On the fourth floor of a sleek office building on the MIT campus in Cambridge, in the MIT Design Lab, are an array of mock-ups of building and other designs made from the usual materials, including foam and wood. But out-of-the-ordinary research is behind these designs – and one of the researchers in residence, at least for several months, is Vasco Granadeiro, an MIT Portugal PhD candidate in Sustainable Energy Systems from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST).  Vasco Granadeiro, one of 17 PhD candidates to arrive at MIT this fall Granadeiro and his IST advisor, Prof. José Duarte (who is also visiting MIT), are working with MIT Portugal and MIT Media Lab Professor William Mitchell on an aspect of mass-customization thatinvolves creating a methodology, as well as design and building plans, for a housing development that is at once pre-fab and customizable – and which takes into account energy concerns. The work is not theoretical: their plan is to see a project through construction with a builder in a developing country where building stock is needed and sustainability considerations are welcome. Transatlantic Collaboration Granadeiro, who worked as a structural engineer for several years after completing his undergraduate studies at IST, is one of 17 MIT Portugal PhD students who arrived (or will arrive) at MIT during the 2009 fall semester to further their research in some of MIT’s leading labs. Research visits by MIT Portugal students to MIT (as well as visits to Cambridge by Program faculty from Portugal), play a key role in establishing the robust international collaborations that are central to the Program’s approach to both research and education. With this fall’s influx of visitors, a total of 49 students have come to Cambridge to date, for varying periods of time. (Although they are not enrolled in the Program, a number of MIT students have made the reverse trip, flying to Portugal and the Azores to partner with MIT Portugal students and faculty. Some have even included Portuguese case studies in their PhD and master’s theses.) Sharing Research Over Lunch Granadeiro recently described his research to fellow student visitors during an informal lunch organized by MIT Portugal for this purpose. Also giving a talk was Ivo Ferreira, an aerospace engineer in the EDAM program who recently arrived at MIT from Portugal as well. In a highly polished PowerPoint presentation on tools that can help to better design complex engineering systems, Ferreira began with a sobering review of several well-known engineering projects that have gone awry due to a failure to recognize that “the design phase is the most important one” in complex projects. (The presentation included videos showing failed space launches, for example, and miscalculations involving the design of the Pedro and Inês Bridge, in Coimbra, Portugal, which required significant re-working at great cost). While at MIT, Ferreira is working with Engineering Systems Division (ESD) Prof. Oli de Weck on the design tool for SpaceNet 2.5, a software tool for interplanetary supply chain management of logistics planning. Leading-Edge Projects The following summaries provide brief introductions to the other PhD students who arrived at MIT for the fall semester, several of whom will stay in Cambridge for some or most of 2010: Joana Abreu (IST) (Energy): Joana is analyzing the residential electricity response to demand modification strategies. Her research builds on experiments, developed in comparison with a control group, which will measure the savings achieved by direct real-time feedback strategies, and the responsiveness to external and internal controls. Sezin Aday (FCT-UNL) (Bioengineering): Sezin, who is working in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Langer, one of 14 MIT “Institute Professors,” is preparing surfaces functionalized with different bioactive molecules for stem cell proliferation and differentiation. Rui Costa (IST) (EDAM): Rui, who has already returned to Portugal, is working on research involving renal failure. Filipe Gracio (IST) (Bioengineering): Filipe’s research includes an exploration of the consequences of stochastic effects in the context of complex biological systems, particularly in the area of stem cell engineering. His initial goal is to study the properties of this methodology; in the longer-term, his aim is to evaluate and use stochastic approaches to study stem cell biology and to inform design efforts for stem cell engineering. Marco Leite (IST) (EDAM): Marco is working in MIT’s Materials Systems Laboratory in the area of materials selection. He is considering technical performance, economic and life cycle evaluation. Swarna Pandian (IST) (Bioengineering): Swarna will arrive at MIT in December. Her work involves mGluR-dependent LTD and its regulation in the visual cortex by eye opening and the onset of pattern vision. One part of her thesis work will involve looking at mGluR-dependent LTD in the visual cortex using flailer mutant mice. Maria Pereira (IST) (Bioengineering): Maria is working on the next generation of the "gecko bandage" pioneered at MIT: micro/nano-patterned, biodegradable and biocompatible tissue adhesives inspired by the adhesive mechanism of the gecko paw. The aim is for the new adhesives to release drugs/biomolecules in order to promote cardiac regeneration in patients who have suffered heart attacks. Nuno Pereira (IST) (Energy): Nuno is conducting his thesis research in MIT’s Building Technology Group. His focus is on building energy simulations and passive retrofit solutions and implementation strategies. Joao Pita (U Coimbra) (Transportation): Joao is carrying out research involved in AirNets WP4 (“conceptual design, formulation and testing of an airline network design model”). His focus is mainly on the integration of the models he is developing with the delays propagation model also being developed within the AirNets project. Ines Ribeiro (IST) (EDAM): Ines’s research involves the development of process-based cost models and environmental analysis. Ana Rita Neves (U Porto) (Energy): Ana’s research includes testing a set of local energy sustainability indicators she developed during the second year of her PhD program. She’ll also explore methodologies used in the United States to elaborate municipal energy and climate action plans. Miguel Santos (U Coimbra) (Transportation): Miguel’s research involves the formulation and solving of the airport capacity expansion model and the application of this model to the U.S. air transportation system. Alexandre Silva (U Minho) (EDAM): Alexandre is developing cost models for industrial sensing mechanisms, including devising strategies to maximize return on capital investment. Ricardo Torcato (U Porto) (EDAM): Ricardo’s research involves cost modeling, materials and technology competitiveness assessment, and RIM technology. Daniel Wiesmann (IST) (Energy): Daniel is developing a method to assess urban resource consumption from a micro-scale perspective. He is first identifying the resource consuming sectors within a city and then constructing a geo database to assess their properties. | 
