Ph.D. Student Isabella Costa Does Outreach in Brazil
Tucked between sloping hills in a rural, southeast sector of Brazil, children in the municipal Maripá de Minas dream of becoming veterinarians and farmers. Many don’t think of pursuing a higher education, likely because they don’t know what opportunities await them in Brazil or beyond.
Isabella Loureiro Muller Costa, a third year Ph.D. candidate in materials science and engineering at the University of California Davis and Brazil native, plans to show these students what their future could entail with her outreach efforts.
“The students don’t have the knowledge or don’t open their eyes for what they can do. They feel that their life is this and nothing is going to change, they’re going to still live on the farm,” Costa says. “When I got into outreach, that was my first idea: ‘Can I do something in Brazil?’”