Physicist Marcelo Knobel took office as rector of Unicamp on April 19, 2017, at the age of 48.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Knobel immigrated to Brazil with his family in 1976, at the age of 8. His father, the psychoanalyst Maurício Knobel, who had been expelled by the military dictatorship from the chair he held at the University of Buenos Aires, had accepted the invitation of the then director of the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp, José Aristodemo Pinotti, to organize the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychiatry of the unit.
Knobel entered the physics course at Unicamp in 1986, at the age of 17. She graduated in 1989 and, three years later, obtained a doctorate in science, also from Unicamp. After completing post-doctoral internships at the National Electrotechnical Institute Galileo Ferraris, in Italy, and at the Institute of Applied Magnetism, in Spain, he took the exam and, at the age of 27, joined the teaching staff of the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics (IFGW ) from Unicamp. In 2008, he took on the position of full professor at IFGW. He also collaborates, at the University, with the activities of the Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism (Labjor), belonging to the Creativity Development Center (Nudecri).
Before assuming the Rectorship of Unicamp, Knobel was Pro-Rector of Undergraduate Studies under the management of doctor Fernando Costa, from 2009 to 2013. During this period, he was responsible, among other actions, for the creation of the Interdisciplinary Higher Education Program (ProFIS), recognized with the 2013 Péter Murányi Prize.
Still at Unicamp, he was coordinator of the Materials and Low Temperatures Laboratory (1999-2009); associate coordinator and undergraduate coordinator at IFGW (2000-2002); coordinator of Nudecri (2002-2006) and first director of the Exploratory Science Museum (2006-2008). Outside the University, he directed, from August 2015 to November 2016, the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (LNNano) of the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). Since 2017, he has been a member of the CNPEM Board of Directors.
Knobel was also a member (notably known) of the National Commission for the Assessment of Higher Education (Conaes); the Physics and Astronomy Advisory Committee of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); and the Coordination of the Physics Area of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp), where he was also deputy coordinator of Special Programs and Research Collaborations. AND fellow from the Eisenhower Fellowships (2007), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2009) and the Lemann Foundation (2015).
Knobel has published more than 250 scientific articles and 15 book chapters, and frequently writes opinion and scientific dissemination texts for newspapers and magazines. He received, among others, the Zeferino Vaz Academic Recognition Award (2004), from Unicamp, and the TWAS-ROLAC Young Scientist Prize (2007). In 2010, he was awarded the insignia of Commander of the Order of Scientific Merit by the Presidency of the Republic.
Knobel takes stock of the first year of management.
