MGoBrazil

University of Michigan scientists and scholars led by President Mary Sue Coleman are traveling in Brazil Sept. 22-28 to strengthen research and academic collaboration with several higher education institutions and scholarly centers. #MGoBrazil By Eva Menezes

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MGoBrazil delegates at the U.S. Embassy in Brasília, L-R: Erika Hrabec, Mark Tessler, Gary Hammer, President Coleman, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Jo Rumsey, Maria Carmen Lemos, and Eva Menezes. Photo by Julio Galhardi.

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Meet Keila Grinberg. She lives in Rio but she'd rather be in Ann Arbor.

I spoke with her during the signing ceremony event at UNIRIO:

Tell me a little bit about yourself and about your experience at U-M.

I am an associate professor of history at UNIRIO. My husband, who is also an associate professor of history at this university, and I spent a year in Ann Arbor doing our post-docs. We just returned. I was a visiting scholar doing my own research there at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and my husband, Flavio Limoncic, taught at the history department with a Fullbright fellowship. I study slavery in 19th-century Brazil, but also focus in South America. I do a lot of comparative studies with the U.S., which is the main reason why I went to U-M. We had a wonderful time in Ann Arbor. We went with our two daughters, who are 10 and 8 years old. We lived in Burns Park, and they went to Burns Park School. We entered the Ann Arbor and the Burns Park communities, just participating in the community life such as events and opportunities that the University of Michigan created, which was wonderful.

What does it mean to you that the University of Michigan is at your home institution?

We were very proud to be [in Ann Arbor] while they were discussing the visit to Brazil, especially to be able to bring the University of Michigan, one of the main universities in the world, to be a partner of our home university, UNIRIO. I think it will be wonderful for us to have Michigan as a partner, and I think we also have lots to contribute to the development of science and research. Our field of the history of slavery, for example, is being developed in a joint collaboration between researchers of Brazil, the U.S. and other countries in the world. It's collaborating that we advance in science.

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Coffee plants at Unicamp

Our visit to the University of Campinas (Unicamp), with which we signed a memorandum of understanding for academic and scientific cooperation, featured seeing a coffee plant firsthand!

Above, U-M delegates tour the Unicamp campus.

Above, L-R: U-M researcher Gary Hammer, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, and Unicamp President Fernando Ferreira Costa.

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"In the past the way that people from the United States or Europe were interested in Latin America was as a site of study, a research site, a field site, whereas today that's really not so much the case. There's much more of a relationship of equality, and this is especially true in the places we're going in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where the research institutions are really first-class. We're talking about having conversations and research collaborations that are on a variety of topics ranging from cancer research to health delivery to social sciences and the arts, so I think they're not just focusing on Latin America but focusing on Latin America as well Latin America within the rest of the world."

U-M delegate Sueann Caulfield

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U-M and FAPESP sign collaboration agreement

On Sept. 25, U-M and FAPESP, one of the main research funding agencies in Brazil, signed an agreement that aims at stimulating collaboration between researchers from U-M and from higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo through joint research projects that may include the exchange of researchers and students in any academic discipline.

For more information and CALL FOR PROPOSALS, go to http://www.fapesp.br/en/agreements/michigan.

Above: U-M President Mary Sue Coleman and FAPESP President Celso Lafer sign the collaboration agreement.

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President Coleman's interview with Brazil's leading newspaper Folha de S. Paulo was published today! It is on the front page of the Science section. Online version here.

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President Coleman speaks with O Globo newspaper

This morning President Coleman was interviewed by O Globo journalist and former Knight-Wallace Fellow Antonio Gois on the rooftop (39th floor) of our hotel in Copacabana Beach. (O Globo is one of Brazil's top newspapers.) 

Even though a "cold front" has arrived in Rio today, it's a gorgeous day out, with mostly blue skies. The temperature has been in the upper 50s to low 60s, which is pretty unusual for this time of the year, and the "cariocas", the people from Rio, aren't too pleased. But, after hearing that temperatures last week were in the upper 90s to low 100s, I'm pretty sure this Michigan delegation isn't complaining about the weather.

The rooftop made it for a picture-perfect view of Rio de Janeiro, but it was very bright out. President Coleman dealt with that small inconvenience by wearing her cool shades, which quickly became a social media sensation!

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Brasília's peculiarities

Part of our group got to see a little bit of Brasília, the capital of Brazil planned and built in the 1950s, yesterday after lunch. Here's a picture that #mgobrazil delegate Gary Hammer took of the inside of the beautiful Cathedral of Brasília, one of the many buildings there designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. You can learn more about the Cathedral and view other photos here.

We also learned from a colleague from the U.S. Embassy as we were in the van, being taken from one meeting to another, that the city has the shape of an airplane. (See it for yourself below.) However, according to Wikipedia, its planner and developer said the city's shape was inspired by the Christian symbol of the Cross. Learn more about Brasília here.

What do you think? An airplane, the Christian symbol of the Cross, or something else?

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President Coleman as she spoke to IG reporter Priscilla Borges at the U.S. Embassy yesterday in Brasília. IG is one of the largest web news portals in Brazil. I'm in the middle, doing the consecutive translation, with assistance from a U.S. Embassy staffer and our own Maria Carmen Lemos, who is Brazilian herself. Note the Brazilian map above our heads.

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Promising UM-Brazil partnership possibility in the medical field

Above, L-R: John Matel, U.S. Embassy Country Public Affairs Officer; Denise Neddermeyer, CAPES’ Director of International Relations; and U-M delegates Mary Sue Coleman, Gary Hammer, and Jo Rumsey.

Yesterday we had a very productive meeting in Brasília with CAPES’ Director of International Relations, Denise Neddermeyer. CAPES, the Brazilian Higher Education Coordination Agency, is a Foundation within the Ministry of Education that, among other things, awards research and study abroad grants to Brazilian students and scholars. It is one of the agencies behind the Science Without Borders program, which was created by the Brazilian Federal Government to send thousands of Brazilian students to study abroad with scholarships.

“It’s clear that this is an extremely ambitious program. It’s very admirable on the Brazilian part to be making this kind of investment,” said Mark Tessler, U-M Vice Provost for International Affairs.

There was great interest from CAPES in what U-M has to offer in terms of helping train the next generation of Brazilian doctors. One of the possible partnerships between CAPES and the University of Michigan would involve placing Brazilian medical trainees at U-M for clinical rotations.

“This fits seamlessly into our interest in bilateral faculty and student exchanges between the University of Michigan and our sister institutions in Brazil,” said Gary Hammer, professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School. “It is a fantastic starting point.”

Above: U-M delegates Maria Carmen de Mello Lemos and Erika Hrabec

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This working trip is intense and fast, with lots of planning and scheduled meetings ahead of time for President Coleman and the researchers, but also some last minute opportunities, like this one at the National School of Public Administration. The photo shows Mary Sue Coleman at one side of the table while across the table sit Luis Henrique D'Andrea, head of the International Cooperation Office (between Mark Tessler, U-M Vice Provost for International Affairs and Maria Carmen Lemos, Professor at the School of Natural Resources) discussing possible collaborations.

Lots of other meetings and a big van taking the team from one building to another in Brasilia, starting early in the morning. Our group met also with Science Without Borders Program executives, which sends thousand of Brazilian students to study abroad with scholarships.

The early meeting today at the Ministry of Sustainability with executive secretary Francisco Gaetani and other officials was productive and promising. Later, the secretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Alvaro Prata joined us for lunch at Coco Bambu, a seafood restaurant.

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It's exciting to see these leaders come together. President Mary Sue Coleman and Eduardo Moacyr Krieger, University of São Paulo's executive director for international relations, and members of their staffs had a chance to talk about the importance of working together.

"We share similar values with our higher education colleagues in Brazil: improving human health, protecting the environment, and holding open our doors to students of all backgrounds," President Coleman said. "As much as we teach, we must also learn. International collaborations increase our understanding of the world to better prepare tomorrow's global citizens."

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Former swimmer Gustavo Borges at U-M alumni reception in São Paulo

Gustavo Borges, former University of Michigan men's swimmer and Brazilian international, came to our alumni reception in São Paulo last night.

From mgoblue.com:

"Gustavo Borges won 10 NCAA event titles (eight individual, two relay) and claimed NCAA All-America honors 24 times during his career. He helped lead the men's swimming and diving team to the 1995 NCAA team championship and four straight Big Ten team titles. Borges was a 20-time Big Ten champion. … Borges competed in four Olympic Games for Brazil and won four medals (two silver, two bronze), which are tied for the most earned by any Michigan athlete." 

Earlier this month, Gustavo, who graduated from U-M with a degree in Economics in 1995, was named to the prestigious U-M Athletics Hall of Honor. He was also inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame back in April, so it was a big honor for the U-M delegation and his fellow alumni to have a chance to chat with him. I saw one person asking for an autograph, and several others lining up to take pictures with him, including President Coleman and UMAA President Steve Grafton.

Above, L-R: Mary Sue Coleman, Gustavo's wife Bárbara Borges, Gustavo Borges, and Steve Grafton. Photos by Eva Menezes.

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WATCH: I was able to speak with former University of Michigan men’s swimmer and Brazilian international Gustavo Borges last night at the U-M alumni reception in São Paulo about his experience at the university, about what Michigan means to him, and about what he misses the most about Ann Arbor. (Do all the Ann Arbor restaurants he mentions still exist?)

More: http://mgobrazil.com/post/32254648836/former-swimmer-gustavo-borges-at-u-m-alumni-reception

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University of Michigan Medical School endocrinologist and adrenal cancer researcher Gary Hammer being interviewed by Veja.com reporter Guilherme Rosa. Veja is Brazil's leading, most influential magazine.

Learn more about Hammer's research in collaboration with USP's Medical School in English and Portuguese, or watch a video.

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U-M strengthens ties with University of São Paulo

Today U-M strengthened longstanding partnerships and created new collaboration opportunities with the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil’s largest higher education institution.

U-M delegates spent the day at USP’s Medical School, where President Mary Sue Coleman and USP’s Vice-Rector for International Relations Adnei Melges de Andrade signed a memorandum of understanding. “I can think of no more important work than joining hands with you,” President Coleman said to USP’s faculty and leadership.

“By working together we’re going to achieve much more than either institution could achieve alone,” said Michele Heisler, a professor of Internal Medicine at U-M’s Medical School, which has had collaborations with USP’s Medical School for more than a decade.

Above: U-M and USP researchers discuss current and future collaborations in medicine and the health sciences. Photos by Eva Menezes.

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I spoke to Tamires Rocha Figueiredo, a third-year medical student at USP, during our visit to her school today. Tamires is one of four USP medical students who are going to spend two months at U-M doing clinical rotations as part of a new exchange program between the two medical schools. "I'm excited and looking forward to it," she said.