When he gratuated at Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA – Portuguese acronym), in 1964, Professor Jurandyr Nascimento Garcez came to the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) in order to help start the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. In 1968, the first class of Electrical Engineering was graduated, some started working at companies and others stayed at the University.
Almost 20 years after the creation of the Electrical Engineering course, the professors of the College of Eletrical Engineering (FEE – Portuguese acronym) felt the need of creating possibilities so that engineers graduated by UFPA could develop and apply their knowledge researches developed in the region.
Professor José Augusto Lima Barreiros, chief of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the time, based on the Ordinance 03/84-DEE-CT-UFPA, appointed the commission for the feasibility of implantation of the Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering.
The commission, composed of Professors Gervásio Protásio do Santos Cavalcante, Luciano Sérgio Nicolau da Costa and Tadeu da Mata Medeiros Branco, elaborated the Statute approved by the UFPA’s Higher Council. In the second semester of 1985, the Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering was approved, which started effectively in March 1986, having obtained recommendations from Capes in the same year.
The engineer Jurandyr Garcez was the first Coordinator of the Electrical Engineering Graduate Program (PPGEE – Portuguese acronym) of UFPA and, in 1988, he also advised the first dissertation presented to the Program, written by the Engineer João Carvalho Campos, about the Dynamics of Eletrical Machines.
Professor Jurandyr explains that “initially, we were a few, so, we had to integrate with other Graduate Programs. We were advised by Professors who came from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). This exchange of ideas allowed us to create basic guidelines of the Program”.
The program, when it only had the Master’s degree, worked with lines of research in Electric Energy Systems, of Control and Telecommunication.
It was only in 1998, when the Doctorate was created, that Applied Computing started to make part of PPGEE.
The Professor explains that the great satisfaction of having helped to implement the PPGEE is that “we started to interact more with the productive sector through projects and agreements. This current group, the first generation, is the proof that the course has improved in both quantity and quality”.
For the engineer, the best way to foment the scientific development is by mixing knowledge. And that is what PPGEE did when it encouraged the Masters graduated at UFPA to take up Doctorate in other institutions. Jurandyr considers that today, thanks to the Electrical Engineering Graduate Program, the researches conducted here can develop themselves better and the students take part in more activities outside the classroom.
Jurandyr summarizes engineering as “my temple and my religion. It is where I made my career, it is my life. I could be enjoying my retirement, playing domino, but here I am, watching new engineers arise and helping the best way possible”.
PPGEE – The Program aims to instruct qualified human resources, as well as to promote the research and the deepening of technical and scientific studies regardin the field of Electrical Engineering. In the pursuit of its goal, PPGEE is structured on three Concentration Areas nowadays: Electric Energy Systems, Applied Computing and Telecommunication.
PPGEE of UFPA was the first and is considered the best Electrical Engineering Graduate Program in the Amazon Region. The regular academic activities of the Master’s and the Doctorate are developed, mainly, in the Colleges of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, supervised by the Electrical Engineering Graduate Program Coordination (CPPGEE).
The program has the tradition of regional leadership, both in teaching and agreements of research and services with companies and industries. This agreement has contributed significantly and continuously for the modernization of the industrial parks of Pará, by the instruction of highly qualified human resources. The intense scientific production of the falculty guarantees its high academic level, while the agreements with the most well-known Teaching and Research Institutions in Electrical Engineering in Brazil and throughout the world, grant a contemporary nature to the graduate students. These activities ensure its level Five evaluation in Capes, from the six levels of evaluation.
The Programa has graduated more than 636 Masters and 286 Doctors until December 2019.