Dr. Aranzazu Berbey-Alvarez

She holds a PhD in Automatic Control and Robotics from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2008). Her doctoral thesis, titled "Real-time Railway Traffic Planning," was unanimously awarded the highest distinction (*Sobresaliente Cum Laude*) following its defense on November 19, 2008, before the relevant academic committee at the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Additionally, at the request of the Panama Metro Secretariat, Dr. Berbey completed a training internship at Alstom in Paris, France, in connection with the Panama Metro Line 1 project (2011). Dr. Berbey also undertook a postdoctoral research stay at the University of Granada (February–March 2014) supported by a joint scholarship from Spain's Carolina Foundation and the Technological University of Panama. She holds a Master’s degree in Plant Engineering (2004) from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technological University of Panama, as well as a postgraduate qualification in Higher Education Teaching from the Specialized University of the Americas (2004). She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Technological University of Panama (1998) and graduated with honors from the Instituto Justo Arosemena (1992). Dr. Berbey serves as the principal investigator for the project "Methodologies and Performance Indices for Railway Transport Systems."Dr. Berbey is the principal investigator for the project "Methodologies and Performance Indices for Railway Transport Systems." This project has now been completed across all three stages, and she received a plaque of recognition for the R&D project "Methodologies and Performance Indices for Railway Transport Systems" from Senacyt (City of Knowledge, Panama) on January 20, 2015.

In this project, Dr. Berbey is responsible for mechanical simulations of trains on the metro line and for analyzing parameters such as travel times, dwell times, speeds, and train scheduling. During the final stage, electrical simulations of the Panama metro line are being conducted. These simulations involve determining variables such as active power at traction substations, the number of traction substations, and current intensity per substation for both Track 1 and Track 2. She has dedicated 100% of her time to this project. Dr. Berbey has completed the following nine-week intensive courses offered by the Ceddet Foundation, the Spanish Railways Foundation, and ICEX: Strategic and Commercial Management for Railway Companies (2010), Train Operation Safety (2010), and Technical Railway Operations (2011). She has authored papers for international conferences regarding the railway sector and has worked as a consultant in the fields of ISO 9000 standards and quality management systems since 2000.