About “Paula M. Vilarinho”

Education

Paula Vilarinho graduated in Ceramics and Glass Engineering from the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 1983 and got her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Aveiro, Portugal in 1994, in the field of Relaxor Ferroelectric Materials.

Work Experience

Paula Vilarinho has been Associate Professor at the University of Aveiro since 2000 and member of the Associate Laboratory, Centre for Research in Ceramics and Composite Materials (CICECO).

Paula Vilarinho is:

– The leader of the Electroceramics Group, within CICECO

– President of the Portuguese Society of Materials (SPM)

– Coordinator (Portugal) of the Emerging Technologies Program within The University of Texas at Austin – Portugal Program (Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab)

– Director of Undergraduate Studies of Materials Engineering of the University of Aveiro

– Member of the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program in Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Aveiro.

She was Visiting Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of North Carolina State University, USA, in 2001 and Visiting Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom in 2008.

Her teaching activities include topics on the synthesis, processing and characterization of materials, such as Microsctructure and Interfaces, Advanced Processing Techniques, Materials Processing Technologies, 2D 3D Structures, Functional Materials, Properties of Materials, among others, for under graduate, master and doctoral studies.

She is a member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports (from Nature Publishing Group), Practical Metallography and International Scholarly Research Network – ISRN Ceramics. She is a member of the Portuguese, European and American Materials Research Societies and Microscopy Societies. She has been acting as referee in the selection of Portuguese and European R&D projects (European Research Council and various European States Research Agencies) as well as a frequent referee of SCI journals. She was the former President of the Portuguese Society of Microscopy (2010-2011).

Scientific Track Record

Paula Vilarinho published over 260 papers, 4 book chapters, with ca. 3239 citations (h-index 31), 9 patent applications and edited 4 books. She has given over one hundred scientific and technical talks at international conferences and 86 invited talks. She has(is) supervised(ing) 18 post-docs, 21 PhD students and 32 Master students. She has been involved and coordinating more than 20 R&D projects and in more than 20 European R&D actions, networks and projects on the development and characterization of dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials. She has been collaborating with more than 10 Portuguese R&D groups and 10 foreigner groups, within Europe and USA. She organized 6 International Scientific Meetings and 4 National and International workshops on Materials Science topics. She was distinguished with the prize “Estímulo à Excelência” (Stimulus to Excellence) in February 2007 awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Scientific Interests

Paula Vilarinho Research Group is engaged in fundamental and applied research in the synthesis, properties and processing of functional materials for electronics, microelectronics and related applications.

Professor Paula Vilarinho group research has been focused on electrical polarization phenomena in solids, aiming to understand the mechanisms that control electrical polarization at the macroscopic and nanoscale level, and applying such understanding to the development of advanced nano and microelectronic devices. For that her group has been using electrical and structural characterization tools (impedance spectroscopy, piezo- ferroelectric analysis, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, among others) at the highest level. Materials under investigation in the group include perovskite type ferroelectric, piezoelectric, dielectric and multiferroic oxides, tellurium-based oxides and piezoelectric polymers (PLLA and PVDF). Applications of these materials include memories, sensor and actuators, thermoelectric devices, tunable dielectrics, and bio-compatible piezoelectric platforms for tissue growth, among others.

While understanding materials properties is central in many of the R&D activities of the group, the synthesis of nanofunctional materials in different geometries (1D, 2D and 3D) at low temperatures for compatible materials integration and using low-cost approaches is becoming increasingly important in the group’s research activities. Within this context the group has been exploiting hydrothermal synthesis, diphasic sol precursors, photo chemical solution and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) for the preparation of nanoparticulates, nanocomposites, thin and thick films of functional materials.

The current research interests of the group comprise the following topics: (1) Electric Field Driven Assembly Involving Ferroics for Biodevices, (2) Electrophoretic Deposition and Constrained Sintering of Functional Materials, (3) Lead Free Ferroelectrics, (4) Low Temperature, Low-Cost Fabrication of Functional Materials, Structures and Systems, (5) Nanoporous and Nanostructured Ferroelectrics and (6) Nanostructured Thermoelectrics and Grain Boundary Phenomena.

Technology Transfer

One of Professor Paula Vilarinho recent interests is in creating value for her research through technology transfer. In 2010 she participated in the COHiTEC Portugal Program (www.actbycotec.com) in which she acquired skills for technology transfer and business development. She won two awards in business plan competitions (EMPREENDE+ University of Aveiro, 2011 and Idea to Product (I2P) – COTEC, Portugal, 2011) and in 2011 she started a business venture (BraveSound).

Outreach Activities

The other interest of Professor Paula Vilarinho is related to Activities of Outreach aiming to contribute to promoting public awareness and understanding of materials science and engineering and to science education. She was the UA representative in the Portuguese Program MATERIALMENTE (http://oficina.cienciaviva.pt/~pv0592/) (that involved 5 Portuguese universities). Since 2000 she has been a regular coordinator of the activities of DEMaC in the Open Week of Science and Technology of the University of Aveiro (Semana Aberta da Ciência e Tecnologia) organized every November (http://semanaberta.ua.pt/pub/default.asp). She co-edited one booklet Á Descoberta dos Materiais and one video on Materiais e Desportos Radicais🇧🇷 She authored an article on a local daily newspaper on Nanotechnology, entitled “Big things from a small world! … how is nanotechnology changing the universe?” , Diário de Aveiro, 3 April 2014. She is currently the PI of the project LinKinMat (Projecto Ciência Viva, PEC38) (https://www.facebook.com/LinkinMat2013).