Ceremony held in the Legislative Assembly Hall of the State of São Paulo, installing 24 new members
The Scientific Director of the FAPESP Shell Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI), Professor Julio Meneghini, was installed as a member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo (ACIESP) in a ceremony held last Wednesday, December 13, in the Legislative Assembly Hall of the State of São Paulo (ALESP), in the State Capital. The biennial election to name new Academy members was held during the months of June and July 2017. Twenty-four scholars were chosen in six different areas of knowledge: Biosciences, Applied Sciences, Physics, Geosciences, Mathematics, and Chemistry. Meneghini was named in the area of Applied Sciences, with a résumé that includes 39 published works, 5 patents, and 1,057 mentions.
Among those seated at the parliamentary table were the President and Vice President of ACIESP, Marcos Silveira Buckeridge and Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani, respectively, and the President of the Science, Technology, Innovation, and Information Committed of ALESP, Congressman Orlando Bolçone (PSB). Buckeridge presented the results of a survey done recently by ACIESP that mapped the scientific production of the State in 15 mesoregions and calculated the scientific evolution of each one of them.
“It is an honor to be counted among ACIESP’s members. It represents São Paulo’s science, which is responsible for about 50% of Brazil’s scientific production,” Meneghini stated. The Director for Diffusion of Knowledge & Communication of RCGI, Gustavo Assi, emphasized that this membership is an important recognition that is granted for the relevancy of the work of the scientist and for the impact of his production throughout his academic career. Also attending the event was Karen Mascarenhas, RCGI’s Director of Human Resources and Leadership.
Selection process – The candidates to become ACIESP members are nominated by at least two full members of the institution, at least three months in advance of the election. Then, the list of the nominees is organized by area of involvement. An ad hoc committee then examines the résumés and systematizes the list of nominees for the voting to be done by the full members of the respective areas. The candidates who receive half of the votes, plus one, of their peers are put to a vote by an electoral college formed by all of the full members, whatever their areas of expertise. Those who are chosen to be new members of the Academy must gain more than half of the votes of the full members, in this phase.