The Francisco Eduardo Mourão Saboya Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering (PGMEC) at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) was created in 1995. It was initiated as a master’s program, but in 2005 it also started to provide a doctoral program.
The name of the program was chosen in honor of Prof. F.E.M. Saboya, in tribute to his pioneering work and his dedication to the progress of Thermal Sciences in the country. Prof. Saboya was one of the founding members of PGMEC and was actively involved in the development of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering in Brazil.
The PGMEC is one of the graduate programs in mechanical engineering with the highest average scientific production per faculty in Brazil. In 2016, the average production in the program was 3 journal papers, indexe on Web of Science, per faculty. In previous years this number was 3.2 (2015), 3.4 (2014) and 3 (2013). In 2016, of the 18 accredited professors in the program, 10 have the CNPq Research Productivity scholarship, 1 have the Productivity Technological Development and Innovative Extension scholarship, 5 have a scholarship provided by the Young Scientists of Our State of RJ (JCNE) program and 2 have a scholarship provided by the Cientistas do Nosso Estado of RJ (CNE) program from FAPERJ. In 2012, PGMEC was responsible for organizing the 14th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering (ENCIT2012), the largest national event of thermal sciences. In 2015, PGMEC was responsible for organizing the 23rd International Congress of Mechanical Engineering (COBEM2015), the largest mechanical engineering congress in Latin America.
The evolution of the Brazilian economy, characterized by the opening of its internal market for products and services from other countries, requires a strong internal investment directed to its technological development and to the personnel qualification, with the objective of allowing the national industry to compete in the global market of goods and services. Based on this process, over the years, the Brazilian government has established several strategic programs for technological development, aimed at long-term goals, which have been achieved by various public and private institutions. Given this scenario, mechanical engineering is undoubtedly one of the great areas of knowledge with the greatest participation in technological innovations, among all engineering areas, and the one that requires a larger contingent of highly qualified personnel.
The Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering at UFF is mainly directed towards the strategic needs of the Union and the State of Rio de Janeiro. The PGMEC provides theoretical, numerical, and experimental training in Mechanics, aiming to requalify professionals in the field of Engineering, developing skills to teach at higher education and, above all, to train professionals capable of tackling practical problems of interest to the State of Rio de Janeiro as well as Brazil. To meet the demand for personnel training, the theses and dissertations developed at PGMEC constantly address topics aimed at Brazilian strategic sectors, such as naval and ocean, aerospace and nuclear engineering as well as oil, steel, energy, and the environment.
In order to provide the foundational knowledge in mechanics required by different strategic sectors, PGMEC offers two major concentration areas: Solid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences. They are further divided into five research topics: Structural Analysis, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials, Computational Mechanics, and Heat and Mass Transfer. Further details about how to obtain a master or doctorate degree, as well as the academic structure of our program, can be found in this webpage.