News: Event News

On July 3rd, the CMU Portugal Program, along with the MIT Portugal Program and UT Austin Portugal, hosted the session “Collaborative projects under FCT’s international partnerships with CMU, MIT and UT Austin” at the 2024 Encontro Ciência Summit. The summit was held at Centro de Congressos da Alfândega do Porto with the session aimed to discuss the impact of partnerships with American universities on the Portuguese ecosystem. 

Seventeen years ago, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) established international partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). These collaborations led to the creation of the CMU Portugal, MIT Portugal, and UT Austin Portugal Programs. Each program, while distinct in its characteristics and scientific focus, shares the common objective of advancing the Portuguese academic and industrial ecosystem in areas where these American universities excel globally.

José Manuel Mendonça, National Director of the UT Austin Portugal Program, welcomed the audience with a brief retrospective on FCT’s International Partnerships since 2006, emphasizing their significant impact on the Portuguese scientific and technological community. Mendonça stated, “It is about putting technology and science at the service of society” urging the current government to view these international partnerships as strategic allies for Portugal. The UT Austin Director highlighted that their value extends beyond research, influencing society and the environment.

Two discussion panels followed with representatives from academia and industry collaborating with the international partnerships.

The first panel, “International Partnerships and Talent Development”, was moderated by Inês Lynce,National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program and INESC-ID President. The panel included the participation of Lia Patrício, coordinator of the Center of Industrial Engineering and Management, Member of the Board at INESC TEC, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of Universidade do Porto, and the scientific director of the CMU Portugal Program; Nélson Costa, an Ergonomics and Human Factors Professor at Universidade do Minho who was a Visiting Scholar at MIT AGELAB, under the MIT Portugal Program; and Mariana Miranda, Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Universidade do Minho, who also completed an internship at TACC through the UT Austin Portugal Program. 

The session showcased the impact of the CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. programs, which create opportunities for students to develop technical skills and engage with key players and professionals. The discussion also covered the mobility initiatives of the three partnerships, emphasizing their role in promoting research projects with tangible social impacts. Additionally, these initiatives offer a unique opportunity for students to experience campus culture and immerse themselves in the innovative environments of American universities.

Inês Lynce, Lia Patrício, Nelson Costa and Mariana Miranda

The second panel “International Partnerships and their Contribution to Scientific and Technological-Based Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was moderated by Pedro Arezes, National Director of MIT Portugal. The second panel counted on the participation of Pedro Oliveira,  Dean of the Nova School of Business and Economics and co-founder of the Patient Innovation initiative created within  the scope of the CMU Portugal Program; Simão Soares (CEO of SilicoLife , a spin-off of the MIT Portugal program) and Rosa Romero (CEO of  Sphere Ultrafast Photonics and former beneficiary of UT Austin Portugal’s Global Startup Program. 

The session reflected on research projects that were leveraged by the partnerships, such as SilicoLife, that produce microorganisms and novel pathways for industrial biotechnology applications, combining Artificial Intelligence and Biological knowledge; Sphere Ultrafast Photonics, that develop products to improve performance of femtosecond laser applications; and Patient Innovation an online platform where patients and caregivers around the world connect to share the solutions they developed to cope with a health-related problem.

Through Patient Innovation, unconventional entrepreneurs, such as patients and caretakers,  are able to create and present innovative solutions to solve healthcare issues and work on implementing   their solutions in the market. “We launched a platform to offer patient-developed solutions: more than 5000 patient-developed solutions were created. The platform has more than 1 million annual users”, Pedro Oliveira shared. Since its beginning 10 years ago, the project grew to launch the Patient Innovation Bootcamp and, more recently, the CMU Portugal Patient Innovation Accelerator. 

Simão Soares believes that, through the partnerships, it is possible to develop very interesting projects with a global impact, and shared that Portuguese Academia should take advantage of the American culture and example by believing in projects and investing in them. 

Rosa Romero stated that the UT Austin Portugal Program played a crucial role, as Sphere Ultrafast Photonics was one of the 11 R&TD projects selected for an investment of €21.9M back  in 2020.  She also highlighted the importance of these partnerships as a way to better understand and support the integration of her company in the American market.

Pedro Arezes, Pedro Oliveira, Simão Soares and Rosa Romero

In conclusion, the session hosted by the three FCT international partnerships at the 2024 Encontro Ciência demonstrated the transformative impact of FCT’s international collaborations on the Portuguese scientific and technological landscape. CMU Portugal, MIT Portugal, and UT Austin Portugal initiatives have been able to nurture talent, foster innovation, enhance technical skills and industry connections, and promote groundbreaking projects with significant social impact. The insights and testimonies shared during the panels reinforced the importance of continuing to leverage these strategic alliances to further strengthen Portugal’s position in the global scientific community.

Finally, 8 CMU Portugal Ph.D. students presented their work in an e-poster format that will soon be available on the conference’s virtual gallery:  Cláudia Mamede (FEUP), Diogo Silva (FCT NOVA), Francisco Neves (FCT NOVA), Manuel Carneiro (Universidade de Coimbra), Maria Eduarda Andrada (Universidade de Coimbra), Marta Freitas (Universidade de Coimbra), Sofia Ferraz (FEUP) e Tamás Karácsony (FEUP).

On June 26th and 28th, the CMU Portugal Program hosted two invited talks to discuss gender balance in Academia. Continuing its tradition of bringing Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) speakers to Portugal to share best practices and experiences on this topic, the Program welcomed Jeria Quesenberry from CMU as the guest speaker.

During her visit to Portugal, the professor of Information Systems, delivered the talk “Breaking Barriers in Technology: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon and Global Perspectives” on two occasions. The first event was held at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, co-organized by INESC-ID and the Instituto Superior Técnico Gender Balance Group. The second occurred at INESC TEC in Porto, supported by its Diversity & Inclusion Commission.

At Técnico, President Rogério Colaço opened the session, sharing the institution’s commitment to gender balance. He highlighted the foundation of the Gender Balance Group in 2016, now led by Professor Alexandre Bernardino and Beatriz Silva from Técnico. According to President Colaço, while we can talk about gender equality nowadays, true equity has yet to be achieved, stressing that supporting gender equity has been one of the concerns of his presidency. 

Jeria´s research focuses on cultural influences in technology, particularly social inclusion, broadening participation, career values, organizational interventions, and work-life balance.  Currently, she stands as the Associate Dean of Faculty in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a Teaching Professor of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University and has published the book “Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University”. 

Jeria shared the outcomes of her research on women in computing, highlighting best practices and challenges from her experience at CMU and showcasing examples from the Computer Science undergraduate program at CMU over the years.

According to the researcher, “Gender imbalance is a topic that requires work. It is a multifaceted problem that demands a multilayered approach.” She added: “When I started my research 25 years ago, this was a new topic. Now there is a broader recognition of the problem; speaking about gender balance is no longer a question.” 

As of 2019, in the US, women represent just over half of the professional workforce but only 27% of computing jobs, and African American and Latinx women hold less than 10% of computing occupations. The highest representation of women in ICT work can be found in the Asia-Pacific region (30.4% women) and Africa (31.3% women). 

Regarding Carnegie Mellon University reality, CMU SCS undergrad gender diversity has been higher than national averages for 15+ years. In 2019, 49% of new CS students were women. Since 2022, that percentage has been divided between women and nonbinary; in 2023, it was registered at 46% and 3%, respectively. Regarding major graduates, females and males are at about the same rate – women are 93%, and men are 92%. In the mid to late 90s, female students only represented 5-12% of the students in the field. 

The 2000s brought some changes, not only in the admissions processes (looking for students with strong potential as opposed to prior programming experience) but also in culture and environment, which brought in more female students with a broader range of interests. However, the curriculum was NOT changed to be “female-friendly”. 

In 1999, the Women@SCS Advisory Committee was created to support female students. Its mission is to create, encourage, and support women’s academic, social, and professional opportunities in computer science and to promote the breadth of the field and its diverse community. 

Since then, the percentage of women has risen as the culture & environment improved for all. At the end of her presentation, Jeria shared: “Let’s stop perpetuating Western cultural myths about women’s low participation in computing once and for all. Instead, let’s commit to discussions that explore the wide range of obstacles and catalysts within our various cultures and environments. Addressing the gender gap requires a broader understanding of how we think about women and the computing field”, declares Jeria Quesenberry.

In Lisbon, Jeria’s talk was followed by a roundtable discussion on “Gender imbalance in STEM: the Portuguese academic experience” with the participation of  Ana Paiva, Portuguese Secretary of State for Science; Anália Cardoso Torres, Professor at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade de Lisboa; Inês Lynce,  National Co-Director of the CMU Portugal Program and President of INESC-ID; Jeria Quesenberry, João Peixoto,  Vice-Rector of Universidade de Lisboa; Leonor Barreiros master student at Instituto Superior Técnico and Luís Lemos Alves, Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico. Sara Sá, science writer, moderated the discussion.

Ana Paiva highlighted the need to guarantee gender balance in the law, but supporting education, awareness, and cultural activities can have a big impact. The Secretary of State mentioned some activities that have been developed, such as the  RESTART Program. This funding instrument was created to promote gender equality and opportunities through the competitive funding of individual R&D projects in all scientific fields by researchers recently taking parental leave. In her intervention, Ana Paiva also highlighted the recent call for science-for-policy projects that aim to ensure that scientific knowledge drives and supports the development of new policies. It was also mentioned the program Engenheiras por um dia that encourages female students to choose engineering and technology, challenging the notion that these are male-dominated fields.

 

Anália Torres shared with the audience the results of the recent study “Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions: Knowing the Reality to improve it,” which aims to provide a synopsis of the results found on promoting Gender Equality (henceforth GE) in Portuguese Higher Education. The four Case Studies conducted (with interviews with institutional managers, teachers, non-teaching staff, and students from four Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), allowed us to understand the specific institutional, contextual, and circumstantial factors that can help in explaining the level of adherence to policies and practices that promote Gender Equality (GE). The conclusions drawn from this research project show that, although Portugal started late in tackling gender inequalities in higher education, it is already taking steps to balance the existing gaps. Precisely because imbalances persist, it is important to consider the clues drawn up and grounded in the project results.

Inês Lynce, the first female CMU Portugal National co-Director and the first female President of INESC-ID, addressed the issue of underrepresentation in Academic leadership, evaluation processes, panels, etc. Despite the significant demand for her participation in events and other initiatives, she makes an active effort to participate, ensuring female representation;  otherwise, their seat at the discussion table will remain vacant. Inês also emphasized the importance of fostering a cultural environment that builds self-confidence in young girls, enabling them to find their own voice and be heard. Lynce highlighted that this work must begin at a very young age, starting at the primary education level.

João Peixoto, Vice Rector of Universidade de Lisboa and Professor at ISEG (Lisbon School of Economics & Management), shared an overview of the institution, a sister school of Instituto Superior Técnico. Since 2013, ISEG and Técnico have been integrated into the Universidade de Lisboa, the largest university in the country, emphasizing the historical moment registered seven years ago when ISEG appointed Clara Raposo as the first woman President. The University of Lisbon Vice-Rector highlighted the institution’s commitment to supporting gender balance with a significant step taken two years ago, when ULisboa launched the Plan for Gender Equality, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination to develop a structure, a culture, and a set of actions to create and monitor equal opportunities and the reduction of inequalities, including those arising from gender. ULisboa’s Network for Gender Equality, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination was created to monitor the measures associated with implementing the plan and to promote the exchange of experiences, actions, and recommendations to contribute to an inclusive University. The Vice Rector highlighted that diversity, at all levels, is a key factor in driving Innovation. According to him, the next goal for the upcoming years is to have the first elected female rector at the Universidade de Lisboa. 

Leonor Barreiros, an MSc Computer Science (CS) and Engineering student at Técnico, spoke about her experience as a Computer Science student and some challenges girls in science still face. However, she also underlined some positive initiatives that exist nowadays to support Girls in STEM, like the “Feedzai” scholarship that she won in 2023 as a recognition of her academic effort and work. The scholarship helped her support her Erasmus experience in Munich and was a way to confirm that she is “on the right path”. According to her, these kinds of awards are a great incentive to continue working and show that dedication can be rewarded. This particular scholarship, exclusively for women, provides essential encouragement for girls to keep investing in themselves.

Luis Lemos Alves emphasized that awareness is crucial for cultural change, especially since many people today assume that gender balance is no longer an issue. On the contrary, this assumption underscores the need to assess and understand the problem thoroughly. The professor at Técnico advocates that, while there is no need to change curricula to make STEAM accessible to girls, there is a need to revise, implement, and evaluate existing policies. For example, although there is a clear non-discriminatory policy for STEM positions in academia, the fact that women are not applying, highlights the need to understand why this is occurring and what can be done to change it.

Overall, the key message was that broad recognition of the problem motivates those seeking to create change. We all have the agency to work together on this.

On May 10th, the CMU Portugal program hosted a delegation of 14 undergraduate students from Carnegie Mellon University, representing various disciplines within the field of engineering (Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering), accompanied by Treci Bonime, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, with CMU’s College of Engineering. 

The hosted students participated in a CMU Portugal networking lunch where they engaged with Ph.D. students and alumni, along with members of the Coordination office in Portugal, and faculty and researchers from the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR).

The students were in Portugal for a 10-day visit supported by CMU during which they visited several academic institutions, research and innovation centers, and companies. This experience marks their inaugural tour abroad, offering them a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture while gaining exposure to diverse academic and research perspectives.

Following the networking lunch, students visited the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR) of Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon, hosted by Alexandre Bernadino, Professor at Técnico and CMU Portugal Faculty.  The CMU delegation had the opportunity to get to know the work being developed at the different laboratories: Signal and Image Processing Group (SIPG), Computer and Robot Vision Lab (VisLab), Dynamical Systems and Ocean Robotics Lab (DSOR), Evolutionary Systems and Biomedical Engineering Lab (LaSEEB), and Intelligent Robots and Systems Group (IRSg); and they were also treated to demonstrations showcasing the research and development in these areas. 

The visit to ISR Lisboa was accompanied by associated CMU Portugal students and faculty who also shared their experiences at CMU and in Portugal, through the partnership. It included the participation of  Alexandre Bernardino, Professor at Técnico and CMU Portugal faculty; Diogo Cardoso, CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D student at Técnico in Electrical and Computer Engineering CMU Department; José Pedro Gomes, CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering CMU Department; Marcelo Jacinto, Ph.D. student at Técnico and Visiting Faculty and Researcher of CMU Portugal; Pedro Valdeira, CMU Portugal Dual Degree Ph.D student at Técnico in Electrical and Computer Engineering CMU Department; and Rui Bettencourt, Ph.D. student at Técnico. 

Photos by Bárbara Teixeira (ISR)