Unicamp has five professors among the 22 Brazilians who appear in the ranking of the country's best researchers in Computer Science and Electronics, prepared by the portal Guide 2 Research, which brings together news, information, conferences and periodicals in the area. The ranking includes professors José Claudio Geromel, Pedro Peres and Fernando Von Zuben, from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC), José Mario Martinez, from the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (IMECC), and Alexandre Falcão, from the Computing Institute (IC).
The research chose the most influential researchers according to the impact of their research and publications, taking into account three metrics: number of citations counted; publications cataloged by the Digital Bibliography & Library Project (DBLP), Computer Science repository linked to Trier University, in Germany; and the so-called H index, a number used to evaluate the average between the number of publications by a researcher and the impact they have on the scientific world. Unicamp is the second university in the country with the most researchers among those who stood out in the ranking.
Highlights at FEEC
Among the highlights of the ranking, three are part of the FEEC teaching staff. José Cláudio Geromel appears as the 3rd most important in the area in the country; Pedro Peres stands out as 15th and Fernando Von Zuben as 19th. The director of the college, professor José Alexandre Diniz, believes that the unit's performance is recognition for the work that the unit has carried out since its inception. "This highlights the work historically done by our college, which has always been among the best schools in the area in Brazil and Latin America. It showcases the great work carried out, it is a source of pride for all of us", celebrates the director. He also highlights how much recognition reinforces the importance of science for society: "We are at a time when the importance of universities is questioned, but the coronavirus pandemic itself showed how necessary science is", comments Diniz.
José Claudio Geromel highlights that the recognition obtained by rankings of this type shows not only how much science Brazilian researchers produce, but also that their research has an impact on people's lives. "I was very happy to receive this news, it is the recognition of my work as a scientist who tries to contribute to the country's science and within my field. Rankings like this have the importance of encouraging other researchers to also contribute to the advancement of society, even more in the moment we are living in", says the professor.
According to Pedro Peres, achievements like this would not be possible without the work carried out jointly by different bodies at the college and at Unicamp. obtained. "The placement was obtained with the academic support of Unicamp and FEEC, the result of collaborations with all former master's and doctorate students, post-doctoral students, and colleagues with whom I have worked over all these years", reflects Pedro. Fernando Von Zuben comments that, with the expansion of the field of studies in computational intelligence, an area to which he is dedicated, it is important that researchers strive to find simple solutions that are easy to apply and that make a difference in people's lives. . "Work in Computer Engineering has several facets, currently the one that appears the most is algorithms. The research in this area with great emphasis is on those that develop simple solutions that are easy to apply in people's lives, but it is not uncommon that, for Therefore, we need to dedicate more time and resources to research", highlights the professor.
"My greatest satisfaction is having trained many students"
In addition to FEEC, IMECC and IC also had their professors among the most influential in Computer Science. José Mario Martinez (IMECC) appears in 7th place in the ranking and Alexandre Falcão (IC), in 10th place. José Mario comments that he has always worked with different applications of mathematics and attributes his prominence to the universities and public institutions where he studied and worked and also to research funding agencies. "Regardless of the classification in different areas of knowledge, it is important to be consistent with the central imperative of science, which is to permanently seek confirmation or refutation by facts. My greatest satisfaction is having trained many students who work successfully at various universities in Latin America", celebrates the professor.
For Alexandre Falcão, the relationships established between teachers and students and the contacts maintained through guidance and research developed together are factors that contribute to his performance being highlighted like this, obtained through the ranking. "I believe this is the result of my research strategy, commitment to training postgraduate students, especially doctoral students, and interaction with researchers from Brazil and abroad. I look for problems of interest to the academic community in my area of performance, I seek to solve these problems with original solutions, not incremental ones, and whenever possible generating results for society", analyzes Falcão.
