Faculty and Counselour

Alex is currently a grad student studying Quantum Gravity and String Theory, primarily based at Stanford University, but also spending a lot of time at the University of Cambridge in the UK. His primary research interests are in how the fabric of spacetime emerges from strongly interacting with chaotic quantum systems, and in the nature of black hole microstates within these systems. At Sigma this year he will teach two semi-labs: one on Cosmology (the study of the History and eventual fate of our Universe) and one on black holes and how people think about them from both a classical and a quantum perspective. Alex is always very approachable, especially if you want to chat about physics or hear him rant about tennis.

Ali Tahzibi, did his undergraduate in Mathematics at Sharif University of Technology (Tehran) in 1998 and PhD in Mathematics in the field of Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory at IMPA (Rio de Janeiro) in 2002. He contributed as one of the coordinators of the IMO (International Mathematics Olympiad) in 2013.
He is a full professor at the University of São Paulo (campus São Carlos) from 2015 and has been an invited visiting professor in Uruguay, Portugal and France. He is also a senior associate member of ICTP in Trieste-Italy. He organized several conferences in Dynamical systems and research experience for undergraduate students. He also has an outreach project "Mathematics for people from 9 to 99 years old" where he tries to involve students and the general public in deep mathematics using simple language.

Postdoctoral scholar in the University of Southern California, Anar is a neuroscientist. His background in Physics and Mathematics helps him solve computational problems arising in the human brain at scales from a single neuron to the entire brain network. He also tries to predict what happens to our brains as we age. In the past, he taught the Codes and Ciphers semilab. This year he will be teaching a semilab on games and how to play your best against the best possible opponent.

Recent High School Graduate and Science Enthusiast I'm Arthur Rabello, a recent high school graduate with a passion for science and a knack for excelling in competitions. I've proudly earned over 12 medals in various science competitions in Brazil,such as math, physics, astronomy, and more. I've completed courses at UFAL, delving into subjects like linear algebra, abstract algebra, real analysis, and calculus, setting the stage for my academic journey. As part of the "Seleção de Talentos FGV-CDMC 2023" program, I had the privilege of further exploring my academic interests. Languages are another fascination of mine, and I currently speak four fluently. I'm adding Mandarin Chinese to my repertoire as I believe in the power of language to connect and understand the world better. When I'm not immersed in the world of academia, you'll find me practicing Karate-Do Shotokan, a discipline that keeps me physically and mentally engaged. In my free time, I switch gears to music, playing the guitar or bass,. I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and am eager to continue my journey of learning and exploration.

Daniil’s PhD work was related to making nanoscale optical structures and manipulating quantum states of individual atoms, with the goal of contributing to the worldwide effort of making optical quantum computers. He is currently continuing along the same lines as a postdoc. When he goes to Sigma, Daniil likes to bring with him various tech contraptions so we can take them apart. He doesn’t know yet what campers will be breaking into this year. Together with Melissa Guidry, I teach the Optics semilab. This year, we will be using light to do measurements and computations, in particular, image processing using Fourier transforms.

My name is Edmilson Motta. I have been involved in Science Olympiads for 35 years. I was in 18 IMOs (International Mathematical Olympiad), the most traditional academic competition in the world for high school students, as one of the leaders of the Brazilian team or as one of those in charge of grading the papers. In particular, I was chairman of IMO 2017 - Rio de Janeiro. I have a great interest in the connection between such events and the highest level of scientific research, being one of team responsible at a global level for analyzing the topics that should be explored at IMO. In my lecture, I will talk about my reflections on this trends. In fact, I am passionate about Education at its various levels - I am currently the academic director of the Sistema Etapa. In my free time I follow chess tournaments and try new board games. The connection between puzzles and Mathematics also delights me. My interest in the area ended up getting me involved in the organization of the Rubik's Cube World Cup in Brazil in 2015. I also love running (not maratons!) and watching volleyball games.

Lena is a molecular biologist. The primary subject of her interest is the protein-DNA interactions, and Lena has studied many of them using such state-of-the-art techniques as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and various spectroscopic methods. However, during her work, Lena came to the conclusion that even the most sophisticated device does not make you smarter: Despite the stunning technological progress, humans’ own brains are still their most powerful tool. The thing Lena likes the most is the company of intellectually like-minded people. Lena and her friends got together every summer to talk about science, art, and music. Then they realized that their group would be incomplete without a young generation, so they invited motivated and talented kids to join their company, which they called Sigma. We are inviting you to become a part of our community!

During my journey as an Etapa student, I have enjoyed studying both Physics (specially Electromagnetism at an Olympic level) and Robotics (including Programming and AI). These experiences have allowed me to develop a familiarity with Math concepts like calculus and linear algebra. Finally, I really, really love cats.

Ivvy is a professor at the UFAL Technology Center (CTEC). She is currently the coordinator of UFAL's Fab Lab and teaches Digital Fabrication Technologies and Technical Drawing. She has a PhD from UFRJ and recently spent a year as a visiting post-doctoral researcher at Loughborough University in the UK. Her research interests focus on digital fabrication technologies and innovation in Civil Construction, with an emphasis on additive manufacturing in concrete. She is also an art and design enthusiast, having developed projects for art installations and event scenography.

João Moreira Salles is a documentary filmmaker and the founder of the magazine Piauí. He has directed, among others, "Notícias de uma guerra particular" (News from a Private War), "Santiago," "Nelson Freire," and "No intenso agora" (In the Intense Now). More recently, he published "Arrabalde," a series of seven reports about his time in the Amazon.

He holds a degree in Mathematics from São Paulo State University (UNESP) (1977), a Masters in Mathematics from the University of São Paulo (1981), M Sc In Numerical Analysis - Oxford University Computing Laboratory (1983) and PhD In Numerical Analysis - Oxford University Computing Laboratory (1987). He was director of the ICMC-USP in 2006-2010, president of the Brazilian Society of Applied and Computational Mathematics for two terms, 2005-2007 and 2007-2009, he has been a full professor at the University of São Paulo since 2000, Visiting Professor to Strathclyde University – Glasgow from 2011- to present, a corresponding fellow of the Royal Society Edinburgh (2012) and member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2014). Treasurer of ICIAM for two terms 2010-2015 and 2015-2019. Area of work in Mathematics, with emphasis on Numerical Analysis, working mainly on the following topics: Simulation of incompressible flows and flows with free surfaces, finite difference methods, numerical methods for ordinary and partial differential equations and integral equations of Fredholm and Cauchy.

Juliano is a physicist and computer scientist, airplane pilot, hacker/maker, and youtuber on the free time, currently a Master's student on the Graduate Program in Computer Science and Computational Mathematics at the ICMC-USP. Before that, he also obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computational Physics from the University of Brasília. He works with modeling, simulation, and machine learning, with a focus on epidemiology and public health. He also teaches programming at NES, a program to teach Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science to high school students. In the gap between his graduation and the start of his masters, he also worked as a flight instructor and is the creator of the youtube channel nanoTech focused on technology, electronics and haker/maker content.

Krerley Oliveira holds a BA, Master's and PhD in Mathematics specializing in Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory. He was elected an afiliated member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, founded the graduate program on Mathematics at the Federal University of Alagoas and mentored numerous students. He also played a pivotal role in the Mathematics Olympiad Program in Alagoas, nurturing young mathematical talents since 2003. With a background from math competitions, including leading the Brazilian Team at the IMO 2017, Krerley's expertise is widely recognized. Currently, they are spearheading research projects in Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision applied to justice, public purchases, analysis of medical records and the fight against corruption. These projects are sponsored by the Justice Court of Alagoas, TCE-SP and WHO. Outside the realm of mathematics and research, Krerley possesses a passion for triathlon. He has participated in 12 Ironman races and secured three drafts for the Brazilian national age group team at triathlon world championships.

Luiz Gustavo holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences with a specialization in Neurosciences. His academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. in Brain, Cognition, and Behavior from Sorbonne Université (Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI) and in Morphological Sciences from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). With a rich background, Luiz Gustavo has served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Pathology at New York University (NYU) working on new CRISPR methods to develop animal models of brain cancer. Moreover, he also contributed as a Research Fellow at the Brain's Biomedicine Laboratory at the Brains Institute of Rio (IECPN). Currently, he holds the position of Assistant Professor in Human Anatomy and serves as the Head of the Basic and Clinical Neurosciences Program at the Biomedical Sciences Institute (Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas) at UFRJ (ICB/UFRJ). Luiz's research focuses on understanding how cancer cells alter their metabolism to meet the molecular requirements of transformed cells, a phenomenon widely observed in highly proliferative cells with significant implications for cancer development. Specifically, he explores how metabolic adaptations can modify and build cellular heterogeneity in brain cancer. Beyond his academic pursuits, Luiz is a dog lover and an amateur percussionist.

Medical epidemiologist professor of undergraduate and postgraduate epidemiology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. She works with Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, mainly on the following topics: zoonosis, respiratory infections, HIV and arboviruses.

Mark Lukin's scientific interests are focused on nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), which are the molecules responsible for the storage and transfer of hereditary information in living organisms: how does DNA get copied? What happens when DNA molecules break? To answer these, as well as many other questions, Mark needs to prepare artificial (modified) nucleic acids and their building blocks, the crazy compounds that normally do not exist in nature. The only way to obtain them is by doing a chemical synthesis, which is what Mark likes the most. Besides that, Mark loves music, History, Greek Philosophy, and Science Fiction. When he was young, he loved doing simple but spectacular chemical experiments, which he has realized he still loves doing.

Hi! My name is Matheus and I'm a PhD student in medical sciences at the University of Toronto. My specialty is cardiothoracic surgery, and I'm currently studying the use of In Vivo Lung Perfusion to treat Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (e.g., severe COVID-19). My role is to develop new surgical techniques and conduct clinical trials for novel drugs. In my free time, I like to go on road trips and try new restaurants.