Marcelo Viana receives IMPA Tech key from City Hall
The awards were presented at an event with medal winners from the Carioca Math Olympics
17/1/2024
IMPA’s director-general, Marcelo Viana, symbolically received the key to IMPA Tech, the institute’s first degree course, from Rio de Janeiro City Hall on Wednesday morning (17). The bachelor’s degree in Mathematics for Technology and Innovation will be based in a 10,000 m² shed in Porto Maravalley, a hub created by the City Hall to house startups and technology companies.
The building work, financed by Rio de Janeiro City Hall, is in the process of being completed and classes will begin in April. With an innovative proposal, the new college will train professionals prepared for the technology-related job market.
“This degree will have the DNA of IMPA, which since 2005 has organized the Brazilian Public School Mathematical Olympiad (OBMEP), which involves around 21 million children and young people across the country and gives us access to the most talented young people Brazil has. So our proposal was that the selection process should clearly favor those who perform well in the Olympiads. This is the profile of students we want, from all over the country. We want the most talented young people who want to change the world through mathematics,” said Marcelo Viana.
The IMPA Tech key was handed over during the City Hall event that distributed passports and kits to 141 students who won a trip to Disney and NASA in Florida (USA). The students won the trip for their educational experience and scientific exploration after excelling in the 1st and 2nd Carioca Math Olympics (OCM), which is also supported by IMPA.
“We want the guy to go to the municipal school and learn, have an eye for technology, compete in the math Olympiad, and then go on to study at IMPA Tech, the math university, or one of the great universities we have in Rio, and then he can start his own company, produce, make money, bring money here and allow more people to be educated, more people to advance. That’s the goal we have,” said Eduardo Paes at the event, which took place next to the Museum of Tomorrow.
IMPA’s new undergraduate course will cater for up to 100 students in the first year, with investments of R$16.7 million transferred by the Ministries of Education and Science, Technology and Innovation. The students approved in the selection process, which takes into account their performance in five scientific competitions or in the Enem Mathematics test, will receive financial support and student accommodation (for those over 18), offered by the City Council.
“Rio de Janeiro wants to be the capital of mathematics, it wants to be a great world reference in the teaching and learning of mathematics and IMPA Tech is a college that will take into account the performance of you [students] at the Olympics. So those who do well in the Olympiads need to be rewarded. The message we want to send is that studying in Rio de Janeiro is worthwhile,” said Education Secretary Renan Ferreirinha.
Graduation
The degree in Mathematics of Technology and Innovation will last four years and after a basic cycle, students will be able to choose between emphases: Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Science and Physics.
The selection process for the course began in November with the candidate registration period. On January 23, IMPA Tech released the list of successful candidates for the second phase: individual and group interviews. The list of graduates will be announced on February 29.
