The headquarters of the Department of Mathematics in the Querétaro Unit of Cinvestav began its activities in 2006. It was established as a result of discussions and analysis since the nineties regarding the best place to extend the presence of the Department in the country and thus give access to its avant-garde program, to a larger Mexican and international academic population. It should be noted that Cinvestav has research units scattered throughout the country and that other important institutions, such as the UNAM Mathematics Institute and the CIMAT Mathematics Research Center have shown that there is a significant demand for the development of mathematics in various regions and cities.
Among several options considered, the city of Querétaro stood out, where Cinvestav Querétaro had been inaugurated in 2002 for the purpose of research in materials science and engineering. The state of Querétaro is located in a strategic place in the country, as it is the place of many companies that use the most advanced technology, and it was perceived that an academic base in Querétaro would allow the Department to approach other research centers such as the same Materials Research Laboratory of Cinvestav, the engineering and computer science faculties of the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ), the research centers of the UNAM (in particular the Applied Physics and Advanced Technology), as well as some private universities that have schools in the city. It also offered the opportunity to strengthen the UAQ mathematics graduate degree through collaborative activities, and the proximity to CIMAT in Guanajuato was another attraction.
In 2006 the first two researchers arrived, Dr. Michael Porter and Dr. Vladislav Kravchenko, to form the headquarters of the Department of Mathematics in the Querétaro Unit of Cinvestav, which Dr. Wilson Zúñiga joined in 2007 and Dr. Sergii Torba in 2011. The first Master's and doctoral students began in 2008, and the first two Masters graduated in 2010. In the fifteen years since the formation of this headquarters, more than 15 doctoral students have graduated.
The mathematics group in Querétaro always maintained a close connection with its roots, the original headquarters in Mexico City. Through the delivery of online postgraduate courses and videoconferencing shared between students from the two campuses since their early days, as well as online research seminars, skills and techniques had been developed that greatly facilitated adaptation to the special conditions of the global pandemic.
Likewise, several series of regular seminars have been held with the participation of mathematicians from Querétaro, Mexico City, San Luis Potosí and other places near and far. The "Current Applied Mathematics" series began, an event that for several years was held annually at the Technological Institute of Querétaro to open the mathematical panorama to engineering students. Visiting researcher stays, mostly from Europe and North America, have further enriched the burgeoning academic environment at this venue. Series of international congresses such as "Waves in Science and Engineering" have attracted some of the world's leading mathematicians to Mexico.