Thirty-five graduates of the MIT Portugal Program’s four executive master’s courses gathered at the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) in Lisbon on November 26, 2009 to receive the first-ever national certificates to be awarded by Portuguese universities.  Isabel Cancela de Abreu, a graduate of the Sustainable Energy Systems Advanced Studies program, receives congratulations from MIT President Susan Hockfield Each graduate conducted their MIT Portugal studies during 2007-08 or 2008-09 – the Program’s first two academic years – in Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing, Sustainable Energy Systems, or Transportation Systems. They were among the first students to have access to the four university consortia established by MIT Portugal. In practical terms, these consortia enabled the students to study and conduct research at more than one Portuguese university, and to work in collaboration with MIT faculty and students. (A total of 59 master’s students have completed the MIT Portugal Program to date, and there currently are 208 PhD students enrolled in MIT Portugal’s four doctoral programs.) Honored Guests, Compelling Speakers Rui Machete, the President of FLAD, welcomed the MIT Portugal deans, faculty and students to the event – MIT Portugal’s first certificates ceremony to date – and MIT President Susan Hockfield, who attended the event as part of her first visit to Portugal, offered brief remarks. In addition to offering her “heartfelt congratulations” to the graduates, President Hockfied thanked MIT Portugal’s co-directors, Profs. Paulo Ferrão (IST) and Daniel Roos (MIT); the MIT Portugal deans and faculty; Dr. Machete; and João Sentieiro, the President of the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), for their dedication to MIT Portugal and its students. “We are tremendously proud of you,” she told the graduates, adding “I am particularly delighted to welcome you into the great, global extended family of MIT.” Through MIT Portugal, she said, “you have applied rigorous analysis and creative thinking to help solve some of the world’s most urgent programs.”  Group photo at the Nov. 26 graduation ceremony To those students who have not yet visited MIT, President Hockfield said, “I know that you would feel at home there – because the values and priorities that have guided your education in the MIT Portugal Program also inspire everything we do at MIT.” The ceremony also featured moving remarks from Isabel Cancela de Abreu, a 2008-09 graduate of the Sustainable Energy Systems area’s Advanced Studies program, and from Vanessa Borges, Vice President of SGC Energia, one of MIT Portugal’s industry affiliates and a key partner in the Program’s sustainable energy-related projects.
Executive master’s students who have completed their MIT Portugal Program studies to date: Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing
Technology Management Enterprise (TME) program / 2007-08 Ricardo Bastos Raposo
Rui Sana Miranda
Carla Manuela Silva Alves
João Ricardo F. Malainho Gonçalves
Hernâni José Clemente Matos
Anselmo Filipe Freitas Gonçalves Sustainable Energy Systems / 2007-08 Paulo Picão
Ana Margarida Caeiro
Rubens Alexandre Vaz Bião
Gabriela Cabral
Pedro Cabral Vicente
Nuno Miguel Jorge Figueiredo
André Eusébio Rocha
Pedro Miguel de Sousa Miranda
Tiago Carreira Seabra
Filipe Oliveira Lopes
Nuno Rolo Creado
Dora Nogueira
Pedro Neto
Adela Córdoba Zarza Sustainable Energy Systems / 2008-09 Afonso Sebastião
Dillon Banerjee
Fernando Crespo Diu
Hugo Dias
Isabel Cancela de Abreu
João Barreiros
João Marques
João Schmidt
Jorge Fernandes
Jorge Lucas
José Cunha
José Lavado
José Oliveira
Manuel Silva
Maria Carvalho
Maria Correia
Maria Moura
Mariana Coimbra
Miguel Betencourt
Nuno Afonso
Nuno Domingues
Nuno Rocha
Pedro Gaspar
Ricardo Cardoso
Sérgio Amaral Transportation Systems
Complex Transport Infrastructure Systems (CTIS) / 2007-08 Ana Paula Ripari
Fernando Silva
Júlia Dill Orrico
Matheus Marques
Paulo Rodrigues
Pedro Agrochão
Sílvia Cosme
William Tavares Photos: Inês Santos | 
