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The EDAM-UMinho marked the start of the semester for the MIT Portugal Program Doctoral Program in Leaders for Technical Industries with an Inaugural Lecture, last Wednesday, September 20th, 2017, in Campus of Azurém, Guimarães.

This inaugural lecture had as keynote speaker, Engr. José Manuel Fernandes, chairman of FREZITE, a national cutting tool engineering company. With the title “What do Companies Expect of a Leader for Technical Industries?”, José Manuel Fernandes shared his vision on how industry is changing in Portugal and how knowledge and leadership skills are critical for its evolution. With an emotional and enthusiastic talk, many were the questions raised by the grad and under-grad students in the audience. The EDAM-UMinho coordination offered to the participants two copies of the book “Caminhos do Exportador- Estratégias de Internacionalização” authored by the invited speaker.

The second part of the inaugural lecture was dedicated to storytelling. LTI students and UMinho faculty that had done visiting periods at MIT under the MIT Portugal Program shared their experience in the US institution. They told stories about their time at MIT, specially focusing on their experience in doing research, interacting with other faculty and students, and living at MIT and Boston area. Moreover, the storytellers were also asked about what they brought back to UMinho from their experience at MIT, and how it changed them. The different stories served as motivators for prospective students.

Overall, this was an event with a great feedback, which the EDAM-UMinho coordination intends to repeat at the start of each semester.

In 2017 the MISTI Program brought to Portugal seven students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a unique internship experience abroad. The success of previous years led to the maintenance of the collaboration between MISTI and the MIT Portugal Program, which started officially in 2014 and already gave the opportunity to 25 MIT undergrads and graduate students to emerge in the Portuguese entrepreneurial sector.

 Last year one of the seven students who came to Portugal ended up by being invited to stay as COO at the company where she interned, a B2B startup specialized in mental fatigue management named Performetric. “I am proud to say I was instrumental in helping the company move from a beta product to an official version” and added “"I will be helping the company's entry and expansion into the United States, shares 2016 MBA graduate and MIT Portugal intern Olaide Olambiwonnu.

This year three students interned at Ceiia, a world class company in the fields of aeronautics, mobility, naval/offshore and automotive; three were received at top Portuguese Universities (IST, University of Lisboa and University of Coimbra); and one at The Museum pf Art, Architecture and Technology ( MAAT) in Lisbon.

MIT student Katie Silva was hosted at the University of Coimbra by Professor João Bigotte, Assistant Professor of Technological Change and Innovation in the MIT Portugal Program, and spoke about her experience: “I’d never seriously considered being an entrepreneur, especially at a place like MIT where some fellow students graduate with start-ups and I never felt like I had an idea. My MISTI experience taught me more about how people became entrepreneurs and innovators and what programs, like the MIT Portugal Program, are doing to encourage innovation within academia”. Shannon Hwang was one of the three students that interned at Ceiia and refered to this experience as an inspiring opportunity and a great way to develop her engineering skills while exploring a beautiful nation on her first trip to Europe. More about MISTI Portugal 2017 students´ experience here.

MISTI is a pioneer in international education, by helping MIT students to develop practical intercultural skills through hands-on opportunities in over 30 countries. MISTI's mission is to  ensure that students have a rich experience that broadens their academic, professional, and personal horizons and prepares them to be global leaders in their field of study.

The MISTI Program with Portugal follows the framework of a traditional MISTI program and it was developed in collaboration with the MIT Portugal Program (MPP).  Seeing the value in connecting more MIT students to Portuguese companies and in connecting Portugal with MIT’s hands-on or mens et manus approach to learning, MPP approached MISTI in 2011. The MIT Portugal Program officially launched MISTI in 2014 and is led by Managing Director Alicia Goldstein Raun.

Before going abroad,  participants are required to complete Portugal-related coursework and attend a series of Prep & Training modules covering topics such as cross-cultural communication, navigating the workplace and safety. By exploring their host country’s culture, its students to experience their host culture as an informed, engaged participants and not just visitors.

At graduation, participants in MISTI student programs report a higher level of self-confidence and an improved ability to adapt to new situations and to communicate effectively with international peers.

If you are Portuguese company, research institute, or university laboratory interested in hosting a student, please contact the MIT-Portugal Managing Director Alicia Goldstein Raun.

MIT Student Katie Silva with a friend at the University of Coimbra

Isabel Rocha, MIT Portugal Program Bioengineering Faculty at the University of Minho was named member of the new Universidade Nova de Lisboa Rectoral team, headed by Professor João Sàágua. 

More about the UNL Rectoral team here.

Isabel Rocha at the official Takeover Ceremony

On August 30th and 31st, Professor Gareth McKinley, the director of the non-Newtonian Fluid Dynamic research group from MIT, visited the University of Minho, with the main purpose to meet the computational modelling group coordinated by professors Miguel Nóbrega and Olga Carneiro, from the Institute for Polymers and Composites (IPC), with which he has long standing cooperation projects.

The visit included a general meeting with all the group researchers, to present the most relevant on-going projects covering different areas of common interest, follow-up meetings for the current cooperation projects between both groups and a tour to the IPC and PIEP premises. During his stay Gareth McKinley was also received at the University of Minho Rectorate, by the Rector, Professor António Cunha, and the Director of the MIT Portugal Program, Professor Pedro Arezes, where he had the chance to perceive the most relevant facts of the University of Minho history, talk about the past and future of the MIT-Portugal Program and know about the very good perspectives concerning the high performance computational facilities that will be installed at the University of Minho in the near future.

The visit ended at one of the well know restaurants located at the Guimarães historical city center, where Gareth McKinley had the chance to taste a few typical dishes from the Minho Region and watch a live fado performance. 

From left to right: José Miguel Nobrega (IPC, Universidade do Minho), Olga Carneiro (IPC, Universidade do Minho), António Cunha (Rector, Universidade do Minho) and Gareth McKinley (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)