João Pavão Martins, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, was awarded the Medal of Scientific Merit, by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, this Wednesday, during the Portuguese Science Summit ‘Ciência 2023’. This award is given to national or foreign individuals who have distinguished themselves for their valuable and outstanding contributions to the development of science or scientific culture in Portugal.
According to João Pavão Martins, receiving this award shows the recognition of the work developed over many years, which includes the academic journey at Técnico that began as a monitor, in 1974, culminating with his academic jubilee in 2022. “This award honours me and also all the colleagues involved in the creation of the Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate Programme (LEIC) and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI)“, he highlights. In his speech he also mentioned “the students who helped develop the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field” at Técnico, giving special emphasis to the passion he found in teaching, particularly at the undergraduate level.
The professor stresses the importance of this type of award in promoting and encouraging scientific research, as “it highlights and rewards outstanding scientific advances, contributing to the rapid scientific progress, encouraging quality research, stimulating collaboration, promoting dissemination and driving scientific advancements, thus benefiting the scientific community and society as a whole”.
The Retired Full Professor was a supporter of the creation of an AI specialisation branch in the Undergraduate Programme (of which he was the coordinator from 1988 to 1997) and contributed to the creation of DEI, in 1998. He is the author of books in the areas of Logic (“Lógica e Raciocínio”) and Programming (“Programação em Phyton. Introdução à Programação Utilizando Múltiplos Paradigmas”, 5th edition), published by IST Press. In 1986 he founded SISCOG, the first Portuguese company dedicated to the development of Artificial Intelligence applications, and a member of the IST Spin-Off community.
This year’s winners list also includes Manuela Veloso, Técnico alumna and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). In 2019, she was awarded the Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo Award given annually by Técnico.
TheTécnico professors and researchers awarded the Medal of Scientific Merit over the years:
• 2022: Bernardo Herold
• 2021: Carlos Salema, Luís Magalhães, José Manuel Fonseca de Moura, Paulo Ferrão
• 2020: Alexandra Costa Gomes
• 2019: Jorge Calado, José Pedro Martins Barata
• 2018: Maria Cândida Vaz
• 2017: Carlos Varandas
• 2016: João Sentieiro
• 2009: Eduardo Arantes e Oliveira
