08/03/2022

IMPA 70 years: the institute has already trained 1400 masters and doctoral students.

Ana Luísa Vasconcellos

In 1962, ten years after its founding, IMPA inaugurated its master's and doctoral programs in mathematics through an agreement signed with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). After a brief period of collaboration with UFRJ, the institute became the first Brazilian institution to have its graduate program in the field accredited by CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel).

Since then, students from all over Brazil and abroad have been drawn to IMPA's postgraduate programs. The pleasant environment of its campus, located in Jardim Botânico, is undoubtedly a distinguishing feature. But the program's main attractions are the prestige of its faculty and the high standard of teaching, which have elevated IMPA to a prominent position on the international stage.

In addition to leading the mission of stimulating mathematical research in Brazil, the institute has already trained more than 1,400 masters and doctoral students. Cutting-edge research is the cornerstone of the training of mathematicians who pass through the institution, as evidenced by the achievement of important awards such as the Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics, awarded to researcher Artur Avila in 2014.

Gabriel Fazoli, a 24-year-old from São Paulo, earned his master's degree at IMPA and is currently in his second year of doctoral studies, but his history with the institute began more than ten years ago. The doctoral candidate was introduced to mathematics through the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools) in 2008, when he was a student at a public school in the city of Urupês, in the interior of São Paulo state. "I found it very fun to participate in the Olympiad! The questions came with drawings and were different from what I saw in class," recalls Fazoli, who won 7 gold medals in the competition.

After visiting IMPA several times due to OBMEP awards, the young man graduated in mathematics from the São Paulo State University (Unesp). It was then that he decided to return to the Rio de Janeiro institute, where his fascination with the field was born. “I had already thought about studying here and I’ve always been fascinated by IMPA. Since the time I was an OBMEP medalist, I found the place very cool and interesting. Now, after graduating, I see that it is a very connected, prestigious institute with doors open to the world,” he says.

As a consequence of its excellent teaching, IMPA has played an important role in the development of the field internationally, as explained by Henrique Bursztyn, postgraduate studies manager. “The institute plays an essential role in training researchers for the development of mathematics worldwide, especially in South America. A large proportion of the masters and doctoral graduates from IMPA take this knowledge to research centers in other regions, and therefore the institute has a great influence on scientific advances in the field,” comments Bursztyn.

The prestigious faculty and high standards of teaching are hallmarks of the program.

Rigorous faculty selection has been present since the beginning of IMPA's graduate program, resulting in a high standard of teaching. A few years after the creation of the courses, with support from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), the Financing Agency for Studies and Projects (Finep), and CNPq, IMPA focused on hiring researchers working abroad or in the final stages of their doctoral studies from the best foreign institutions.

IMPA offers four areas of academic master's programs: mathematics; computer graphics; mathematical economics; and computational mathematics and modeling. Since the program's creation, 881 masters have graduated from the institute. The doctoral program, which has graduated 543 doctors to date, has eleven areas of specialization: algebra; analysis/partial differential equations; computer graphics; fluid dynamics; mathematical economics; complex geometry and holomorphic foliations; differential geometry; symplectic geometry; optimization; probability and dynamical systems; and ergodic theory.

Recognized as one of the leading centers for mathematics education in Latin America, the institute has a robust faculty of 43 researchers. Its scientific excellence is evidenced by milestones such as Brazil's promotion to Group 5 of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), which brings together the most developed nations in mathematical research.

Training and research

Every year, the institute's master's and doctoral programs receive approximately 20 new students for each program, who receive a scholarship funded by CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and CAPES, as well as by the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ). The selection process takes place through applications submitted via the IMPA website and includes steps such as submitting academic transcripts, a letter of motivation, and letters of recommendation from professors.

Doctoral candidate Ana Carolina de Carvalho Mançur, 27, became acquainted with IMPA during her undergraduate studies in geophysics, when she participated in a Summer Program, and since then, she has desired to pursue postgraduate studies at the institute. Originally from Alagoinhas (BA), the young woman acknowledges that the experience was decisive in her decision to change fields, and the first step was a master's degree in mathematics at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). "I learned more about the academic world, and IMPA always emerged as a reference in different areas of mathematics," says Ana Carolina.

When she discovered that the institute housed some of the most renowned researchers in geometry, which is her area of interest, she decided to enroll in the IMPA doctoral program. “All the expectations I had regarding IMPA were more than fulfilled. With the pandemic, everything changed; we worked remotely, but even so, IMPA's structure never ceases to amaze me,” she praises.