Short-term Research Internships at UT Austin 2025 – Beneficiaries & Hosts

The UT Austin Portugal Program continues to strengthen one of its core pillars, researcher mobility, by creating opportunities for faculty, researchers, and Master’s or PhD students to expand their experience through international collaboration.

In 2025, the Program launched a new Call for Expressions of Interest for Short-Term Research Internships at UT Austin, selecting a cohort of researchers affiliated with a Portuguese Higher Education Institution, R&D center, or R&D-performing company.

Between October 2025 and June 2026, nine researchers will spend three to six months at UT Austin, working alongside leading faculty and researchers and accessing state-of-the-art research facilities. Their visits will support the development of new research collaborations and reinforce long-term partnerships between Portuguese institutions and UT Austin.

The selected researchers will conduct their work across the Program’s four strategic research areas.

Below you can find the researchers selected for the 2025 edition, including the research area in which they are working and their host institution at UT Austin.

Meet the Beneficiaries

2025 Cohort

Visiting Researcher	UT Austin Host	Program Area
Afonso Pinho Lourenço Polytechnic Institute of Porto	Lizy Kurian John, Professor Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Advanced Computing
Vicente Lopes International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory	Deji Akinwande, Professor Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Advanced Computing
Mafalda Rodrigues Luis Correia University of Coimbra	Nicholas A. Peppas, Professor McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Nanotechnologies
Maria Francisca Pestana de Freitas de Sousa Cardoso University of Porto	Brian A. Korgel, Professor McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Nanotechnologies
Alexandra Francisco Ramôa da Costa Alves INESC TEC	Scott Aaronson, Professor Computer Science, College of Natural Sciences	Advanced Computing
Guilherme Alexandre Correia Canas Martins University of Lisbon	Jamie Warner, Professor Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Nanotechnologies
Nuno Alexandre Gonçalves Mendes University of Coimbra	Javad Mohammadi, Assistant Professor Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Clean Energy
Rafael Duarte Ribeiro das Neves NOVA FCT	Brian A. Korgel, Professor McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering Cockrell School of Engineering	Nanotechnologies
Paloma Carollo Toscan University of Minho	Gengchen Mai, Professor College of Liberal Arts	Space–Earth Technologies