03/10/2022

Taekwondo black belt defends doctoral thesis.

Caio Souza, faixa preta em taekwondo, defende tese de doutorado no IMPA

Passionate about taekwondo and mathematics, Caio Lucas dos Santos Souza, from Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, has excelled in mathematics and martial arts due to his curious and driven spirit. Proof of this is his doctoral thesis defense at IMPA, which will take place tomorrow at 1 PM, hosted by Metaverso, in room 232.

The work, titled "Virtual Intelligent Agents," addresses machine learning techniques, combining graphics and real-time artificial intelligence. The goal is to bring to life agents that are not completely robotic and lacking depth.

The thesis was supervised by Luiz Velho, lead researcher at Visgraf (IMPA's Computer Graphics Laboratory). "One of the most important figures in computer graphics in Brazil. I certainly wouldn't have gotten this far without his help and dedication," said Souza.

“My research involves computer graphics and artificial intelligence, with the ultimate goal of having intelligent agents in the virtual world, for example, game characters and other media that interact with the user in a differentiated way,” says Souza. “In my specific case, we have an intelligent virtual dog that simulates the behavior of a real dog in virtual reality,” he added.

The doctoral candidate, son of a seamstress mother and a musician father, says that the support at home was very important for his development: “I had a modest childhood and adolescence. My parents always motivated and encouraged me to be a curious and studious person, helping in everything they could.”

“My interest in mathematics arose naturally. I don’t think it was a choice. Things just happened. My curiosity led me to want to understand things. Consequently, I ended up in mathematics,” he explained.

But there is one factor that he considers a milestone in his development: winning a bronze medal at the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools). This achievement led him to participate in the Junior Scientific Initiation Program (PIC) , where, according to him, mathematics is presented in a different way than it is taught in school.

He graduated in computer engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of UERJ (Rio de Janeiro State University) and earned a master's degree in computational modeling from the same institution, located in his hometown.

Taekwondo fan

“During my master’s degree, my co-supervisor suggested I take one of IMPA’s summer courses, in this case, 2D Computer Graphics. It was sensational. I also took a tour of Visgraf. That motivated me to pursue a doctorate at IMPA,” the student said.

Regarding IMPA, he praises the quality and depth of the teaching, as well as the enthusiasm of the people who study and work at the institution. Mathematics, however, was not the only reason that brought him to Rio.

"One of the most indispensable things in my life is taekwondo, I've practiced it since I was 14. I'm a black belt. One of the reasons I came to Rio was the opportunity to train with Master Renato Ribeiro [world vice-champion and instructor at the Kim Academy]."