“Today it is Fundamental to Experience Mobility and to Work in Network”
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These words were uttered by José Machado da Silva, associate professor of the Faculdade de Engenharia of the Universidade do Porto (FEUP) and senior researcher at INESC TEC. Machado da Silva was at Carnegie Mellon University from February 12 to May 12, 2012, as a faculty exchange member, in the scope of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program. |
During this visit, Machado da Silva had the opportunity to carry out teaching and research activities, in both cases “addressing the domain of design and testing of analog and mixed-signal microelectronic circuits,” he said. Machado da Silva was hosted by Shawn Blanton, professor at the Center for Silicon Systems Implementation, department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
With reference to teaching, Machado da Silva considers that “it was a rewarding experience seeing the effort dedicated on preparing the lessons being recognized by the students, who manifested interest in the subjects and promoted further discussion in the class.” This associate professor identified “new contents, namely on the domain of submicron MOS transistors modeling, to be included in the course Analog Microelectronics of the Integrated Masters on Electrical and Computer Engineering at FEUP, as well as the introduction of CMU students to issues related to RF testing, a subject that was not initially foreseen in the course syllabus.”
The first involvement of Machado da Silva with the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program occurred with the submission of a project prepared jointly with Carnegie Mellon colleagues to the CMU Portugal Call for Research Projects 2008. Currently, with this trip to Carnegie Mellon, Machado da Silva was able “to prepare future collaboration on research projects and students’ supervision.”
Importance of this Experience
Machado da Silva explained “during my career I had also the opportunity of visiting and working with colleagues in different European universities.” Therefore, he said “these experiences are always beneficial to know other realities and practices, as well as to help us to know better our own capabilities.” Today, particularly in the academic domain, it is fundamental to experience mobility and to work in network.
The main reasons that took Machado da Silva to become a faculty exchange member were “the accreditation of a course taught at FEUP to be included in CMU/FEUP joint programs, as well as, to promote joint research.”
June 2012
