Brazil Center Programs

CAPES-University of Texas Research Program

The University of Texas at Austin and the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) entered into a cooperative agreement in 2000 to support collaborative research and training between Brazilian universities and UT. The initiative is intended to encourage institutional linkages for research initiatives.

Administration

The Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs at The University of Texas at Austin will administer the program in the U.S. with the support of the Brazil Center of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies.

The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel Foundation (CAPES) of the Ministry of Education will administer the program in Brazil.

Objectives

The CAPES-UT Research Program supports collaborative research projects between Brazilian universities and The University of Texas System with the following objectives:

1. Develop human resources by supporting international training of graduate students, researchers, and faculty members;
2. Promote the exchange of scientific information and cooperation in scientific research;
3. Enhance scientific production and the quality of the exchange through collaborative binational research.

Application Guidelines

Proposals for the CAPES-UT Research Program should:

• Be innovative in their respective field at the institutional, regional, and national level, and make explicit the advantages of an international cooperation;
• Explain the relevance of the partnership with the Brazilian team;
• Propose joint publications;
• Propose jointly organized seminars or workshops;
• Include a minimum of two researchers in addition to a Principal Investigator holding a doctoral degree;
• Indicate the probable number of candidates for program and timeline for annual travel planned in the project;
• Demonstrate support from their departmental chair or program director;
• Plan activities with a maximum horizon of four years.

Research team should develop proposals jointly. Translations of the final proposal should be submitted electronically for review in English to the UT Austin Brazil Center at brazil@uts.cc.utexas.edu and in Portuguese to CAPES.

Financial Support

CAPES will provide financial support to Brazilian teams for work missions and student fellowships.  The initial award will be for one year with funding renewable for up to four years contingent on successful implementation.  The University of Texas will not provide financial support for UT teams. Teams should seek reciprocal funding from traditional sources such as public and private foundations.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated according to the objectives of the program. CAPES and The University of Texas will make independent evaluations of the proposals, and the final selection will be made jointly. Proposals with incomplete documentation or submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Proposals should include the following:

• Justification for partnership with the Brazilian team;
• Justification and description of the research topic;
• Theoretical foundation, objective, and methodology;
• Description of training objectives and methods to attain them;
• Description of available infrastructure and supplemental support offered by proposing team;
• Identification of future lines of inquiry in proposed field beyond the funding period;
• Timeline for awarding fellowships for study and research, specifying the candidates' associated areas of research;
• Budget;
• Curricula vitae for all members of Brazilian and U.S. teams;
• Proof of institutional support from departmental chair or program director.

CAPES-UT 2001 Award Winners

• Pulsating White Dwarfs and Detection of Planets
  Astronomy/Physics
  Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul:
  Kepler de Souza Oliveira Filho
  University of Texas at Austin: Donald Earl Winget
• From NAFTA and Mercosul to ALCA: The Protection of the Weaker Parties? Legal Perspective
  Law
  Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul:
  Claudia Lima Marques
  University of Texas at Austin: William Powers
• Inter-university Program for Human Resources Advanced Training on Petroleum and Natural Gas
  Engineering
  Universidade Federal de Cear?: C?lio Loureiro Cavalcante J?nior
  University of Texas at Austin: Ekwere J. Peters
• The Fertility Transition in Brazil: New Evidence
  Demography
  Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais: Eduardo L. G. Rios Neto
  University of Texas at Austin: Joseph E. Potter

CAPES-UT 2002 Award Winners

• Biosafety of Herbicides and Herbicide-Tolerant Crops: Effects on Soil Microorganisms and their Interaction with Plants
  Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology
  University of Texas at Austin: Mona C. Mehdy
  Universidade de São Paulo: Marcio R. Lambais
• Evolution and Metabolism of Fungi Symbiotic with Leafcutter Ants (Attni:Formicidae)
  Integrative Biology
  University of Texas at Austin: Ulrich Mueller
  Universidade Estadual Paulista: Maurício Bacci Jr.
• Infrastructures and Services for Information and Communication in Brazil and the United States: Regulation, Access, Contents and Technologies in the Information Society
  Radio-Television-Film
  University of Texas at Austin: Joseph Dean Straubhaar
  Universidade Federal da Bahia: Othon Fernando Jambeiro Barbosa
• Inverse Design of Equipment for Transient Thermal Processing
  Mechanical Engineering
  University of Texas at Austin: John R. Howell
  Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul: Francis Henrique Ramos França
• Migration, Social Networks, and Intra-Urban Dynamics in the Metropolises in the State of São Paulo
  Demography
  University of Texas at Austin: Bryan Roberts
  Universidade Estadual de Campinas: José Marcos Pinto da Cunha

CAPES-UT 2003 Award Winners

• Adaptive Finite Elements and High Performance Computing
  (Civil Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Computational Sciences)
  Project Coordinator in Brazil
  Dr. Alvaro Luiz Gayoso de Azevedo Coutinho
  Center for Parallel Computing, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
  Project Coordinator in U.S.
  Dr. Graham F. Carey
  Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences , University of Texas at Austin
• Development of Superconductor Materials for Electrical Power Sector
  (Mechanical Engineering)
  Project Coordinator in Brazil
  Dr. Fernando Cosme Rizzo Assunção
  Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais e Metalúrgia, Pontífica Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
  Project Coordinator in U.S.
  Dr. Paulo Ferreira
  Materials Science and Engineering Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
• Ethnic Territories and Indigenous Identities: A Comparison between Brazil and the United States
  (Anthropology and History)
  Project Coordinator in Brazil
  Dr. João Pacheco de Oliveira Filho
  Programa de Pós-graduação em Antropologia Social, Departamento de Antropologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
  Project Coordinator in U.S.
  Dr. Seth Garfield
  Department of History, University of Texas at Austin

CAPES-UT 2004 Award Winners

SOCIAL SCIENCE

Youth, Education, and Juvenile Justice: Delinquency rehabilitation and prevention in Brazil and the United States -- The experiences of the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Texas
Field: Social Work, Education, Law
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Merion Campos Bordas
College of Education, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Lori Holleran, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin

Urban Space and Social Marginalization: The Case of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte
Field: Sociology
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Cláudio Beato
Centro de Estudos de Criminalidade e Segurança Pública, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Peter Ward
Department of Sociology, and LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Memory and Metaphors: An Interface Between Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Linguistics, and Neuropsychology
Field: Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Linguistics, and Neuropsychology
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Lilian Milnitsky Stein
Graduate Department of Psychology, Pontifica Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Valerie Reyna
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington

NATURAL SCIENCE

Nitrogen and hydrogen in high-k dielectric films on silicon
Field: Physics
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Israel J. R. Baumvol
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Robert M. Wallace
Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physics, University of Texas at Dallas

Hydrogeological Potential of the Fissured and Karst Aquifers of the North-Central State of Bahia, Brazil
Field: Earth and Environmental Science
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Johildo Salomão Figueredo Barbosa
Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Alan Dutton
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at San Antonio

Modeling and Synthesis of Structures for Hydrogen Storage
Field: Technology
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Gleb Wataghin
Instituto de Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Ray Baughman
Department of Chemistry and Nanotech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas

MEDICINE

Development of new methods to investigate L. chagasi infection of Lutzomyia longipalpis, the main insect vector for visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil
Field: Pathology
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Yara M. Traub-Cseko
Senior Research Scientist, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Peter W. Mason
Professor of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston

ENGINEERING

Geosynthetics and other Recent Advances in Minicipal and Hazardous Waste Containment Facilities
Field: Civil Engineering
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Benedito de Souza Bueno
Departamento de Geotecnia, Escola de Engenharia em São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Jorge Zornberg
Geotechnical Engineering Center, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

Emerging Architectural Frameworks for Optical Networks
Field: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Helio Waldman
Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Andrea Fumagalli
Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Texas at Dallas

Electricity Market Research Center
Field: Electrical Engineering
Project Coordinator, Brazil
Dr. Antonio Carlos Zambroni de Souza
Instituto de Sistemas Elétricos e Energia, Universidade Federal de Itajubá
Project Coordinator, USA
Dr. Elmira Popova
Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

Rio Branco Visiting Chair

The main objectives of the Instituto Rio Branco Visiting Chair are:

• to encourage the study of and research on Brazil in internationally renowned universities;
• to contribute to the further professionalization of Brazilian scholars who are intellectual leaders in the humanities and social sciences;
• to foster contemporary, scholarly research and teaching on the dynamics of Brazilian society at major institutions of higher learning in the U.S.;
• to strengthen the academic tradition of Brazilian studies in centers of higher education, by facilitating the contribution of Brazilian specialists to new and ongoing research;
• to assist and guide research projects on Brazil at the universities hosting the Instituto Rio Branco Visiting Chair; and
• to foster scholarly discussion and debate on Brazilian issues throughout the United States.

Previous Rio Branco Chair

The Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) nominated Professor Pedro Luiz Barros Silva to be the first holder of the Instituto Rio Branco Visiting Chair in Brazilian Studies. The Rio Branco Chair program is one element of the cooperative agreement between the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and the University of Texas at Austin.

Writer and Artist in Residence Program

The Brazil Center has hosted hosted innovative and prestigious writers and artists at UT since 1996 with the support of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and the Brazil based Vitae Foundation. The objective of the Brazilian Writer and Artist in Residence Program is to enhance Brazilian studies at the University of Texas through public lectures and workshops, enrich creative life on campus, and educate the university community and general public about Brazilian art and literature.

Visitors include well-known novelists, journalists, painters and filmmakers, who visit UT two-four weeks. This provides students and faculty the opportunity to interact with highly respected professionals in their fields. The Brazil Center’s Leitorado, the Vitae Foundation, and another academic unit at the University of Texas funded the program collaboratively each year.

U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program

The University of Texas has won four grants through the U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program (U.S.-Brazil Program), an initiative of FIPSE, U.S. Department of Education and CAPES, Brazilian Ministry of Education. The purpose of the program is to promote student exchange and training opportunities in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines, and to offer students financial support for the experience abroad.

At UT, the U.S.-Brazil Program has funded four programs with nine university partners in Brazil. Undergraduate and graduate students have benefited from the orientation and academic advising offered by the project coordinators at each host university and by the Brazil Center at UT.

• Consortium for Cooperation in Civil and Environmental Engineering Technologies (2003-2008)
  Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
  Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)
• U.S.-Brazil Sustainability Consortium (2003-2008)
  Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
  Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR)
• Environmental Responsibility Consortium (2002-2007)
  Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
  Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA)
• Bilateral Consortium in Social Science and Public Policy (2001-2006)
  Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp)
  Fundação Getulio Vargas-São Paulo (FGV)
  Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)

The U.S.-Brazil Program is administrated jointly by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, and the Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES), Brazilian Ministry of Education.