Professors Anderson de Rezende Rocha and Leandro Aparecido Villas took office this Friday (29) as director and associate director of the Computing Institute (IC) at Unicamp, respectively. Rocha replaces professor Rodolfo Jardim de Azevedo, current president of the Virtual University of the State of São Paulo (Univesp), of whom he was associate director, for a four-year term. The inauguration ceremony, presided over by rector Marcelo Knobel, took place at the Eldorado Institute, located next to the Barão Geraldo campus. After taking over as director of the IC, Rocha led a ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the bachelor's degree in Computer Science at Unicamp.
In his speech, the new director of the IC spoke about his humble origins and the effort he made to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies. “I studied at a public school. The dream of studying at a public university like Unicamp seemed impossible. Fortunately, thanks to the support of many people, I became a postgraduate student, later a professor at the University and today I assume, with great honor, the role of director of the Institute of Computing”, he said.
Rocha promised to work firmly for the advancement of the IC. According to him, there is room to expand the internationalization of the unit's activities, as well as partnerships with the private sector, among other aspects. When handing over the position to his successor, Azevedo recalled that his management at the head of the IC faced an unprecedented budget crisis.
Because of this scenario, he stated, it was not possible to carry out the necessary physical works, but progress was still made. “We managed to increase the number of partnerships with companies, we expanded the number of Fapesp Thematic Projects, we obtained equipment donations and we won scholarship donations from companies founded by IC alumni”, said Azevedo.
The general coordinator of Unicamp, professor Teresa Atvars, noted that, despite the budget crisis faced by the University, the IC remained an important reference center in the area, producing quality research that brings important benefits to society. “IC reflects the spirit of Unicamp. We are a public University, which wants to remain public to better serve Brazilian society.”
Dean Marcelo Knobel thanked Professor Azevedo for his collaboration during the period in which he served as the Institute's director and wished Professor Rocha good luck in the new stage. “I want to make Unicamp’s Central Administration available to the new board to collaborate in whatever way possible. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate IC for 50 years of implementing the Computer Science course, which constituted a pioneering initiative in this area in Brazil”, he pointed out.
TThe table of authorities also included the scientific director of the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and former dean of Unicamp, Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz; and the special advisor to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications, Aristides Pavani Filho, who represented Minister Marcos Pontes on the occasion. Both highlighted the quality of teaching and research carried out by IC, congratulated Rocha on his inauguration and wished the unit to continue its successful trajectory over the coming years.
50 years
Shortly after the inauguration ceremony of the new IC board, there was a ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation by Unicamp of the bachelor's degree in Computer Science, the first of its kind in Brazil. On the occasion, Professor Anderson Rocha presented some of the Institute's main productivity indicators.
He then invited three pioneering professors of the course, now retired, to talk about the beginning of activities: Rubens Murilo Marques, Tomasz Kowaltowski and Cláudio Lucchesi. The trio recalled with good humor the challenges involved in implementing a course still unknown to most people, including those who lived in the academic environment.
Watch below the clip of 50 years of Computing at Unicamp produced by RTV Unicamp with archive images.
