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As a bright, up-and-coming engineer back in 1967, the man who would soon bring the IEEE to Peru and who would become one of the organization’s most active volunteers in Region 9 (Latin America) had never heard of the institute.

In the 38 years since then, IEEE Life Fellow José F. Valdez C. founded the IEEE Peru Section—which covers the whole country—served as its president twice and worked to build up membership from a mere 86 when at the section’s birth to 649 members today. Valdez created Peru’s first IEEE student branch in 1982 at his alma mater, the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI) and asked the Peru Section to establish one branch every two years. At that rate, Peru should have 12 student branches by now, but the number exceeds all expectations, now totaling 18 throughout the country.

For his professional and academic accomplishments, including his work with the IEEE and other engineering organizations, this past July, UNI honored Valdez with Habich’s Torch—an award named for the school’s founder Eduardo de Habich—for achievements that enrich Peru and the university.

Since graduating from UNI in 1950, Valdez has belonged to the Asociación Electrotécnica Peruana (AEP), the Peruvian electrical engineers association. In the following decade, he became well known for his organizational skills, coordinating numerous technical meetings and symposia, including the first Convention of Peruvian Electrical Engineers, in 1960. He became president of AEP in 1965 and was reelected in 1966. When AEP leaders decided to connect with electrical engineering colleagues outside of Peru, they called on Valdez.

“The IEEE made sense for AEP, because it was organized to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and to help local sections,” Valdez says.

He founded the Peru Section in 1967, but the revolutionary government that took power in the 1970s frowned on the IEEE’s ties to the United States. The section did its business quietly and persevered until a more friendly administration took office. Valdez was elected president of the Peru Section in 1982 and 1983 and worked to establish chapters of the IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Power Engineering Society. Peru Section volunteers followed Valdez’s lead and added chapters of the Communications, Engineering Management, and Industry Applications societies.

ENGINEERING EXPERTISE Valdez compares his childhood self to the character Pinocchio, the marionette who longed to be a real boy until a fairy brought him to life. Because he had severe asthma and often had to stay home from school, Valdez couldn’t play with other children. But his illness gave him the time to read and play with toys, especially one with which he could build simple machines. In effect, that toy introduced the young Valdez to engineering.

When he was finally allowed to go to school, Valdez excelled. He eventually earned bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical and electrical engineering from the Escuela Nacional de Ingenieros—now known as UNI. Throughout his career, he taught electrical and power engineering and optics part-time at UNI. Upon graduation in 1950, he got a job at a Goodyear tire factory as the assistant to the maintenance manager, often working late at night and on national holidays.

Starting in 1953, Valdez attended the General Electric Test Engineering Program in the United States, which trained engineers as experts in testing electrical equipment. He visited various GE plants and labs for up to three months at a time, but when the 18-month assignment was up, he returned to Peru.
“I was tempted to stay in the United States, but there was much to be done in Peru,” he says. “Also, I wanted to be in my country and with my friends.”

He worked with International Machinery Co., a Lima-based industrial machinery importer and a GE distributor. After some years, he worked his way to the top of the company, but it was sold. Valdez next started a company to provide engineering services with his friend and former university professor Walter Piazza.

In 1960, the pair founded Piazza y Valdez Ingenieros, hiring a secretary and setting up shop in a small office in Lima with two desks and a drafting table. Working off Valdez’s former client list, the company became known for designing and building electric power substations and transmission lines of up to 60 kilovolts, as well as low-voltage distribution systems. It also designed diesel generation and hydroelectric plants for mines in remote areas that were not near the grid.

The company soon learned that one of the country’s largest industries, producing fish meal from anchovies, could use its engineering expertise. Today Peru makes 40 percent of the world’s fish meal—dried and processed fish used in animal feed and fertilizer. In the early 1960s, the worldwide demand for fish meal was so high that manufacturers made profits in spite of poorly engineered facilities. Valdez and his partner bought several fishmeal plants and improved engineering efficiency, while continuing to make a profit for their investors.

In the mid-1960s, Piazza y Valdez participated in the Santa Electric Development plan, which included a Santa River Hydroelectric Plant extension, gas turbine plants, and 1200 kilometers of transmission lines and substations, and linked Lima with the northern part of Peru. The system was completed in 20 years. The partners also designed and built the first rural electrification project in Mantaro Valley. In 1963, Lima Light and Power Co. contracted with Valdez’s company to build Peru’s first 220-kV transmission line.

In 1969, the partnership became Cosapi S.A., an engineering and construction contracting company that has become one of the country’s leading general contractors. It has built more than 70 percent of the gas turbines in Peru and the first and only steam electric-power-generating plant in the country. Cosapi also has subsidiaries in Venezuela and Chile that offer computer systems, integration, and software. Some of Cosapi’s recent projects in Peru include the US $2.2 billion Antamina Mining Project and the $132 million Lima Airport modernization, both in association with Bechtel Corp. Cosapi also built the largest shopping center in Peru on 130 000 square meters of land. Its subsidiary, Cosapidata, supplied hardware and software for the country’s voter registration system and provided equipment for Peru’s 2001 presidential election.

Now Valdez sits on the board of directors of Cosapi and its divisions. He chairs the Peruvian Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, a group he founded in 2001 with the support of IEEE Educational Activities. The board strives to improve engineering education in Peru. Valdez was named an IEEE Fellow in 1987 for his work in education and establishing student branches. He also works with the IEEE Peru Section and AEP as chair of their advisory boards and is chair of the IEEE Region 9 Fellows Promotion and Nomination Committee.

For more information on Cosapi, visit http://www.cosapi.com.pe