IMPA doctoral research wins Capes Thesis Award.

This year has been full of rewards for Felipe Ferreira Gonçalves. Holding a master's and doctorate from IMPA, the assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, has once again been recognized for his thesis "Extremal Problems, Reconstruction Formulas and Approximations of Gaussian Kernels" .

The work Supervised by IMPA researcher Emanuel Carneiro, who won the 2017 Gutierrez Prize in August, awarded to the best thesis in Mathematics defended in Brazil, he has now won the 2017 CAPES Thesis Prize in the Mathematics/Probability and Statistics category.

In addition to recognition for his work, Gonçalves will receive a scholarship to pursue postdoctoral studies at a Brazilian educational institution. But the rewards don't stop there. The thesis is also competing for the Capes Grand Prize for Thesis, which will be awarded to the best thesis selected from among the winners in all areas.

This work presents original contributions in the areas of Harmonic and Complex Analysis, and also has applications in Approximation Theory, Analytic Number Theory, Functional Analysis, and Probability.

In total, the young mathematician solved six Pure Mathematics problems. “I was lucky enough to solve them one after the other. It was a surprise for my advisor to see that my problems came out so easily. An 'ease' that took me four years of hard work to achieve.”

Although he has obtained answers, the application of Felipe Gonçalves' solutions does not always occur easily.

A successful career path

Before winning the two awards, Felipe Gonçalves' thesis had already won an internal competition at IMPA. Chosen as the best work among doctoral students, it was then eligible for the CAPES Award.

Somewhat awkwardly, the mathematician acknowledges the fact, but values the theses of his peers. “I don’t like to say that I was the author of the best thesis at IMPA, but of one of the best. Several students wrote excellent theses. It’s very difficult to compete with the researchers at IMPA.”

Surprised by the new award, he says he believes this recognition is due to the fact that he addressed different topics in his work and was fortunate enough to achieve results in various sub-areas.

"When I wrote my thesis, I wasn't thinking about winning an award, but about doing my best. I am very happy and very honored by these awards."

According to his advisor, the main distinguishing feature of Gonçalves' work goes beyond the thesis, which, according to him, "makes important progress in different mathematical topics." The highlight would be, especially, the fact that the former student dedicated himself to producing and publishing relevant articles in prominent scientific journals even during his postgraduate studies.

“Half of these articles were produced in collaboration with researchers from international universities. The other half are solo projects. That’s the difference. It shows that he has the capacity for collaboration, independence, and maturity for individual work,” says Carneiro.

Gonçalves states that the thesis began to attract attention due to the six scientific articles related to his research published in renowned mathematical journals, such as Mathematische Zeitschrift , Journal of Functional Analysis , and Transactions of the American Mathematical Society , among others.

“I managed to publish articles in good and relevant journals in the different areas of Mathematics that I addressed in my thesis. Since the works deal with different themes, this attracted attention to my thesis and, therefore, I must have won these two awards.”

Passionate about uncertainty.

With the goal of conducting research in international centers, the winner of the CAPES Award emphasizes the need for doctoral students in Brazil to invest in publishing their scientific work in renowned journals. For him, this practice is essential for those who aspire to a career abroad.

"At the beginning of one's career, especially during the transition between a doctorate and a post-doctorate, the quantity of articles is as important as the quality. This greatly helps in securing positions abroad," he observes.

With a scholarship guaranteed by CAPES to pursue postdoctoral studies at a national university, Gonçalves is still analyzing the possibilities, but says he likes this uncertainty about his future.

An assistant professor at the University of Alberta, he would have to remain in Canada for three years, that is, until 2019. Willing to venture into other areas, he states that he is leaving his so-called "comfort zone" to research in new directions.

“When I’m 38, I’ll stay in just one area. For now, I’m going to explore as many different things as possible. In short: my future is uncertain, but I love the uncertainty and looking for new things,” she concludes.