About me

Short Bio

I was born in Maceió, Brazil, where most of my family live. Maceió is the capital of Alagoas state, whose natural beauty is stunning (see some google images and you will certainly agree - click here or here).

However, when I was 19 I left this paradise to study Computer Science at the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), in the city of Campina Grande (in the state of Paraíba), 320 Km far away from Maceió. The Systems and Computing Department at UFCG has been receiving in the last years the highest 5-star grade classified by the Brazilian Student Guide, which has been achieved by only 10 other universities in Brazil so far (there are over 800 Computer Science undergraduate courses in Brazil). Campina Grande is a lovely mid-sized city to live. It is among the places in Brazil with the highest concentration of PhDs, and is historically famous for its technological development. The city was the first location in northeastern Brazil to receive a computer and nowadays has more than 100 software companies, whose business is mostly based on worldwide software exportation.

After completing my B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Campina Grande, I moved to Recife, another beautiful and high-tech city in Brazil, and the capital of Pernambuco state. There I worked for several years as a Software Engineer at the Information Technology Agency of Pernambuco State and also spent some time teaching to computing undergraduates at the Faculty of Informatics and Technology of Pernambuco. Then I moved to Leeds (UK) to do my PhD in the School of Computing at the University of Leeds. The School is ranked in the top 10 computing departments in the UK, based on the quality of its research (based on the UK Government Research Assessment Exercise) and 80% of its research activity is rated internationally excellent or world-leading.

After completing my PhD, I returned to Campina Grande as a Lecturer in the Systems and Computing Department at UFCG. I'm a member of the Intelligent Applied Computing Lab. Research themes within the group include a variety of topics in Artificial Intelligence, Databases and Knowledge Representation -- and their applications to many different domains.

My family

I have been happily married for many years and I enjoy raising two smart boys!

Other Activities

Beyond my fascination for Computer Science and for doing research, I like photography, cooking, making trips, playing football, walking, cycling, watching films and socialise. Although I am Brazilian, I don't like Feijoada, but I love Brazilian Barbecue (Churrasco) !