 We're here with Carolina Araujo, a mathematician in algebraic geometry from INPA. She's also a Simons associate here at ICTP. So Carolina, could you share with us to begin sort of your story of getting interested in math and further pursuing that as a career? Sure. So I was always interested in math since high school. It was good at math, and this was my favorite discipline at school. But I was actually not aware of the scientific career in math until I actually got to the university. So when I got to the university, I was not sure whether I was going to do engineering. Both my parents are engineers or physics, which is something that interested me. And then I started to take classes in all departments. And then when I started taking serious classes in math, then I realized that that's what I wanted to do. And then I also met professors and then I became aware of the possibility of becoming a scientist in mathematics. And then I was, I mean, once I really got to know the possibilities and I understood what math was, then it was very clear to me that that's what I wanted to do. And you studied both in Brazil as well as outside of Brazil? Yeah. So I did my undergrad in Pooke, Rio, Catholic University. And then I did my PhD in Princeton University in the US. So what advice would you have for any students wanting to pursue math, but specifically students from developing countries if they want, they consider a career or they consider a master's or PhD? So I don't know any specific, what should I tell them? Well, first of all, it's just, people should know that it's hard work. But if you're willing to do it, there is a lot of space for development. So I think one thing that was very good to me is that once I was already an undergraduate, I started to get some contact with research. So in Brazil, we have a program of initiation of research to undergraduate students. And then I think in my, I mean, my first year, I started in this program. And so this put me in contact with research. And then my then advisor put me in contact with his collaborators. And so this opened many doors for me. So I think this is to get in touch with the research as soon as possible. I think it's a very good thing. Do you have any specific advice or inspiration to aspiring women mathematicians? Sure. I think it's a time that women pursue what they want. So I think for a long time, many women thought that maybe math, we're not women for many reasons. And in fact, we, with some colleagues, we are thinking of some ways of actually visiting schools and making sure that women that are interested in math are encouraged actually, first, to know that they can do it and that there are women in math. We are still fewer than I would like to, but it's definitely possible. And that's it. Is there a good community for women in math at IMPA? So this is something that in Brazil is starting now. I mean, we do have a reasonable amount of women in math, but we so far we have not been organized. So recently, in the last few years, many initiatives emerged independently to try to create some network. And this is something that is happening now. And I think that helps a lot because we are still minority, but once we are connected and we are organized, we become much stronger. So this is growing. And I think for very young women, I hope that by the time that they get an Austrian PhD, there will be already some established network of women in math. That sounds very promising. I think it's nice to have that community. Yeah, it's very important. So yeah, let's speak about Brazil specifically, but I think that the situation in Brazil can be felt in many other countries. There have been periods of prosperity where academics has been funded and has grown. And I guess even now there's a period of perhaps some political instability. And I'm curious if you feel and if you notice and maybe how you can describe the impact of instability of politics and government, how that affects long term development of science. So our scientific community is very much worried with the current situation in Brazil. So we went through periods of a lot of funding and Brazilian research actually grew and flourished in these last years. And now there is the danger that all this investment just gets lost because some of these projects are long term projects. And then they need investment and this investment came. But now if it doesn't continue, then there is this danger that all that has been done gets lost. And that has been warranted by the scientific community. They're cutting a lot of funding for science these days. And I think even the Proceeding Academy of Science and other institutions have already openly shown this concern. So this is a very serious topic. So how much does IMPA rely on funding from the government? So I think most of IMPA's funding comes from the government. And not only from IMPA, but also for the public universities, which are the main source of research in Brazil. Well, okay. So let's talk about some of the wonderful things that IMPA provides in mathematics. Recently, there was a mathematics festival. Right. And maybe you can describe this better, but it sort of took math to more of the general public. Right. So correct. So first of all, maybe you should explain, give some context that in Brazil, 2017 and 2018 are the official biennium of mathematics in Brazil. So we're sort of, we're looking towards the ICM that is going to happen in Rio in 2018. And you'll be a speaker there. Right. Yes. That's exciting news. Congratulations. Thank you. And so we are organized. I'm also in the organizing committee for the ICM 2018. And we really want to use this opportunity to increase public awareness of mathematics. So the first step was to make 2017, 2018 the biennium of mathematics in Brazil. And in this scope of the biennium, there are many activities that are being organized. So one of them was the math festival that took place a couple of months ago in Rio, whose aim was to bring mathematics to the general public as a fun thing. And actually I gave a chitol for this festival and I spoke about mathematics in nature and sort of explained to a general public the many manifestations of math in nature with beautiful pictures. Is there an emphasis on a particular age group? So the festival itself aimed at all public. So there were workshops even for children. So my thought was a little bit more advanced maybe for high school students and the general public. But there was all range of activities. It seems maybe six or eight years old until in adults. In almost any country, I think there is sometimes a divide between mathematicians and the general public. Perhaps maybe not an appreciation of math, even a fear of math. So this is a very nice activity. It was great. It was great. It was a big success. We did this in three different schools. Activities were taking place in three different schools. And they were packed. Hopefully there's more to come. Actually there's going to be another edition of the festival next year just because it was so successful that people wanted to have it again. So we're going to have it again in 2018. Right. Okay, great. Only growing then. Right. And so in next month, Brazil will host the Math Olympiad. Right. Which is also exciting. And I think maybe we could emphasize that some of the roads that IMPA has, you mentioned before that you were kind of directed to research. Right. There are some channels. And IMPA has a few ways of attracting very good students from Brazil and from other places. Right. And offering them positions based on particular results of competitions. Right. So normally students that do very well in the Olympiad, so they are usually they are sort of encouraged to come to IMPA to do the master's and fellowships. So it's a very important way to find a talented mathematician. Yes. Lost around there. Yes. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time. It was a pleasure. Okay. And best wishes for the ICM. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.