Similar to many, Mariana Prazeres’ first experience with KAUST was through the Visiting Student Research Program (VSRP). She stepped out of her comfort zone and her country to join the program in 2014. Her connection to KAUST was through the university in Portugal where Mariana received her bachelor’s in mathematics.

Visiting Student Research Program paved the way

“My advisor at KAUST, both for the VSRP and for my master’s, was Professor Diogo Gomes, who previously taught at my undergrad university in Lisbon,” said Mariana. “As part of my VSRP experience, I directed my own research on solving partial differential equations to minimize certain types. With any problem, whether it be scientific, economic, or anything else, minimizing functions is important. These efforts could be about anything from minimizing costs to minimizing the error in neural networks to help AI learn more efficiently. By minimizing functions, we may be helping to solve problems faster or more accurately as well as finding the most appropriate solutions for certain problems.”

Prazeres’ experience in the VSRP made her choice to apply to the master’s program an easy one. She continued in the field of applied mathematics and dove deeper into her research area by studying mean-field games, and solving for explicit solutions, a distinguishing factor of her work that links directly to solving real-world problems.

“The science that I work on is closer to pure science as it is the background calculations that are required to make the flashier science experiments work,” she said. “I do not work on rockets or robots, I work behind the scenes on equations that allow for these technologies to function.”

Continuing her academic journey

As Mariana was finishing her master’s at KAUST, she took the initiative to intern at McGill University in Canada for a summer. Her experience there guided her into a PhD program.

“I started a PhD at McGill after finishing at KAUST, but I soon found out that I didn’t need a PhD to do the work I wanted to do,” said Mariana. “I was actually just using the PhD as an excuse to continue studying, but I was already prepared to go into industry. So, when my PhD advisor changed fields, I pushed through for two more years but, after an internship, I realized I was ready for and industry job and decided to finish with a masters.”

Embarking on a global career – all thanks to KAUST

Prazeres currently works as a deep learning engineer for a startup called Uizard Technologies where she now solves real problems using AI tools to make designer technology more accessible.

Prazeres credits KAUST for helping her see beyond what was available in Portugal.

“KAUST literally broadened my horizons,” she said. “I thought I would live and work in Portugal, but since living in Saudi, I feel like I can do anything. Taking the initial risk of joining the VSRP has helped me be more comfortable being a risk-taker, a valuable trait when working for a startup.”

“And KAUST has been more than a place where I found my professional connections,” said Mariana. “I have made life-long friendships and am always finding ways to stay connected. Now, wherever I go, I try to replicate the KAUST experience.”

Mariana Prazeres by Melissa Pappas (MS '17)