14-year-old Mexican genius to study Biomedical Engineering

Having just turned 14 years old, Carlos Santamaría Díaz will be the first student that age to be accepted at the Anáhuac Mayab University, located in Mérida, Yucatán, to study a Bachelor’s degree.

Starting this month, Santamaría Díaz will join the educational institution to study his second Bachelor’s degree, this time in Biomedical Engineering .

The child genius will venture into this new challenge that is part of his academic life, his curiosity, and his self-taught profile that has led him to challenge himself. Although, as he admits, “the biggest challenge is to adapt to the dynamics of the classroom.”

Although he will study this semester online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carlos and his family plan to move to Mérida in the next months, as long as Mexico’s four-color coded epidemiological system allows it.

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“I love the world of cells, to explore and discover how it works,” said Carlos upon being asked about his reasons to choose this degree; “the first thing I’ll do upon my arrival in Yucatán will be to go to the beach and sail,” he mentioned.

Carlos, who also lived in Spain for a while, has an outstanding academic history ; at nine years old, he studied a diploma in Analytic Chemistry at the School of Chemistry of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and at 10, he studied another diploma on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, in addition to studying Advanced Algebra.

At 10, he also studied the first semester of Genomic Sciences at the UNAM’s Center of Genomic Sciences in Cuernavaca; that same year, he got his elementary and middle school certificates at Mexico’s Public Education (SEP) Institute of Adult Education.

He studied high school online to be able to apply on time for the UNAM and thus became the first 11-year-old kid to be accepted at the degree program for Biomedical Physics. He has studied two courses at the UNAM’s Institute of Materials, one in Electron Microscopy and another in Superconductors.

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“At the Anáhuac Mayab University, we are thrilled to have a student like Carlos, who has put his faith in our institution.”

“I think it is a great commitment but also a great opportunity to be able to contribute to his education , just as we do with all the students who are part of our university community,” said Juan Antonio Anaya, the coordinator of Biomedical Engineering of that educational center.

The Biomedical Engineering degree is taught at the Anáhuac Mayaba since 2018. Its third class will be comprised of 30 new young students, including Carlos Santamaría.

In total, the university will welcome 1,300 news students that will join one of its 30 undergraduate programs.

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