Arkansas Engineer

The magazine of the University of Arkansas College of Engineering

Leticia Vaz, Student Q & A

by | Feb 4, 2016 | Q & A, Spring 2016 | 0 comments

  1. Where are you from and how did you get interested in science?

    I’m from Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil. My first year of high school, I fell in love with chemistry. I had a natural ability and understood it so quickly. I was able to help teach my friends. In my third year of high school, I decided that chemistry was what I wanted to do in my future. I started studying chemistry at my home university, The Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, when I decided to study abroad.

  2. How did you end up coming to Arkansas?

    Brazil, compared to the U.S., lacks in research opportunities and materials. A lot of engineers come here for that and graduate school. I’m here with a government program called Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program, sponsored by the International Institute of Education, and CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel).

  3. Do you have plans post graduation?

    I’ll only be 19 when I graduate, so I plan to attend graduate school to get my master’s because 19 is so young to enter the job market. Eventually, I was to work in the biofuel industry focusing on quality control.

  4. Until then, what have you been studying?

    I have been studying a lot of organic chemistry and bioenergy. This summer, I hope to do research in another state here before I return to Brazil in August. My sophomore year, I worked in an electrochemistry and electroanalytical laboratory on a scholarship that was sponsored by the Governmental Program of Scientific Initiation PIBIC/CNPq. I was responsible for the “Spontaneous Co-deposition of Tin in Platinum/Rhodium Electrocatalysis” project where I working with green chemistry trying to make energy through hydrogen gas.

  5. Have you had any stand out professors or advisors?

    Ed Clausen is a really popular professor. He’s really funny and likes to poke fun at his students. He teaches intro to chem which is a lot of math, but he’s very helpful when you need help with your grades.

  6. As a Brazilian exchange student, what has been the biggest difference between here and there?

    The food. Dinner is huge and you have so many options. There is so much fried food and also, breakfast pastries. We don’t eat those in Brazil. The culture is very different in the way that you interact with one another. In brazil, we are very loving with lots of hugs and kisses, and here, people just wave at you.

  7. Fun question: What’s your favorite movie?

    Oh, Harry Potter definitely! I went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studio and almost cried like a baby.

  8. Any words of advice?

    You have to be prepared physically and mentally for all new experiences and be open to everything new. You can’t come here with a closed mind. You have to enjoy every moment. I’m only here for one year and I want to be happy with what I did in the end. I am making this time worth-while.

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