The recently established IEEE Guanajuato Section Communications and Vehicular Technology Joint Societies Chapter (IEEE COMSOC-VTS) served as a key promoter and main organizer of the Distinguished Lecturer Tour (DLT) of Prof. Gunes Karabulut Kurt (Polytechnique Montreal, Canada), IEEE Communications Society (COMSOC) Distinguished Lecturer. The tour was organized in collaboration with the IEEE Monterrey COMSOC Chapter and the IEEE Guatemala COMSOC Chapter, and included stops in San Luis Potosí, Mexico; Monterrey, Mexico; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.
In San Luis Potosí, Prof. Karabulut Kurt delivered a lecture titled “Backhaul-Related Security Concerns in Non-Terrestrial Networks” on October 31, 2025, hosted jointly by the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Science of the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP). UASLP is the leading public university in the state and one of Mexico’s most recognized institutions for scientific and technological research, providing an ideal setting for this technical activity of the Chapter. Moreover, the visit coincided with Mexico’s Day of the Dead and the Xantolo celebration, a traditional festivity of Indigenous and Huasteca origin deeply rooted in the region. This vibrant cultural context created a warm, engaging atmosphere that enriched interactions among the Distinguished Lecturer, her hosts, and the audience at UASLP.
On the first day of her visit, Prof. Karabulut Kurt visited the Government Palace of San Luis Potosí and the Main Building of UASLP. This later building is an emblematic construction of UASLP, dating back to the seventeenth century, and originally founded with the mission of promoting the study of theology, humanities, canon law, and Latin.
On the morning of her second day, Prof. Karabulut Kurt was at the main campus of UASLP to deliver her lecture at the auditorium of the Faculty of Engineering. During her presentation, the Distinguished Lecturer discussed security challenges in the backhaul of non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) and outlined strategies to ensure reliable and secure communications across satellite and aerial platforms. She also highlighted current research directions shaping the development of secure and resilient next-generation communication infrastructures.
At the end of her lecture, Prof. Karabulut Kurt joined the audience to listen to a presentation prepared by Prof. Ruth Aguilar Ponce, coordinator of the graduate electronics engineering program. She then visited the Wireless Communications Laboratory and the Radar Technology Laboratory of the Faculty of Science. At lunchtime, Prof. Karabulut Kurt and a group of UASLP professors gathered at one of San Luis Potosí’s most iconic restaurants to enjoy “pozole,” a traditional stew of pre-Columbian origin.
On her third day in San Luis Potosí, Prof. Karabulut Kurt walked through the city center and visited historical landmarks. In the afternoon, she met again with a group of professors from UASLP to discuss opportunities to foster undergraduate-graduate student exchanges between UASLP and Polytechnique Montréal, as well as other mobility initiatives for faculty members from both institutions. During this meeting, she also listened to a presentation by Prof. Carlos A. Gutiérrez about ongoing projects at UASLP related to radio-sensing technologies for vehicle-collision prevention and aerial radar. To conclude the day, the Distinguished Lecturer visited a popular taquería in San Luis Potosí to share dinner with another group of UASLP professors. Prof. Karabulut Kurt left San Luis Potosí on the morning of her fourth day to continue with the second leg of her DLT in the northern city of Monterrey, Mexico.
This DLT covered a wide variety of activities, including academic exchanges, discussions on collaboration, and engagement with local culture, all of which served to reinforce the commitment of this newly created Chapter to advancing regional collaboration within the IEEE COMSOC community.
