The Chair Abertis-USP is based in the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo in the Department of Transport Engineering, one of the four divisions of the School of Civil Engineering. The Department is responsible for the programme of transport engineering and logistics systems postgraduate studies. Its principal areas of research are logistics, transport and distribution systems, transport management and operations, and urban transport.
The University of São Paulo (USP) is a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Development, Science and Technology.
Created in 1934, it is one of the most important higher education institutions in Brazil. Various rankings which measure the quality of universities according to certain criteria have highlighted USP’s scientific production and the talent and dedication of its teachers, students and employees, which are the result of more than 75 years of intensive work in search of excellence.
The university has accelerated the process of internationalisation of its teaching staff and research due to new requirements brought about by globalisation, with excellent results. USP has also strengthened its exchange programme. In this way, the university has maintained its traditions at the same time as introducing innovation, in order to aid the development of the country and its society.
The Abertis Chair in São Paulo is situated at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo in the Transport Engineering Department (PTR), one of the four departments dedicated to Civil Engineering, which is also responsible for the post-graduate programme in Transport and Logistics Systems Engineering. Its main areas of research are: logistics, transport and distribution systems, transport management and operations , Urban Transport.
She holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (1981), a master's degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of São Paulo (1987), having done research for her master degree at the Institut fuer Grundbau und Bodenmechanik - Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zürich, ETHZ, Switzerland, where she remained from 1984 to 1986.
In 2006 became Full Professor at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo. She started as a faculty member of the Engineering School in 1986. She has been the Head of the Laboratory of Pavement Technology since 1995 until 2021. She has been the first woman who occupied the position of the Head of the Department of Transportation Engineering at the Polytechnic School of USP for 7 years in total, position that she held until March 2014. She was the first woman elected vice-dean (Vice-director) of the Polytechnic School of USP in 2014 and she was the first woman elected dean (director) of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, in 2018, after 124 years since its foundation.