São Paulo – The São Carlos Physics Institute (IFSC), of the University of São Paulo (USP), wants further exchange of knowledge with Arab universities. The institution should receive 15 foreign students for a summer internship starting in January, and one is Egyptian. “We do not have as effective collaboration with the Arabs. It is important for us to have, due to our strong cultural connection,” stated the deputy director and professor at the IFSC, Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Júnior.
According to Oliveira, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, for example, have top end researchers in physics and engineering. “There are great possibilities,” he said, also mentioning Egypt as a country with a strong research community and traditional teaching institutions, like the University of Alexandria. The summer internship is an opportunity to increase this exchange, as it is open to universities world over.
The Egyptian to come to the IFSC is Ramy Said Nashed, graduated in Electric and Electronic Engineering. He has just completed his masters at the American university of Cairo and already has international experience in research, according to Oliveira. In São Carlos, his internship will be in nanotechnology and photonics. One of Nashed’s objectives is to visit a high-end research centre for his doctorate. “He may decide to do it with us,” said the deputy director at the institute.
The IFSC summer internship had its first edition halfway through the year, when seven European and one Latin American student participated. The programme brings to the university foreign students late into their graduate or post-graduate studies. They develop research in their areas of interest within physics, engineering, biology or chemistry, sectors in which the institute operates. The research may be theoretical or in laboratory, and the student is received as a graduate student, being followed by a professor at the institution, as his councillor.
In this call to participation in the programme, 58 people enrolled and 15 were selected. Among the criteria taken into account for the choice are the student’s curriculum and the level of the university he comes from, according to Oliveira. In the next edition of the internship, 13 Latin American, one Swiss and the Egyptian student will be received, the focus of the programme in this period of the year is Latin America, as students from the region have longer holidays early into the year. In the case of students in the Northern Hemisphere, their longer holidays are in the middle of the year, and that is why the focus for internships in that region is normally at that period.
The call to the next summer internship should take place in February next year, ending in April. Students may come starting in March. The duration of the internship is two months, but the month is defined according to the availability of students. Enrolment is through the IFSC site (see link below).
São Carlos Physics Institute
Site: http://www.ifsc.usp.br/english/
Telephone: (+55 16) 3373 8810
*Translated by Mark Ament
