Leo RamosVarela: full professor at UnespLeo Ramos
The physicist José Arana Varela, a full professor at São Paulo State University (Unesp), is the new chairman of FAPESP’s Technical and Administrative Council (CTA), replacing Ricardo Brentani, who died in November. Varela was the first scientist on a short list of three sent by the Foundation’s Board of Governors to the State Secretary for Economic Development, Science and Technology, Paulo Alexandre Barbosa, who forwarded it to State Governor Geraldo Alckmin to make the final choice. A professor in the Physical Chemistry Department a the Araraquara Chemistry Institute, Varela is the first professor from Unesp to take up the post of CTA Chairman. He was previously on FAPESP’s Board of Governors, having been the Foundation’s Vice-Chairman from 2008 to 2010. With a degree in physics from the University of São Paulo (1968), he did his master’s degree at ITA (the Aeronautics Technological Institute) in 1975 and his doctorate, in ceramic materials, at the University of Washington (1981). The author of more than 500 articles in international magazines, he has always been very interested in the subject of innovation. Varela is an executive director of Unesp’s Innovation Agency and was previously Director of Innovation at the Multidisciplinary Center for Development of Ceramic Materials, one of 11 Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (Cepid) funded by FAPESP. A member of the World Academy of Ceramics (based in Italy), the São Paulo Industrial Federation (Fiesp) Senior Council for Innovation and Competitiveness, and the Brazilian Physics Society, he is also a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and a member of the Materials Research Society, both of which are based in the US.
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