The Institute of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics (IRyA) at UNAM Morelia achieved a rate of 5.2 scientific articles per researcher between September 2024 and August 2025. This is one of the highest rates within the entire UNAM Scientific Research Subsystem.
This and other significant achievements were highlighted by its director, Luis Alberto Zapata González, in his activity report on December 2nd. He noted that the number of citations to scientific articles by IRyA’s academic community has been increasing, and during that period, “we set a record, with around 14,000 citations recorded in the literature. We have a strong research group, and it is one of the most cited globally from the National University,” he said.
IRyA began with a small research group that arrived in Morelia in 1995, led by Luis Felipe Rodríguez Jorge. In 2003, it was established as the Center for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics, and in 2015, thanks to the efforts of Susana Lizano Soberón, it was transformed into an Institute, with Enrique Vázquez Semadeni serving as the first director of the then-new IRyA.
Zapata González stated that, 10 years after its establishment as an Institute, it “has consolidated its position and fully fulfills the University's core functions”: promoting cutting-edge astronomical research internationally and consolidating research groups, training graduate students, and disseminating science broadly to society, both in Michoacán and in Mexican states.
He explained that during the reporting period, IRyA’s community worked on significant international macro-projects such as the Next Generation Very Large Array, the Tulancingo radio telescope, and the Event Horizon Telescope, of which IRyA’s Laurent Loinard became director in November of this year.
He added that IRyA organized various science outreach activities, reaching approximately 6,000 people from school groups and teachers, and about 15,000 people of the general public. These activities included the “Noche de las Estrellas” star party, the observation of the lunar eclipse and the planets so-called “alignment”, as well as the commented film series “Science in the seventh art”. 25 press releases were issued, 32 news items were published on the IRyA website, and the institute's social media channels reached approximately 525,000 people.
Photo: Rolando Prado / Unidad de Vinculación UNAM Morelia
About IRyA, UNAM
The Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica (IRyA), or Institute for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics is an academic unit at UNAM, Campus Morelia, Mexico. We perform high-level and high-impact research in the areas of interstellar medium, star formation, evolved stars, high energy astrophysics, Galactic dynamics and structure, extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. We contribute to the education of high-level human resources through a postgraduate program, and we have close contact with society through diverse outreach programs.
If you are interested in our Institute, visit the English version of our webpage, www.irya.unam.mx/web/en
Media contact:
Dr. René A. Ortega Minakata
Outreach and Science Communication
IRyA UNAM Campus Morelia
Text: René A. Ortega Minakata, IRyA UNAM, with information from the Director’s office and from the piece in Gaceta UNAM by María Guadalupe Lugo García, available in https://www.gaceta.unam.mx/el-irya-referente-nacional-e-internacional-en-radioastronomia/