furthering engineering education and research in Latin America and the Caribbean.

LACCEI is a recently founded organization with the mission of developing partnerships among academia, industry, government and private organizations for the greater benefit of our society and nations. It aims to serve as an opportunity to explore new collaborations and strengthen existing relationships. The goals and objectives of LACCEI include the cooperation and partnerships among member institutions in the areas of engineering education, research, and technology advancement. It gives emphasis, among other areas, on faculty and student exchange, new and/or higher education, laboratory development and sharing of resources, faculty development, industry internship, cooperative programs and career development, joint training and research programs, and solicitation of funds.

The mission and objectives of LACCEI go along very well with CoHemis activities. Therefore, our director Dr. Fernando Gilbes was asked to talk about the Center. During the presentation he covered the history, mission, objectives, activities, and future plans of CoHemis. He also point out the key factors that have helped the Center to be successful during the past twelve years. He established that CoHemis long experience can help LACCEI to reach its goals. Dr. Gilbes also recognized that both consortiums can mutually benefic if a clear strategy of collaboration is defined. A paper about CoHemis was also submitted to the conference by both Co-Directors and will be published in the proceedings. During the three days Dr. Gilbes participated in several discussions of how CoHemis can collaborate with LACCEI; like the dissemination of information, organization and co-sponsoring of conferences and workshops, and joint research projects. The conference also helped to make new contacts from other institutions that are willing to collaborate with our consortium members. You will hear more in the near future of some of those ideas.

During the first day of the conference the chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and former co-director of CoHemis, Dr. Jorge I. Velez Arocho, participated in a plenary session with a panel of University Presidents. He clearly presented specific actions and suggestions to LACCEI committees in order to be successful in their endeavors. He also expressed the willingness of collaboration of our University in this initiative, which was demonstrated during this second conference with the large participation of the faculty from the Department of Civil Engineering.

According to the participants, the second LACCEI conference was very successful and they are looking forward to next year conference. CoHemis will put close attention to the upcoming projects and hope to play an important role in their development for the benefit of the entire hemisphere.