The Rectorship is the highest governing body of the Federal University of ABC. It oversees the management of a wide range of activities within the university.
Its primary function is to foster the advancement of knowledge in a sustainable way, integrating teaching, research, and outreach. These activities are guided by UFABC’s core values of excellence, social inclusion, and interdisciplinarity.
President – Prof. Dr. Dácio Roberto Matheus
Professor Dácio Roberto Matheus, the current President of UFABC, is a professor at the Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences (CECS) at UFABC since 2009. At the university, he coordinated the undergraduate program in Environmental Engineering for two years, the Bachelor in Science and Technology (BCT), and the graduate program in Environmental Science and Technology. He was also the University’s Vice-president during the 2014-2018 mandate, and President from 2018 to 2022.
Master and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Applied Microbiology) from the São Paulo State University (UNESP), graduated in Agronomic Engineering from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture of the University of São Paulo (ESALQ/USP). He was the first director of the Division for the Protection of Natural Resources on the São Paulo Coast and Vale do Ribeira and General Director of the State Department for the Protection of Natural Resources (DEPRN). Professor Dacio took up the Forest Foundation’s Directorate of Operations of Conservation Units. From 2003 to 2008, he was Director of the Botanical Garden of São Paulo (2003-2008), took up the presidency of the Brazilian Network of Botanical Gardens (2008-2010) and the National Commission of Botanical Gardens, linked to the Ministry of the Environment (2010).
He worked at the Research Institutes of the SMA (Secretary of the Environment), especially at the Botanical Institute of São Paulo, being an advisor for the Environment at the São Paulo Coast Teaching and Research Center (CEPEL), at UNESP, in São Vicente (SP). Since 1994, he has been part of research projects funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and other agencies.
He was vice-president of the National Board of the National Association of Federal Institutions of Higher Education Leaders (ANDIFES) as the representative president of the Southeast region. Today, he represents the Association in the Initiative for Science and Technology in Parliament (ICTP.BR) and is the alternate representative in the National Commission of Science and Technology.
Vice President – Monica Schröder
The current Vice-President of UFABC, Professor Mônica Schröder, has been a professor at the University since 2010, at the Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences, in the field of Institutions and Sustainable Development Economics.
She is an economist who graduated from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and has a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences from the Institute of Economics at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) (2005).
For most of her professional life, she served in federal government agencies. At the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA), she was a consultant to the Secretariat for Territorial Development, in 2007, and advisor to the Secretariat for Family Agriculture, in 2008 and 2009. She also served as an advisor to the National Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security of the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger-relief initiatives (MDS), in 2011 and 2012.
Given her performance as a public manager, still in 2012, she played the role of deputy secretary of the aforementioned National Secretariat. Between 2013 and 2016, she served as program coordinator, also in the same Secretariat, under the “Brazil Without Poverty” Plan (BSM), launched by the Federal Government in June 2011. During this period, since 2008, she was responsible for defining and developing the actions and goals of the main public policies, executing the budget, the institutional representation of the Secretariat and the Ministry, and the articulation of institutional partners at the federal, state, and municipal levels.
Upon joining UFABC in 2010, she contributed to the creation of the Bachelor of Economics (BCE) undergraduate program, having integrated the group responsible for formulating its pedagogical project. Acting in academic management, she was the program coordinator (2010) and deputy coordinator (from 2017 to 2019). Between 2018 and 2022, she served as UFABC’s Provost for Planning and Institutional Development.
Former Presidents
Klaus Capelle
2014 – 2018
Klaus Capelle was the President of UFABC from 2014 to 2018. He obtained his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1997 from the University of Würzburgo, in his country of birth – Germany. He also holds two Master’s degrees in physics, one from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque (USA), the other from the University of Würzburgo. His Ph.D. thesis and his second Master’s dissertation both won the university’s Roentgen Award for best physics dissertation of the year in their respective categories. Following postdoctoral work at the University of São Paulo (USP), in Brazil, he became professor of physics at USP in 2003. Periods as visiting professor or researcher took him to the Universities of Missouri at Columbia (USA), Bristol (UK), Lund (Sweden) and Freie University at Berlin (Germany). For his work as referee of scientific papers he received the Outstanding Referee Award of the American Physical Society and the Certificate of Appreciation of the American Chemical Society. In 2009 he moved to the then recently founded UFABC to help building a new institutional and organizational model for interdisciplinary research and teaching. At UFABC he served as research provost from 2010 until 2014, when he was elected President for the period 2014-2018.
Helio Waldman
2010 – 2014
Graduated in Electronic Engineering from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) in 1966. Master and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1968 and 1971, respectively. In 2005, joined the Implementation Commission of the Federal University of ABC, where he was Provost for Research until February 2009; Provost for Undergraduate Education until 2010; and elected President until 2014.
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Adalberto Fazzio
2008 – 2010
Bachelor and Master in Physics from the University of Brasília in 1973 and 1975, respectively. Ph.D. in physics from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1978. In 2008 he became director of the Center for Natural Sciences and Humanities (CCNH) at the Federal University of ABC. In August of the same year, he was appointed President pro tempore after the leave of the President Luiz Bevilacqua for medical reasons.
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Luiz Bevilacqua
2007 – 2008
He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1959, a specialization in bridges and large structures from TH Stuttgart (1961), and a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Stanford University (1971). He was the Coordinator of the academic structuring committee for the implementation of UFABC and was responsible for implementing the UFABC Center for Computing and Cognition.
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Hermano de Medeiros Ferreira Tavares
2006 – 2007
Hermano de Medeiros Ferreira Tavares was the first President of UFABC. He obtained his Degree in Electronic Engineering (1964) from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), became master and Ph.D. from the University of Toulouse (France) in 1966 and 1968 respectively. He was appointed pro tempore Dean of the Federal University of ABC in 2006.
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