About
Florbela Alexandra Pires Fernandes has been an Associated Professor at Instituto Politécnico de Bragança since 1998 where she teaches several math subjects. She obtained her Bachelor in Mathematics (Education) at University of Coimbra, her MSc in Applied Mathematics at University of Minho and also her PhD in Sciences — Mathematics at University of Minho. Her major research area is Optimization with a focus on the development of algorithms to solve problems of nonlinear and nonconvex nature, with mixed variables. Another major interest is the application of the developed algorithms in real world problems that arise, for instance, in the industry. Her research results have been published in journals and conference proceedings. Besides, she has been active in the encouragement and attraction of younger students to subjects such as mathematics or sciences. She has coordinated or collaborated in various financed projects, for example: Eurekit, e-nature, mathE, SmilD, FIT4FoF, SmartHealth, among others.