Speakers

OPTICA (formerly OSA) FELLOW since 2022. She coordinates the National Institute of Science and Technology (INCT/CNPq) INTERAS 406761/2022-1 (Radiation Technology in Health Sciences). In 2025, she was elected Full Member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo (ACIESP). She is the President of the Brazilian Optics and Photonics Society (SBFOTON) (2025 - present), having previously served as a member of its Deliberative Council (2021 - 2025) and Editor of the Biophotonics Newsletter (2018 - 2019). Since 2020, she has been a member of the Photonics Committee (CCFOTO) of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI) and a member of the BRICS Working Group on Photonics (2020 - present). She was a Councilor for the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) from 2023 to 2025, where she also served on the committee for the ''Carolina Bori Science and Women'' Award (2025). She served as the Coordinator of the CNPq Graduate Evaluation Committee (Call 35/2023) and was a member of the 1st CNPq Women and Science Award committee (2025). Additionally, she has been a member of the CAPES Physics Thesis Award Committee (2023, 2024 and 2025). She holds a BSc in Physics (1984), an MSc in Physics (1987), and a PhD in Sciences from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP, 1991). Her postdoctoral research was conducted at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy (1992), and at the Center for Lasers and Applications (CLA) at IPEN/CNEN-SP (1992 - 1994). A Senior Researcher at the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN) of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) since 1995, she served as the Head of the Center for Lasers and Applications in 2008. From 2009 to 2013, she coordinated the Professional Master Program in Lasers in Dentistry (IPEN/USP), and from 2013 to 2015, she was the Vice-Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Nuclear Technology at USP. She was a Principal Investigator for several FAPESP projects (CEPID Optics and Photonics) and other national initiatives (CNPq INCT Photonics), as well as a member of the Medical Physics Commission of the Brazilian Physical Society SBF (2008 - 2014). She served as Vice-President of the Brazilian Association of Lasers in Dentistry (ABLO) from 2010 to 2014 and participated in the CAPES Quadrennial Evaluation Committee (Engineering II, 2013 - 2016). She was the founder and, since 2019, has been the Coordinator (Dean) of the Professional Master Program in Radiation Technology in Health Sciences at IPEN. Since 2017, she has been an OPTICA Traveling Lecturer and is a member of the Education and Research Commission of CNEN. In 2019, she was a member of Technical Group 9 of the Brazilian Committee for the Development of the Nuclear Program. Her research focuses on Physics and Biophotonics, specifically the optical and spectroscopic properties of biological tissues using micro-FTIR, fluorescence, and infrared thermography. Her work aims to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic processes for clinical applications in dentistry and medicine, searching for biomarkers for ionizing radiation effects and early tumor diagnosis via vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR optical biopsy). https://linktr.ee/zezell 

He holds a Bachelor's (2009), Master's (2012), and PhD (2016) in Physics from the São Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP). During his PhD, he conducted a research internship at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, USA. In 2021, he was named an Optica Ambassador (formerly The Optical Society). He is the founder (2020) and coordinator of the UFPR OPTICA Student Chapter outreach project. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Paraná. His main areas of work include the development of optical microscopy techniques, fundamental studies in nonlinear optics, and the linear and nonlinear optical characterization of materials. He has experience with techniques such as Z-scan, Maker fringes, third-harmonic generation, nonlinear rotation of elliptical polarization, absorption spectroscopy, Raman scattering, and single-pixel detector microscopy. (Source: Lattes CV)

Fabienne Dumoulin is a faculty at the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar University. She studied first biology, graduated in biochemistry then completed her PhD with a European Label in Organic Chemistry at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France (2002). After a post-doc in Pisa, Italy, she settled in Turkiye in 2005. She has been awarded several Young Scientist Awards: TUBA-GEBİP from the Turkish Academy of Sciences (2015), BAGEP from the Bilim Akademisi (2015) and the Mustafa N Parlar Foundation of METU (2016). She guest-edited a themed issue ‘Nano- and Molecular Engineering of Photosensitisers’ for Photobiol. Photochem. Sci. (Nov 2018), has co-edited the book series “Porphyrin Science by Women” published in January 2021, and recently contributed to the book series Fundamentals of Porphyrin Chemistry: A 21st Century Approach. She has co-authored 85+ publications (research articles, reviews and book chapters), and has supervised a dozen of Master and PhD students so far. She is an associate editor of RSC Advances since 2015. Her research interests focus on the design and synthesis of tetrapyrrolic derivatives, mainly phthalocyanines for photodynamic therapy to treat cancer and combat AMR, either molecular or with nanotechnology. She is also interested in the energy and catalytic applications of phthalocyanines.

Celso Jorge Villas-Bôas holds a Bachelor's degree (1997), Master's degree (2000), and PhD (2004) in Physics from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (Garching, Germany, 2009–2010). He is currently a full professor at UFSCar. His expertise lies in Physics, with emphasis on Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, particularly in: cavity quantum electrodynamics, trapped ions, quantum teleportation, quantum computing, and light scattering by atomic ensembles. He has held several administrative roles, including Head of the Physics Department, Coordinator of the Physics Teaching Degree Program, and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Physics at UFSCar. He has also served on multiple institutional councils, including undergraduate, graduate, administrative, and departmental boards. (Source: Lattes CV)

Cleber R. Mendonca received his PhD in physics in 2000 from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2001 he worked as a postdoc at the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), University of Central Florida. He was hired at the Sao Carlos Institute of Physics, University of Sao Paulo in 2001, where he is currently Full Professor. In 2003, together with other professors, he founded the Photonics Group at the IFSC/USP. From 2005 to 2007, he was a postdoc at Harvard University, where he worked on femtosecond-laser microfabrication and ultrafast dynamics in solids. In 2022 he was a visiting researcher visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Photonic Materials group. He is a member of the Fulbright Alumni, is a senior member of Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society - OSA), and member of Materials Research Society (MRS) and SPIE. He published ca. 314 papers in refereed journals, which received ca. 5,100 citations (h = 36) in the Web of Science, and 7,242 citations (h = 42) in Google Scholar, in July, 2023, filed 5 patents, and supervised 40 MSc and PhD students. In 2010 he was awarded the ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denardo award. Prof. Mendonca has led research into the nonlinear spectroscopy of novel photonic materials and advanced processing of materials with ultrashort laser pulses.

She holds a Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD in Physics from the São Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (USP), specializing in optical techniques and photonics. Since 2001, she has been a researcher at Embrapa Instrumentation in São Carlos, where she currently serves as Deputy Head of Technology Transfer, overseeing innovation and business partnerships with private companies. Her research focuses on optics and photonics applied to agriculture and the environment. Since 2003, she has led the CNPq research group “Optics applied to agriculture and the environment.” In 2021, she coordinated the creation of Brazil’s first National Agrophotonics Laboratory (Lanaf), supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation under the SISFOTON initiative. Her work involves developing methods, sensors, and equipment for analyzing soil, plants, fertilizers, and food. Notably, she pioneered the global development of automated systems using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to quantify carbon, nutrients, and contaminants in soil, as well as portable systems for early plant disease diagnosis in the field. This expertise led to the creation of a spin-off, Agrorobótica. Through open innovation collaboration, she helped develop the AgLIBS system, licensed to the company in 2018. The company now employs around 30 people and operates nationwide in soil analysis, generating royalties for Embrapa and continuing collaborative projects. She has established numerous international collaborations with institutions in Europe and the U.S. She has published approximately 697 works, including 143 indexed international journal articles, with over 6,500 citations. In her role in technology transfer, she significantly expanded innovation partnerships, increasing such projects at Embrapa Instrumentation from 25 to over 65 in four years. She is also active in supporting startups and connecting them with investors and venture capital. Four startup/spin-off partners have already been accelerated and are active in the agribusiness market. In 2023, she received the Yvone Mascarenhas Award from the São Carlos City Hall for her scientific contributions. In 2024, she was honored with the Women’s Excellence in Photonics and Entrepreneurship award (3rd Workshop in Photonics) for her inspirational role in innovation and entrepreneurship, especially as a role model for women in science and technology. Also in 2024, she was invited by the Brazilian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation to join the Advisory Committee on Photonics (CCFoto). (Source: Lattes CV)

Following my undergraduate degree in Oxford and PhD at Southampton I worked for Photon Control an Opto-Mechanical company based in Cambridge designing the world’s first commercial diode pumped Nd:YAG laser. I then spent seven years at Keeler Ltd researching and designing ophthalmic instrumentation including a diode laser for retinal photocoagulation. In 1996 I moved to the newly founded Institute of Photonics at Strathclyde University to form, and lead, the applications team. While there I was one of the founders of the Centre for Biophotonics and the theme leader for the Physics and Life Sciences theme within SUPA (the Scottish Physics Alliance). I moved to Durham in January 2009 as part of the Biophysical Sciences initiative and from August 2011 I became Director of the BSI. I am a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America in 2017. 

Raul Corrêa Silva is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto D'Or, working in the Physics Department at UFMG since January 2024, where he investigates photon generation via Stokes–anti-Stokes scattering for neurophysics and visual perception experiments. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Quantum Optics and Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (2019) from UFMG, including a research period at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). His research interests focus on the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter, in both quantum and classical regimes. He currently works mainly on the theory of correlated Stokes–anti-Stokes Raman scattering. He completed postdoctoral research at UFMG (2021–2022) and at the University of Warsaw (Poland) in 2019. As a lecturer, he served as a substitute professor at UFMG in 2020 and 2023. (Source: Lattes CV)

Experimental expertise in Optics, Atomic Physics, and Quantum Gases, with a particular focus on light-matter interaction and atomic superfluids. Holds a Bachelor's degree in PhysI graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in engineering physics from the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil) in 2013. Later, I earned a Master's degree in Nanophotonics and Applied Physics at the University of Campinas (Brazil) in 2016, and a Ph.D. in physics in a split program between the University of Campinas and the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands) in 2021. Then, I worked for more than 3 years as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Hybrid Quantum Systems, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zürich). In the beginning of 2025, I started my own research group, EQCOS, at the Institute of Physics of the University of São Paulo. My expertise is in integrated nanophotonics, optomechanics, superconducting qubits, and their applications in quantum computing. Since the beginning of my master, I was always involved with outreach and students engagement activities. I was part of a traditional Optica Student Chapter in my university, where I could help with the organization of several events, such as two IONS conferences. I'm also part of broader audience outreach activities, including one of the biggest physics podcasts in Portuguese, the Fisicast, and pages on social media to share experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in science. In 2022 I was nominated Optica Ambassador, bringing the possibility to expand my engagement with outreach of science. ics from Universidad del Oriente, Cuba (2016), a Master's degree in Physics from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil (2019), and a Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute of Physics of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, Brazil (2023). Currently pursuing postdoctoral research at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS) in Italy. 

Antonio Alvaro Ranha Neves currently works at the Center of Natural and Human Sciences (CCNH), Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Antonio does research in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, Materials Science and Optics. Their current project is 'Theory of forces in optical traps'. 

Experimental expertise in Optics, Atomic Physics, and Quantum Gases, with a particular focus on light-matter interaction and atomic superfluids. Holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Universidad del Oriente, Cuba (2016), a Master's degree in Physics from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil (2019), and a Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute of Physics of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, Brazil (2023). Currently pursuing postdoctoral research at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS) in Italy. 

Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato simultaneously completed a Bachelor's degree in Physics at USP and a degree in Materials Engineering at UFSCar in 1981, and earned his PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1987. He is currently a full professor at the University of São Paulo. He served as director of the São Carlos Institute of Physics from 2018 to 2022. He has published around 1,000 articles in specialized journals, authored more than 40 book chapters, and published 8 books, in addition to organizing 8 other publications. He has supervised over 140 master's and doctoral theses in Physics, Dentistry, and Medicine, as well as more than 80 postdoctoral researchers. He has received numerous awards and honors. His work focuses on Atomic Physics and Optical Applications in Health Sciences. His research includes cold atoms, Bose–Einstein condensates, and photodynamic actions in cancer and microbiological control. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Vatican), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST), and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). He coordinates a research center where basic and applied sciences coexist in an integrated way, and he is actively involved in technological innovation and science outreach. (Source: Lattes CV)