A young Brazilian researcher is awarded a prize at the largest pre-university science and engineering fair in the world – Surgiu

Student Pedro Paulo Milhomim Braga, 16 years old, on Thursday (16) received the non-trivial award at the Regeneron ISEF exhibition, held between the 13th and 17th, in Los Angeles, USA. The student was born in the city of Imperatriz, in Maranhão, and was part of the delegation with 11 other young people who represented Brazil at the event, considered the largest pre-university science and engineering fair in the world. Representatives from 70 countries participated in this event.

At the ceremony, the young student received a non-trivial prize of US$500, as well as US$15,000 to invest and improve the work “Analysis of the larvicidal biopotency of Solanum viarum Dunal in pathogenic tropical mosquito larvae.” This initiative was supervised by Professor Zelmar Timoteo Soares, and co-supervised by Professor Carlos Sampaio. “This award demonstrates Brazil’s representation here at the International Science and Engineering Fair,” Pedro Paulo stressed. “It shows how important it is to encourage science in our country,” the student said.

The project was a finalist at Mostratec 2023, a science and technology fair held by Fundação Liberato in Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul. This year, the Mostratec delegation received support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), the Federal Council of Industrial Technicians (CFT/CRTs) and the Regional Council of Industrial Technicians (CRT-RS).

“Victories like this show how important it is to evaluate and finance science fairs, as a public policy, from schools to events like Mostratec and FEBRACE,” explained MCTI’s Director of Science, Technology and Scientific Education Mainstreaming, Juana Nunes. “It is very gratifying, and very important for the dissemination of science, that we have this initiative since basic education, so that we can train new scientific talents in Brazil,” he added.

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Mostratec Exhibition, held annually, presents research projects in various fields of human knowledge carried out by young scientists from early childhood education to secondary school, including vocational-technical education at the secondary level. In the 2023 edition, the works of finalists from seven federal states (RS, SC, PR, SP, CE, RN and MA) were selected to represent Brazil at this year’s Regeneron ISEF.