My name is Tibiriçá Gonçalves Vasconcelos, I am 34 years old and was born in Brazil. I studied industrial chemistry (1999) at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), in Santa Maria, a relatively unknown town at the south of Brazil. Although during my undergraduate degree my initiation into research was in organic synthesis, my postgraduate degree was in environmental analytical chemistry. In my masters degree (2002) at UFSM I investigated the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to degrade recalcitrant compounds in effluent of herbicide production. During my PhD (2006), I started to work in the field of pharmaceuticals in the environment. This research was done at UFSM and Freiburg University, Germany, where I spent 6 months.
In 2006, after my PhD, I assumed a position as analytical development manager in a UFSM laboratory. My job was developing methods for analysis of mycotoxins and pharmaceuticals in food. I also coordinated the routine activities of the laboratory. At the same time, I collaborated with the laboratory where I did my postgraduate degree, co-advising the masters and PhD students.
After 3 and a half years working with food analysis, I decided to leave the field and do a post-doc abroad, again in environmental chemistry. Nowadays, I have a position as an invited researcher at the Paris-East University at Marne-la-Vallée, France.
From today, I am going to be writing about my experiences here in France during this post-doc stay: plans, difficulties, hopes, curiosities and anything else that someone who is intent on following a similar path could be interested in.
See you!
