02/04/2020

During quarantine, IMPA's classes range from the kitchen to the playground.

O pesquisador Roberto Imbuzeiro durante a gravação de aula para alunos de mestrado. Foto: Bianca Zadrozny

Cecilia Manzoni

“I never thought I would use my kitchen wall for anything other than playing with my children,” says Roberto Imbuzeiro, a researcher at IMPA. During quarantine, the professor improvised a blackboard on the surface, drawing graphs and formulas for the “Analysis in Rn” course. In this picturesque setting, Imbuzeiro records short videos that he makes available to his master's students. “The intercom in the corner of the wall is the only thing that gets in the way. Every now and then, it falls,” he jokes.

Creativity has been the key tool to overcome the effects of social isolation, necessary to contain the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic. The institute's classrooms and hallways have been empty since March 17, when the administration suspended in-person classes and events, among other activities. Since then, professors have been implementing new formats to continue the academic semester and research.

According to IMPA's Director-General, Marcelo Viana, the situation has brought new perspectives. “For years we've been filming our courses and lectures, and I've noticed that many students watch these videos on our YouTube channel . With the isolation, we realized that the demand from students is much greater than we anticipated. This is a point that can be improved when we return to our routine.”

The compositions of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin have been the soundtrack to Noeme Matos's afternoons of study. A master's student at IMPA, she lacks a suitable desk in her room and uses the building's playground to maintain her academic routine. "I don't have the same setup I had at IMPA, but classical music helps me drown out some of the outside noise."

A aluna de mestrado Noeme Matos estuda no playground de prédio.

Newly arrived at her master's program, Noeme reports that social isolation brought an extra layer of difficulty to an already challenging time. "I'm still trying to adapt. I believe I'm getting there. Exchanging experiences with classmates and professors via email and WhatsApp has been a great help," she comments.

Accustomed to working with technology and innovation, the Visgraf team (IMPA's Computer Graphics Laboratory) adapted almost instantly to the new dynamics. “We are privileged because the institute has an excellent network infrastructure. We have access to Google's G Suite platform, which provides various tools for remote work,” says Luiz Velho, the laboratory's lead researcher.

Aula de sistemas gráficos 3D no Google Meet.

Virtual reality and augmented reality projects are among the few activities interrupted by the group. “In this case, the special equipment is very large and difficult to take home. But we are advancing everything that is possible now. The idea is to test and implement the new features as soon as we return to IMPA.”

The proactive movement has reached the global scientific community. Conferences that used to have registration fees and limited spaces, such as the HTC Vive Ecosystem Conference, have opened online screenings to the public, says Luiz Velho. In recent weeks, he has already participated in four of them in virtual reality.

Uma das palestras da HTC Vive Eosystem Conference, realizada esse ano em realidade virtual.

Master's student Thales Magalhães balances his studies with taking care of his health. He watches video lectures, exercises indoors, and occasionally goes out to the backyard to get some sun. He found "a certain practicality" in distance learning. "It usually takes me about an hour and a half to get to IMPA," says Thales, who lives in Jacarepaguá, in the West Zone of Rio. Even so, he admits that physical contact has many advantages. "It's much easier to ask a professor a question when you bump into them in the hallway. Online, this interaction ends up being more formal."

O mestrando Thales Magalhães em seu ambiente de estudo.

Without receiving visitors, the IMPA library is also undergoing a period of transformation. Working from home , employees are dedicated to scanning the database. “It’s an old system, developed in the 90s. The files don’t accept accents, for example. So we are taking advantage of this time to fix these flaws,” said Viana.

“The spirit is: no matter how bad the world situation is, we are doing something important and good. We have to think of ways not to stop,” says Imbuzeiro.