García-Suárez, David

I am David García Suárez, a Mechatronics Engineer with an MBA and more than 16 years of experience in teaching, academic leadership, and educational innovation. I currently serve as an Associate Professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey, where I have been a student, EXATEC alumnus, professor, academic leader, and proudly, a PapaTec. Since 2013, I have led student teams in international engineering competitions, earning recognitions at the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, MATE ROV World Championship, and the FIRST Robotics Competition. To date, over 400 students have participated in these projects, gaining high-impact technical, professional, and human development experiences. For nine years, I served as Program Director of Mechatronics Engineering at the Cuernavaca Campus. During this time, I led the modernization of engineering laboratories, managed CAPEX budgets, and promoted the standardization and homologation of engineering spaces, aligning academic infrastructure with industry needs and long-term sustainability. As a pioneer of the Tec21 Educational Model, I have coordinated academic blocks, designed challenge-based learning experiences with industry and institutional partners, and contributed to the implementation of student-centered methodologies. I have taught Design Thinking courses, integrating innovation, critical thinking, and human-centered design into engineering education. I have participated in multiple educational technology pilots, including digital platforms, hybrid learning environments, and the use of artificial intelligence in education, particularly for assessment and feedback. Since 2012, I have led and collaborated on numerous NOVUS innovation projects, focused on transforming learning experiences, scaling best practices, and generating measurable impact. I actively support new faculty development, help bridge the technological gap with senior professors, and participate in faculty recruitment processes, including interviews, teaching demonstrations, and reference evaluations. I have developed more than 15 educational innovation projects, published in international conferences, and managed flagship project budgets, optimizing resources while maximizing academic and social impact. I strongly promote women participation in STEM, challenge-based learning, and internationalization as strategic pillars of engineering education. Through projects with training partners, I have contributed to technological solutions for real-world problems, strengthening the presence of Tecnológico de Monterrey in Morelos and Guerrero as a hub for applied innovation. In terms of social impact, I have led student projects such as the development of animatronic attractions for Mundo IMAYINA, an amusement park serving children with terminal illnesses, as well as STEM educational devices for visually impaired children in specialized schools. I am a founding member of the International Aerospace Academy, a binational network promoting STEM education from kindergarten through high school, and a former technical advisor to SPACE AI, a company focused on low-Earth-orbit micro and nanosatellites. I am also a member of the Marine Technology Society, organizer of the Downhill Challenge, and collaborator on NASA-sponsored STEM projects. As a professor of physics, automation, and manufacturing, I do not simply teach engineering¿I develop engineers who think, decide, and build with impact. I am married to an entrepreneur and the father of two children, with whom I share my conviction that education and technology, when used responsibly, change lives.