Paulo Régis Caron Ruffino and Ricardo Miranda Martins took office, this Monday (12), as director and associate director of the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (Imecc) at Unicamp, for the four-year period 2018-2022. They replace Francisco AM Gomes Neto and Maria Amélia N. Schleicher, who ended their term at the head of the Institute. The ceremony, held in the Imecc auditorium, was presided over by the rector Marcelo Knobel and was attended by the general coordinator of the University, Teresa Dib Zambon Atvars; the dean of University Development, Marisa Beppu; the dean of research, Munir Salomão Skaf; and the dean of postgraduate studies and professor of the house, Nancy Lopes Garcia.
During his inauguration speech, Ruffino highlighted the excellence of mathematics research developed in Brazil and, more specifically, at Imecc and its growth potential. “During our tenure, we would like to support another scientific push in the three departments. Scientific not only in the sense of postgraduate studies, but also in the production of science, mathematics, statistics, applied mathematics and everything that concerns us. I see that we have a lot of room to grow. We need to increase our scientific self-esteem and put ourselves, individually and collectively, in an attitude of more scientific aggressiveness”, he emphasized.
The professor also highlighted the relatively low cost of the Institute's laboratories, which according to him do not require more than brains, pencils, paper, information and computers. “To make the university shine, with international prestige, mathematical sciences are financially much cheaper”, he pointed out.
The new director also highlighted the importance of reflecting on international partnerships. “Internationalization alone is not enough. We do our work with excellence, therefore we want quality internationalization. If our problems and projects are relevant to people in other countries, great. We join forces and a natural collaboration emerges,” he stated. According to Ruffino, it is necessary, however, to consider what, how and in what sense we intend to internationalize research. He questioned, for example, the sharing of information and discoveries about biodiversity, tropical diseases and mathematical models for oil, noting the interests involved. “Internationalization is a word that has to be said with a surname”, he highlighted.
Dean Marcelo Knobel, in turn, drew attention to the problems of mathematics teaching in the country. “Unfortunately, this fantastic level that research in mathematics and statistics that Brazil has reached is not being able to be passed on to elementary education. We are experiencing a disaster in our country when it comes to teaching science and mathematics,” he lamented.
For him, it is a fundamental role for the public university to collaborate with teacher training and the improvement of public education. “If we don’t do this, we are putting not only our country at risk, but we will also not have future generations of excellent mathematicians and statisticians,” he said. Knoble highlighted the results of the International Student Assessment Program (Pisa), according to which only 0,8% of students would have adequate scores to enter university education. “There’s no point in having a million engineering vacancies if we won’t have enough students to pass Calculus 1,” he said.
The rector cited, as a positive example in this sense, the Professional Master's Degree developed by Imecc and the extension activities carried out in partnership with the Brazilian Mathematics Society. “We need this look at the quality of education in our country. Otherwise, we will certainly not have a future”, he concluded..
