23/03/2023

IMPA welcomes 36 new master's and doctoral students.

With the start of postgraduate classes, the IMPA corridors gained more life and some new faces. The institute, which receives hundreds of applications a year, admitted 22 new master's students and another 14 doctoral students this academic year. On Wednesday (22), they were invited to a welcome cocktail.

Coming from various parts of Brazil and other countries, the students gathered to learn more about the postgraduate programs and the institute's rules.

João Marcelo de Carvalho, a bronze medalist at the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools) and a silver and bronze medalist at the OBM (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad), began his master's degree while still pursuing his undergraduate studies at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio).

“I started to like math by participating in olympiads back in high school. I did several competitions: OBMEP, OMERJ, OBM, Iberoamericana… When I was in my last year of school, I took some classes in the IMPA summer program and I really enjoyed it. Now, I've decided to apply for a master's degree, even though I'm only in my third semester of college. I'm going to do both at the same time,” she said enthusiastically.

João Marcelo de Carvalho

A graduate of the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombian Natalia Mora hopes that, in the master's program, she can explore different areas of mathematics before choosing a specialization.

“I wanted to come to IMPA basically because being in Brazil seemed interesting to me, and it’s easier to come to a country I identify with. It seems very important to me to do mathematics in Latin America, and that’s why I’m excited about projects and places like IMPA. I don’t yet have a specific field in mathematics, and I hope to learn a little about each area and then choose the one I like best,” said Natália.

Natália Mora

Master's student Breno Rilho Lemos had dreamed of studying at IMPA ever since his undergraduate degree in applied mathematics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). At IMPA, he chose the pure mathematics program.

“The idea of doing a master's degree at IMPA motivated me a lot during my undergraduate studies, always striving to get good grades. It was that extra mile I went to try and get an 'A'. Arriving here, I found many professors and people dedicated to teaching. It's a very big achievement,” she commented.

Breno Rilho