Francisco Barnés de Castro

Francisco Barnés de Castro
Rector of National Autonomous University of Mexico
In office 6 January 1997 – 12 November 1999
Preceded by	José Sarukhán
Succeeded by	Juan Ramón de la Fuente
Personal details
Born	11 September 1946 Mexico City, Mexico
Residence	Mexico City, Mexico
Alma mater	National Autonomous University of Mexico, University of California, Berkeley
Profession	Chemical engineer

Francisco José Barnés de Castro (born on 11 September 1946 in Mexico City) is a Mexican academic and consultant. From 6 January 1997 to 12 November 1999 he served as rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the largest university in the Spanish-speaking world.^[1]

Barnés de Castro graduated with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and received both a master's degree and a doctorate degree in the same discipline from University of California, Berkeley. He is a long-standing academic and researcher at the National Autonomous University, where he has led the Faculty of Chemistry and served as rector until a major student strike, provoked by his proposal to significantly increase its tuition, forced him to resign.^[2]

In the public sector, he has served as Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons and Undersecretary of Energy Policy Technological Development at the Mexican Secretariat of Energy, as Director-General of the Mexican Petroleum Institute and Commissioner of the Energy Regulatory Commission. Overseas, he has worked as an international consultant for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy and in the Joint Public Consultative Committee of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America.^[3]

Barnés de Castro has authored more than 27 articles, proceedings and papers in specialized journals and over 15 on educational subjects. He has chaired the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Mexican Chemical Society, the National College of Chemical Engineers and Chemists and he is a member of the Mexican Academy of Engineering.^[3]

References

1. National Autonomous University of Mexico. "Compendio de Legislación Universitaria: Rectores" (pdf) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2008-05-31.
2. New York Times (November 14, 1999). "Mexico College Chief Leaving Over Strike". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "Panel Bio: Francisco Barnés de Castro" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2006. Retrieved 2008-05-31.