The hybrid event, organized by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and CNPq and featuring the keynote lecture and five round tables, is set April 26-27. Registration is underway at https://forms.gle/QKhrbfp7gNuYLUDY8. The seminar, in Portuguese with English translations, will be live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytBA4OA9aOc.
Leal, a corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and a native of Brazil, is a distinguished professor with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, and former chair of the Department of Entomology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In his keynote lecture, Leal will call attention to the CNPq-UC Davis program, “Science without Borders,” which he helped launch 10 years ago to support undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral studies at UC Davis.
Leal's hybrid presentation (part recorded and part live) will focus on three “Science Without Border” students whose education at UC Davis played a critical role in launching their careers. One is now an assistant professor at Penn State; another is a data scientist at a Brazilian university; and the third is an entrepreneur. “And one of them met her husband at UC Davis,” Leal related.
- UC Davis Chancellor Gary May will congratulate CNPq in the name of UC Davis, which houses nearly 100 faculty with professional links to Brazil.
- UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, the 35-year director of the federally funded UC Davis Superfund Research Program (SRP) (and who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center), will discuss the history of SRP and his dedication to hosting many Brazilian students, postdocs, and other collaborators.
- UC Irvine distinguished professor Anthony James, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, who collaborates with UC Davis professor Greg Lanzaro of the School of Veterinary Medicine, will discuss how philanthropy helps to shape current vector biology research.
- World-renowned economist Jose Scheinkman of Brazil, who received an early career scholarship that shaped his career path to the University of Chicago, Princeton, and now Columbia University, will discuss how CNPq plays a key role in the Brazilian scientific economy and its training of scientists.
- John Wingfield, distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences, and former head of the Directorate of Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), will share information on how NSF operates.
Other participants will include Sally Rockey, inaugural executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research; Sonny Ramaswamy, former administrator of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture; Professor John Hildebrand, International Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences; Daniel Mucida, head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology at Rockefeller University; Nantel Suzuki, program executive of NASA's Human Landing System; and Scott Hutchins, former Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture.
Brazilian biomedical scientist Helena Nader will be inaugurated next month as the first female president in the 106-year-history of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.