02/01/2023

Summer course brings together Brazilians and foreigners at IMPA.

Aula de Análise na Reta com o pesquisador do IMPA Carlos Gustavo Moreira

For some students, the month of January is synonymous with vacation and rest, but for the IMPA 2023 Summer Course classes, the period is an opportunity to improve their studies, specialize in different areas, and also expand their networks.

Maria Clara Werneck é medalhista da OBMEP, OBM e EGMO

With a focus on the future, several students, both Brazilian and foreign, began to move through the corridors of the institute on the morning of this Monday (2). Among them, numerous participants from different mathematics olympiads, such as university student Maria Clara Werneck, 21 years old, a 7th semester Mathematics student at PUC-Rio.

The student, who has collected silver and bronze medals, as well as honorable mentions, in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), the OBM (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad), and the EGMO (European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad), explains how the competitions influenced her academic choice.

"I've always really enjoyed school, learning, and the Olympiads ended up guiding me to another side of mathematics that makes us reflect, think and demonstrate, and my goal here today [in the summer program] is to broaden my horizons and identify which areas I like best."

The young woman, who arrived at IMPA this Monday to attend the class on "Markov Chains," obtained the best individual ranking of the Brazilian team (20th) in the EGMO.

Also enrolling in the same course was Cristiana Nogueira, 22, who graduated in mathematics from EMAp (FGV). The student's goal is to use the course as preparation for a master's degree.

"I'm here to interact with other students in the course, exchange ideas and experiences, and prepare myself a bit more for graduate studies, since I'm going for a master's degree. My focus is on stochastic processes," said the future master's student, who was accepted into graduate programs at UFMG and Unicamp.

Da esquerda para direita: Cristiana Nogueira, Maria Clara Werneck e o pesquisador Milton Jara

The course instructor, IMPA researcher Milton Jara, adds that in addition to all the learning, another important aspect of the course is the opportunity to expand one's network.

"The most important thing, in my opinion, is the opportunity to interact with both researchers and other students. We call them students, but in reality, many of them are already professionals, they have undergraduate degrees, and having this interaction is a fundamental part of research in mathematics, indeed in any area of science," Jara emphasized.

Foreign students

Also present on the first day of the Summer Course was Francisca Aguayo, a 20-year-old Chilean student in her fifth semester at the University of Chile. The young woman, who is at IMPA for the first time, represented her country at the EGMO and the IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) in 2020. Enthusiastically, she explains that she enrolled in the program to further her studies.

"I am very interested in IMPA and the summer courses, especially the topic of Fundamental Groups because it's an area we've already investigated with a professor, so we're very interested in it."

Da esquerda para direita: Francisca Aguayo e Matias Contreras

The young woman's friend, 19-year-old Chilean Matias Contreras, who also participates in national mathematics olympiads, says he became interested in several subjects within the program.

"I'm in the Fundamental Group and Covering Space, but I'm also keeping an eye on differential geometry."

Summer Program

The Summer Program activities are completely free and take place alongside the institute's usual schedule. As in previous years, this edition of IMPA's summer program is open to students and researchers from other institutions. Divided into undergraduate research, master's, doctoral, and seminar courses, the program runs until March 3rd. Classes will also be available on IMPA's YouTube channel .

In total, three undergraduate research courses, nine master's degree courses, seven doctoral degree courses, and ten seminars will be offered. The list of courses is available on the website, as well as the schedules of the activities. Check it out here . Registration is open until January 16th.