MIT-Brazil Program

08/30/2024

03/14/2024

to january 2024 in Manaus where 16 MIT students engaged with 14 Brazilian students through the MIT Global Classroom “Designing Sustainable Polymers Systems”.
We are counting down to MIT’s 24-Hour Challenge!
Support MIT-Brazil and enable more MIT students to experience Brazil!

When the clock strikes 12 on Pi Day, March 14, 2024, you will have 24hrs to show your support with any amount. misti.mit.edu/mit24 Please join us and thousands of MIT alumni, parents, students, and friends at the eighth annual MIT 24-Hour Challenge. @

01/06/2024

Bate-papo maravilhoso com sobre foguetes! 🚀

I love how aerospace brings people together. There’s something innate about watching human-made objects fly, hover, launch, and orbit which ignites fascination no matter how technically minded you are. Awe is simply inescapable, and I love that my field has this effect.

This student-led group at invited me to share my experiences, and I jumped at the chance to mix my aerospace and Portuguese passions (SO much new vocab preparing to present entirely in Portuguese!).

🛰️ I wanted to make sure it was relevant, however — in the US, engineers benefit from opportunities in this space afforded by a long history of war, Great Power competition, and available venture capital. We have incredible hardware and manufacturing infrastructure.

🗜️I decided to focus on the fundamental skills that could be built by working in terrestrial industry to prepare for aerospace application — abilities like fluids management, welding, machining, design for manufacturing, and test and systems engineering. My experiences with and showed me how broad the funnel for aero careers can be!

✈️ Embraer has demonstrated Brazil can build best-in-class aerospace products, so I shared that I saw no definite reason that the future commercial Brazilian market could not offer jobs in launch and space vehicles.

👩‍🚀 And I’d be willing to bet that at least one from this group is going to play a role in making that happen!
——
Thanks for following this series of posts on our experiences as part of this program. More updates to come in 2024!

01/05/2024

Hi all, Theo here again. In our first lab meeting with community leaders from favelas in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, I casually shared some work I’d done to adapt the built environment for my particular use-case as a wheelchair user. My colleagues expressed what a challenge accessibility is in their communities, and asked if I’d be interested in starting a project in that space. While I develop hardware for myself, and have worked for years on neuro-rehab techniques and equipment through , I’d never done a community-based access project. After hiring two incredible undergrads, Rodrigo and Pedro, we dove in to interviewing Heliópolis residents.

My intent with the project was to identify common themes with in-home access challenges (example: postural improvement for seated work…not building sidewalks).
Difficulties we discovered through interviews fell into two categories:
🔸physical access and
🔸the time required to give attention to hyperactive kids.
Whether due to the access issues leaving the home, or simply the daily grind of work, it was difficult to find and meet individuals with physical disabilities.

🪀 So, we pivoted to focus on hands-on toy-building for kids to make their own toys, based at .

Rodrigo, Pedro, and I studied the toys which resonated the best with kids, then designed 3 different builds from recycled & cheap materials: Labirinto Fantástico, Vai-e-Vem, e Bilboquê. We ran workshops with kids, seeking feedback from them and their teachers, and iterated the workshops.

We were happy that by the end, we’d satisfied the following success criteria:
1️⃣ Less than 30min of preparation for educators for a class of 30.
2️⃣ A cost of less than R$10 per student.
3️⃣ Team work in groups of 2-4 required to complete the toy(s) in time available.
4️⃣ A spectrum of objetives from ‘defined’ to ‘flexible’ for various learning styles.

After every session, kids asked if they could take the toys home (as planned!) and when we would return to make more toys (unplanned, but heart-warming!).

Rodrigo and Pedro will expand this project to more schools, so I’m excited to see where they take it!

01/03/2024

Oi oi, it’s Viviana again! Here to talk more about why I came to Brazil and my experience with the language and culture so far :)

I came to Brazil through MISTI looking for a global experience after graduation. I specifically wanted to work in the global development sector in South America to take my learnings and apply them to my community back home in Puerto Rico. I am thankful to say that I gained exactly the kind of experience I was hoping for and so much more. The cultural learnings exceeded all expectations and the bonds I was able to create were full of joy and appreciation, truly life-changing!

The most impactful and drastic learning experience for me has been the language. Before coming to Brazil, I didn’t know any Portuguese at all… now people mistake me for a local!

I never would have expected to learn as fast as I did. Without any previous experience, I learned to speak Portuguese fluently in less than two months and achieved professional working proficiency. Before the two-month mark of learning the language, I started giving my lessons in Portuguese to the youths from the Observatory in Heliópolis and doing Spanish-Portuguese translation work for UNAS and their Spanish-speaking partners!

At first, the idea of moving somewhere alone where I didn’t speak the language was quite daunting, but it was the best decision I could have made. There is something unique about learning a language through immersion, especially if you are starting from scratch. You rely on the kindness of strangers to be patient with you, explain local phrases, share popular music or find different ways to say the same things. Diving into life in São Paulo, I learned the most from daily interactions, whether that be talking to the cashier at the grocery store or the Uber driver while stuck in traffic. I am so thankful I decided to take on the challenge and push myself every day to always ask questions, keep being curious, and not be afraid to make mistakes.

This incredible learning experience is not over for me yet! Thanks to I will be in São Paulo for the next 5 months continuing the work from this semester, stay tuned for what’s to come!! Obrigada💚

01/03/2024

Oi gente! It’s Viviana :) Today I am here to tell you all a little about my Brazilian experience so far! I am so thankful to for allowing me to have this unforgettable experience🇧🇷❤️

I am currently a visiting researcher at working in the Arq.Futuro Laboratory, specifically under the Women and Territories Nucleus. My primary role has been leading the laboratory’s collaboration with the Observatory in Heliópolis, a project by (Union of Centers, Residents’ Associations of Heliópolis and Region) that consists of an amazing collective of young researchers between the ages of 14-23, all residents of Heliópolis and regions.

Within the thermal comfort project that Theo and I described in our last post, I am a part of the technical research team on the Insper side, but I also took on the role of an educator for the observatory. I offer weekly workshops (all in Portuguese!) centered around climate justice and thermal comfort to create capacity and build bridges that connect the youths to the academic world through research collaboration. My workshops are based on producing and communicating technical and academic data, all through the lens of climate justice and the importance of advocacy.

Facilitating the collaboration between Insper and the Observatory has been quite the challenge, but a challenge that I willingly took on and have learned an innumerable amount of lessons from! I have placed a lot of effort into making the workshops relevant and accessible to the youths’ context and perspective by using accessible language, active dynamics, and involvement in the territory. I have enjoyed being that person who brings two worlds together in a way that represents true co-creation where local knowledge is valued and respected just as much as technical knowledge, if not more.

I have been able to make a lot of progress during my time here in São Paulo, and I am looking forward to continuing working with and learning from these incredible people/organizations!

01/01/2024

Olá pessoal! We are Viviana and Theo, recent MIT grads respectively in Mechanical Eng. & International Development and Aerospace Eng., and as a way to transition 2023➡️2024, we’ll share some ongoing work between MIT-Brazil and the lab, .futuro.

We’re wrapping up a semester of research in São Paulo on in-home thermal comfort and the heat-island effect in this concrete jungle.

The combination of a tropical climate and super-dense development makes São Paulo a perfect laboratory for heat-trapping effects of concrete, asphalt, and a lack of heat-tempering green space. For so many in this city who do not have air conditioning, natural ventilation both inside the home and along narrow city streets is of critical importance.

In this city of extreme economic disparity, there also exists the question of climate justice. As is the case all over the world, often those who suffer most detrimental health effects of climate change are the communities least responsible for the emissions which cause those changes, and benefit least from such industrial development.

The focus of this project is to collect primary data in São Paulo’s largest favela, Heliópolis, to determine whether that community suffers the effects of heat swings disproportionately, and to what extent heat levels endanger the health of the 200,000 residents in that community.

This project is based at Insper as part of the Arq.Futuro Laboratory which focuses broadly on sustainable urban development. We are both supported by and for our research exchange (gratidão!).

Stay tuned as we’ll be back with updates…fiquem com gente!

12/05/2023

https://tinyurl.com/AmazoniaSeminar

10/16/2023

A great event will take place next week in São Paulo, connected to a past MIT/ CIS/ Faculty Seed Fund grant: 🤷🏻‍♂️ *How urban mobility, land use, and real estate are connected to the climate crisis?* How should we think of transportation and housing policies together to promote urban resiliency?

🔛 Join us (in person) at Insper on *October 27th, 2023*, for policy debates and research presentations with international experts!

👥 International Seminar on *Climate Resiliency and Low-carbon Accessibility* promoted by *Insper Arq.futuro Cities Lab + MIT CRE + Lincoln Institute*

🏢🚇🏢 One full day of presentations and dialogues based on evidence and policies on the *nexus between housing and mobility to foster a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient urban development!*

▶️ More details at www.lowcarbonaccessibility.science

⌛ Register at www.insper.edu.br/en/events/international-seminar to reserve your spot!

Simultaneous translation port-eng - Teremos tradução simultanêa!

09/27/2023

The info session with details on the January program in Brazil is today at 5pm in 14E-310.

09/26/2023

IAP 2024 Global Opportunities / are you an MIT student interested in Brazil?

TOMORROW: join us for the upcoming info session on what will be and how to apply for a credit-bearing MIT’s Global Classroom 3-week program in Brazil in January 2024.

Global Classrooms are short-term-usually 2- to 3-week-opportunities to learn abroad alongside MIT faculty and local partners.

—> learn Portuguese .global.languages. Either complete your studies here and (or if already know Portuguese) apply for summer internship opportunities in Brazil (including the new regional program in the Amazonian biome), in Portugal and in Cape Verde.

Find out more about MIT’s Global Classroom Program at misti.mit.edu/global-classroom!

08/31/2023

Class of 2027, welcome to MIT! Today at the Academic Expo some of us, Brazilian students and staff, with Tim ♥️