Graduate of the first class of Ilum, the CNPEM (Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials) undergraduate program, Vitória Yumi Uetuki Nicoleti will begin in September a PhD program at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, in Japan. The young student is preparing for a five-year PhD in Science and Technology in the area of Neuroscience. After three years of full-time undergraduate study, she decided she wanted to continue pursuing her career path based on interdisciplinarity, one of the main characteristics of the Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Technology offered by Ilum.
Vitória Yumi Uetuki Nicoleti, graduate of Ilum School of Science (CNPEM Outreach)
In the last months of her undergraduate studies, Vitória began the application process to secure a postgraduate place at a foreign university. In addition to Japan, she sent documentation and letters of interest for specializations in the United States and England.
At the Okinawa Institute, she was pre-selected and received an invitation to be in Japan and take part in the final stage of the selection process. In February of this year, Vitória spent ten days in the country, conducted four interviews and got to know the Institute’s infrastructure.
“I was able to get to know the university better and see that it is the place I want to be, that it has everything I’m looking for in terms of interdisciplinarity, equipment, and knowledge I want to acquire to develop my thesis. I came back with a broader vision because I had contact with people from different places”, says Vitória, who returned to Brazil even more excited about the possibility.
Confirmation of the scholarship came shortly after returning to Americana, the young woman’s hometown. The last few months have been spent defining her academic plan, which includes her areas of greatest interest within Neuroscience: cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurological diseases and potential therapeutic strategies using computational approaches. “I hope to learn a lot and achieve big dreams, as well as to delve deeper into neuroscience, but also grow as a person, because it will be a completely different life there”, says Vitória.
Days before leaving for Japan, Vitória paid a visit to Ilum, in order to remember her routine that took place at the School’s headquarters in recent years, to say goodbye to teachers and staff, and to thank them. “Ilum and CNPEM were the basis of everything. When I entered Ilum, I already knew I wanted neuroscience, but the School opened my horizons. I saw that I could pursue this area that fascinates me, but combine it with computing, mathematics, and be able to explore different areas of knowledge. Ilum and the professors gave me all the technical and theoretical knowledge I needed to choose my research area, do my project and prepare for the selection process [for the PhD program in Japan].”
About the Ilum School of Science
Ilum offers a free undergraduate degree program that utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to train scientists and professionals in science and technology. With an innovative educational model, the three-year full-time bachelor program offers courses that connect life sciences, materials science, data science, artificial intelligence, and the humanities in order to prepare researchers to work in an ethical and collaborative manner in the search for solutions to the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The Ilum School of Science is funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and is part of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, São Paulo, a social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI). Ilum's educational mission offers early contact with experimental activities, in teaching labs at the school as well as at CNPEM, in projects carried out together with researchers.
About CNPEM
The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is home to a state-of-the-art, multi-user and multidisciplinary scientific environment and works on different fronts within the Brazilian National System for Science, Technology and Innovation. A social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), CNPEM is driven by research that impacts the areas of health, energy, renewable materials, and sustainability. It is responsible for Sirius, the largest assembly of scientific equipment constructed in the country, and is currently constructing Project Orion, a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research. Highly specialized science and engineering teams, sophisticated infrastructure open to the scientific community, strategic lines of investigation, innovative projects involving the productive sector, and training for researchers and students are the pillars of this institution that is unique in Brazil and able to serve as a bridge between knowledge and innovation. CNPEM’s research and development activities are carried out through its four National Laboratories: Synchrotron Light (LNLS), Biosciences (LNBio), Nanotechnology (LNNano), Biorenewables (LNBR), as well as its Technology Unit (DAT) and the Ilum School of Science — an undergraduate program in Science and Technology supported by the Ministry of Education (MEC).
