In this "Testimonials" we interview Rúben Inácio, awarded with a Prémio de Mérito Académico Jerónimo Martins em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores 2022/2023.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey at IST.

I am Rúben, I am 23 years old, and I came from Faro to study at IST. Over the last 5 years, I studied computer and computer engineering both in the undergraduate program at Taguspark and in the master's program at Alameda. During my master's, I had the opportunity to teach practical classes on foundations of programming and introduction to algorithms and data structures, both undergraduate courses. Additionally, I had the opportunity to work on a more interdisciplinary thesis aimed at studying deep learning models to improve particle identification, thus expanding my knowledge in the field of physics as well.

What did winning this award personally mean to you?

I was happy to win this award, as it recognized the quality of the work I developed with a lot of effort and dedication. I am also grateful for having had the opportunity to share not only my work but also a bit of what research is like in particle identification.

Why are awards like this important?

I consider these awards to be important for several reasons. Firstly, they can motivate anyone to strive to maximize the quality of their work. Secondly, they provide the opportunity for companies (such as Jerónimo Martins) to better understand the projects developed within the context of computer science and engineering theses at IST. Finally, they offer IST the opportunity to have closer contact with these companies, which is beneficial for both parties.

In your opinion (aside from awards ;) ), what can and should be done to attract more students to Computer Engineering at Técnico?

I believe that this is an area highly sought after by students aiming to start a degree and, consequently, students aiming to join IST. Therefore, more than attracting more people, I believe it is more important to maintain the interest that already exists and has been growing. Nevertheless, I consider that one way to achieve this goal is by having and promoting more teams dedicated to projects or competitions in this field. Currently, there is already STT in the cybersecurity area, but I am not aware of cases in other areas such as artificial intelligence, for example.

Do you have any advice for future students of Computer Engineering at Técnico?

In my opinion, the better they learn the foundations of the field, the easier the progression throughout the course. For example, courses like foundations of programming and introduction to algorithms and data structures will be very useful throughout the degree, and most of the first-year courses will be helpful for some course/area in the future (for example, linear algebra and calculus are very useful for machine learning and artificial intelligence in general).