Professors Maria Domingues Vargas from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Celso da Cruz Carneiro Ribeiro from the Department of Computer Science received the National Order of Scientific Merit last Wednesday, October 17th. The event, held at the Palácio do Planalto, aims to honor national and foreign personalities who have distinguished themselves for their outstanding contributions to Science, Technology and Innovation in Brazil.

Considered the chief honor of the Executive, the Order was instituted by Decree No. 772/1993. The current edition honored 85 researchers from universities in the country and abroad who stood out for their intellectual and academic merits in the various areas of knowledge. They all received insignia and also the diploma of the Order for Scientific Merit 2018.

"This award shows [...] the importance of maintaining investments in science and research so that the country can resume its path towards development" - Celso da Cruz Carneiro Ribeiro

Maria Vargas was promoted to the Grand Cross Class in the Chemical Sciences area, while Celso Ribeiro was admitted to the Comendador class in the area of Engineering Sciences. The award recipients are defined by a committee formed by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC), the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC).

Maria Domingues Vargas

 With a PhD and postdoctoral degree at the University of Cambrigde, in the area of Exact and Earth Sciences, the Professor of the Chemistry Department of   UFF, who has been working for 15 years at the university, develops research in bioinorganic, bioorganic and bioanalytical chemistry and compounds and   materials. "Being promoted to the Grand Cross class is a source of great joy because it means the recognition of more than three decades dedicated to   teaching and research in public universities in our country, as part of a great team, the Brazilian scientific community "she celebrates.

 The researcher was also one of the honorees of the event "Woman - Present and Future" organized by the Pro-Rectory of Research, Graduate and   Innovation (Proppi) in March of this year. On the occasion, she spoke about the challenges faced by the researchers and stressed: "Only 14% of the   members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences are women."

 Now, with the awards, she highlights the importance of partnerships. "Perhaps success came on the one hand because I wanted very hard to be a scientist   and I dedicated myself very, very much. On the other hand, and perhaps so important, I soon had the understanding that partnerships are essential in   the academy : with men who know how to recognize our talent and work on an equal footing, and with women through collaborations and support   networks.I would like to say that when I received the Grand Cross yesterday I felt proud representing my fellow scientists at the UFF , with whom I have   shared the dream of seeing more women doing science and reaching the top of the scientific career.

Celso da Cruz Carneiro Ribeiro

With two PhDs in the area of Computer Science, one by the Université Paris 13 (Paris-Nord) and the other by the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, and three postdoctoral, Universität Wien, AT & T Labs Research and Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Celso Ribeiro has been a professor at UFF for 15 years. His main areas of research are analysis and design of algorithms, combinatorial optimization, heuristic search methods, parallel processing, sports optimization and metaheuristics.

The professor stressed the importance of a joint action for the advances of the research. "It is a great honor to have been contemplated. This award represents the recognition of the work developed during my career and also of the cooperation work carried out with all my friends and colleagues, students and alumni of masters and doctorates, co-authors and collaborators in Brazil and abroad. "

"This award also shows the quality of the work developed in the UFF; in particular, at the Institute of Computing. It also shows the importance of maintaining investments in science and research so that the country can resume its path to development. This is the role of the scientist: to contribute with new ideas and original solutions, "he concluded.