First Sparks

My interest in computing began quite early. Because my father was a physics professor at USP, I had the opportunity to use a PDP11-45 minicomputer during my childhood. Alongside computing, I was always passionate about electronics, building my own circuits and reading specialized magazines. When I turned 16, I received my first computer, a NEZ-8000, which introduced me to Basic. Due to its limited 2KB memory, learning Z80 machine language was a natural next step. I later pursued a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics at IME-USP, where I did undergraduate research in logic circuits and computer graphics. Driven by my comfort with discrete mathematics, I ultimately decided to pursue an academic career.

During my Master's studies, after broadening my perspective through various computing schools and events, I chose to focus my research on parallel computing. I was advised by Professor Siang Wun Song, with informal guidance from Afonso Ferreira. In 1993, before completing my degree, I officially joined the department as a teaching assistant. I finished my Master's in 1994, and my dissertation won a first-place national award from the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) and a third-place international award from CLEI, which opened the doors to my doctorate.

I opted to study in France, and in November 1995, I began my PhD under the supervision of Professor Denis Trystram at INPG in Grenoble. This experience gave me the opportunity to build a strong international network, establishing collaborations with researchers from Canada, Germany, Poland, and Romania. Professor Denis showed me the immense value of academic partnerships across different countries and cultures. My doctoral thesis once again reflected my dual interests, combining theoretical aspects—such as NP-completeness proofs—with practical applications, like building a parallel computing library.

Upon completing my PhD in 1999, new challenges arose. I expanded my interests to include mobile computing and agile software development methods. Since then, my work has focused primarily on parallel and distributed systems, computer networks, mobile computing, and experimental software engineering. Because these are highly practical fields, I have had the opportunity to advise a large number of students. My methodology generally starts with identifying a practical problem, creating a conceptual model to reflect it, developing a solution, and then returning to the original problem to see how the solution can be applied or generalized.

Throughout my career, I have always felt deeply committed to the three core pillars of USP: seeking excellence in research, continuously improving my teaching, and actively collaborating in university extension. I have always believed that publishing results is simply the natural consequence of doing good work, and I constantly strive to engage my students in meaningful research problems.