17/05/2019

Vinicius Ramos receives R$ 1 million in support from Serrapilheira.

IMPA researcher Vinícius Gripp Ramos was awarded R $ 1 million by the Serrapilheira Institute for his work in the area of symplectic geometry, contact dynamics, and billiards. Selected in the 1st Public Call for Support for Scientific Research from Serrapilheira, Vinícius had already received financial support of R $ 100,000 over the past year, as did 64 other researchers selected from nearly 2,000 applicants.

The names of 12 researchers who will each receive R $ 1 million were announced this Friday (17), at a press conference at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) by Hugo Aguilaniu, CEO of Serrapilheira, a private institute for the promotion of science in the country. “Our goal is to identify the talents that have just entered the academic system. In the long term, to create a network of future leaders of Brazilian science,” he declared, highlighting that the selection process was very difficult.

Hugo Aguilaniu, diretor-presidente do Instituto Serrapilheira / Crédito: Imprensa/IMPA

In Israel, where he is participating in an academic event, Vinícius celebrated the recognition of his selection, which took into account criteria of excellence and scientific boldness. “I am very happy. The money will greatly help my research. I will be able to expand my research group, hire a postdoctoral researcher, organize conferences, and continue traveling to international conferences, starting new collaborations.”

Speaking by phone, the mathematician highlighted the impact of receiving the support. "It's an encouragement to Brazilian researchers during this complicated time we are living through," he stated, adding that he wishes to contribute to the symplectic geometry community.

He investigates interactions between symplectic geometry—used to study classical mechanics in any space—and billiard theory, through Hamiltonian dynamics, known in certain contexts as "contact dynamics."

Vinícius earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Nantes (France), and achieved a postdoctoral distinction at IMPA. He joined the institution as an adjunct researcher in 2017, where he dedicates himself with intuition and boldness to seeking answers to challenging questions. For him, the most daring part of his research is tackling open questions about the existence of billiard ball trajectories on complex tables. "From the moment you ask a question you don't know the answer to, you have to be creative, think outside the box," he said.

"Renewal of mathematics in Brazil and at IMPA"

IMPA's Director-General, Marcelo Viana, celebrated the presence of two mathematicians among those selected. “It is very gratifying to have an IMPA researcher honored in such a competitive process as the Serrapilheira Award – even more so being an extremely promising young person like Vinicius. This signals very positively for the renewal of mathematics in Brazil and at IMPA. I also celebrate the presence of Thiago Pereira da Silva, another excellent young Brazilian mathematician,” he said, referring to the professor from the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICMC) at the University of São Paulo (USP).

Hugo Aguilaniu (diretor-presidente), Cristina Caldas (diretora de pesquisa científica do Serrapilheira), Cristina Campos (Conselho Científico), Edgar Zanotto (presidente do Conselho Científico), Carlos Ganade e Ayla Sant’Ana (pesquisadores grantees) / Crédito: Diego Padilha

The president of the Serrapilheira Scientific Council, Edgar Zanotto, considered the process initiated in 2017, which culminates in the announcement of the first grantees who will have their support renewed by the institute, to be unprecedented. "I don't know of any other system in the world that has gone through such a complex evaluation process," declared Zanotto. Divided into two stages, the selection involved six opinions from renowned national and international researchers, meetings, panels, workshops, and visits. In a final phase, 37 of the 65 researchers came to Rio to defend their projects.

The 12 selected projects represent 0.6% of the total proposals submitted at the beginning of the process. "They are top-notch young scientists," he said, taking the opportunity to congratulate the three researchers present at the press conference – Ayla Sant'Ana da Silva, from Life Sciences (National Institute of Technology – RJ); Karín Menéndez-Delmestre, from Physics (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro/Valongo Observatory – RJ); and Carlos Granade, from Geosciences (Mineral Resources Research Company – RJ).

According to Cristina Caldas, director of scientific research at Serrapilheira, the “enthusiastic reviews reinforce the very high level of Brazilian science developed by those selected.” “We believe in Brazilian science, and these reviews make us believe we are right,” she emphasized. In the press conference, she explained that diversity in science is a value for Serrapilheira. Therefore, R $ 300,000 of the R $ 1 million is conditional on the integration and training of researchers from underrepresented groups, such as women, Black people, and Indigenous people.