Between May and October 2024, the Direct PhD student Juliana Bertoldi had the opportunity to participate in the Institutional Program for Internationalization (PrInt) from CAPES, commonly referred to as the sandwich PhD, at the University of New Mexico School of Engineering (New Mexico, USA), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Abhaya K. Datye, an expert in material characterization using Transmission Electron Microscopy and the synthesis of Single-Atom catalysts.
During this period, Juliana synthesized Single-Atom catalysts using the patented synthesis method developed by Prof. Datye’s group, evaluated their catalytic activity, and characterized them using various techniques, such as XANES, EXAFS, STEM/TEM-EDS, and DFT.
Juliana also had the opportunity to be part of the CISTAR NSF and attend the CISTAR Biennial Meeting, where members from participating universities (Purdue University, The University of New Mexico, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, and The University of Texas at Austin), the National Science Foundation (NSF), industry representatives, and collaborators gathered.
In the words of the PhD student:
“The sandwich PhD was enriching for my career. I had the opportunity to use characterization techniques that I had only seen in theory before. I am grateful to CAPES, USP, UNM, Prof. Abhaya Datye for the opportunity, and to my colleagues at UNM for all the support during my time there.”
As a result of the sandwich PhD, Juliana established a partnership agreement between USP and UNM, enabling the exchange of students, faculty, and staff.
