Maria Silvia Bastos and Virgílio Almeida will give the IMPA Tech Master Class

The 2026 academic year is about to start in style. To welcome new students from all over Brazil and inspire young graduates, IMPA Tech has organized the Aula Magna 2026 with Maria Silvia Bastos Marqueschief advisor to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, and Virgílio Almeidaprofessor emeritus at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and member of IMPA’s Technical-Scientific Council. The meeting will take place on March 16, the first day of term, in the courtyard of Maravalley Port, at 13:30.

“The lectures by Maria Silvia Bastos Marques and Virgílio de Almeida open IMPA Tech’s third year of operation with a bang. It’s a crucial year, in which we have received over a hundred students from all over the country, selected for their excellent performance in knowledge olympiads and the ENEM, and in which undergraduate students will also begin to interact actively with IMPA’s postgraduate program and its partner institutions,” said IMPA’s director-general, Marcelo Viana.

As in previous years, the 2026 selection process reserved up to 80% of the places for medal-winning candidates from five scientific olympiads, such as the OBMEP (Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad). The rest went to young people who performed well in the Enem (National High School Exam) math test.

“We are delighted to welcome this new class. They will find an institution that is constantly improving and consolidating, in order to offer its students all the support they need to carry out their studies in the best possible conditions,” added Viana.

Since its inauguration in 2024, IMPA Tech has been building a network of strategic partnerships that reinforces its mission to offer multidisciplinary training. In 2025, the institute significantly expanded its links with Brazilian and international institutions, opening up new academic and professional possibilities for students.

Among the main partners are the Physics Institute of UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), the Confucius Institute of PUC-Rio (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro), the Serrapilheira Institute, IDOR Ciência Pioneira and Coppe/UFRJ. Read more here.

Meet the guests at Aula Magna 2026

Before taking on the role of chief advisor at Rio City Hall, Maria Silva Marques was the first woman to chair the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development). She was also president of Goldman Sachs Brasil, Icatu Seguros and Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). She also served as Municipal Secretary of Finance for the city of Rio de Janeiro and coordinator of the external area of the Ministry of Finance’s Economic Policy Secretariat.

Almeida was previously Secretary of Information Technology Policy at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and coordinator of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br). He is also an associate professor at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center and a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC).

The Aula Magna will also be open to students from previous classes of the bachelor’s degree in Mathematics of Technology and Innovation, IMPA postgraduate students, professors and collaborators of the institute.

In 2024the institute welcomed André Street, co-founder of Stone, and Auana Mattar, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of TIM to open the school year. The following yearthe guests were Armínio Fraga, former president of the Central Bank of Brazil and founding partner of Gávea Investimentos, and Fernanda Scovino, general coordinator of data governance at the Ministry of Education and co-founder of Base dos Dados.