31/05/2021

Wagner Victer defends IMPA's sustainable campus in article.

Fotomontagem de como ficará o novo campus do IMPA

Former Secretary of Education of the State of Rio de Janeiro Wagner Victer defended the IMPA sustainable campus project in an article published in Tribuna da Imprensa , this Sunday (30). In the text, Victer addresses the social role of IMPA, and defines it as the “Brazilian MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)”. He also emphasizes that the institute brings “extremely positive reflections for the poorest layers of our society”, with programs such as the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP).

He also explains that through OBMEP and the scientific initiation scholarships linked to the competition, it is possible to "identify the cream of young people, especially those from poor backgrounds, with great potential for the so-called exact sciences," and "promote their studies."

Read the full article:

The insanity against IMPA

The note in journalist Berenice Seara's column in the newspaper O Extra, stating that residents are trying to block the expansion of IMPA – the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics, is yet another example of the insanity that unfortunately only happens in Rio de Janeiro.

It is clear that any expansion, especially in areas like Horto, may eventually require cutting down some trees, but the point we've reached, the short-sightedness and the focused interest seen in some so-called "elite" areas, is unacceptable.

IMPA is one of the most special and formidable intellectual institutions we have, certainly one of the largest in the country. IMPA is our MIT, with extremely positive repercussions for the poorest segments of our society.

Not only for its elite mathematics education, but also as an international benchmark, a center for identifying talent, and even a winner of the so-called Fields Medal, which is the world's equivalent of the Oscars in mathematics.

Recognized as one of the most advanced institutions in the field, it recently organized the World Congress of Mathematics and competitions that brought delegations from all over the world to Brazil in an Olympiad-type event, which had a great international impact.

I am, not only as the father of a young man who studied high school in a public school and actively participated in OBMEP, but also as a former State Secretary of Education, a witness to the fantastic work developed by IMPA in the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools – OBMEP, which involves millions of young people in Brazil, is the largest and most effective selection process for talented young people in all corners of Brazil, from North to South, from the Midwest to the Northwest and especially here, in the Southeast region.

Through the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad and the processes that develop the so-called Scientific Initiation Scholarships (PIC) in high school and the PICME-Pre-Master's program in undergraduate studies, we have been able to identify the cream of young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with great potential for the so-called Exact Sciences and, above all, to foster their studies.

Preventing the expansion of IMPA's facilities is not just an environmental issue; it transcends any logic we expect from an institution that deserves all our attention.

We truly possess the brutal capacity not to build, but primarily to destroy. It's regrettable that this is happening in our society.

Creating obstacles to the growth of IMPA, even with potential environmental impacts that could be mitigated and possibly even offset within the Horto itself, is an affront to Brazilian intelligence and especially to Rio de Janeiro.