About me
I am an ocean enthusiast. Since I was a little kid, I have drawn and dreamed about the unknown and the strangest creatures humankind still doesn't know and that probably exist in the deep ocean.
As a teenager, I began to dive and focused on improving my diving skills over the years. I graduated in Biology and dreamed of one day being able to study cephalopods.
During my studies, I realized that I enjoyed working with research, but I needed to find out which subject I preferred to explore. It's not a difficult question (the ocean and biodiversity), but I was born and spent most of my life in a city in the middle of Brazil, which means no sea.
I managed to start a Master's in Ecology in Southern Brazil, studying octopus ecology. At that point, I was really excited. However, during my Master's thesis, I realized I didn’t enjoy the day-to-day aspects of ecology and being in the field all the time. I took a step back and remembered the reasons I first became interested in biology when I was a kid and a teenager: biodiversity and searching for unknown species.
Then, I pursued a Ph.D. in Zoology at the Museum of Zoology at the University of São Paulo. And guess what? I found myself. Everything felt right, and I understood that my path was meant to be this way—a rollercoaster (many times I heard “no,” but I persisted until people started saying “yes” to me). I was meant to be a taxonomist.
Taxonomy is a field that not many people are drawn to, and we are lacking young taxonomists, especially morphologists. I feel that my journey is helping inspire new students to fall in love with taxonomy by being an example of enthusiasm. I hope more people will enjoy looking for species and studying phylogeny, especially cephalopods.
Academic path
2024 - present
PhD in Systematics, Animal Taxonomy and Biodiversity at Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP), Brazil
2020 - 2022
Master of Science in Ecology at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil
2015 - 2019
Bachelor of Science in Biology at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil
Grants
2026
Malacological Society of London Travel Grant (GBP 500) (MSL-TG-2026-1), to attend to the Congreso Latinoamericano de Malacologia in Colombia 2026 – poster presentation of the abstract “Anatomy of Semirossia patagonica (E.A. Smith, 1881) (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae)”
2021
BOLSAS FUNBIO – CONSERVANDO O FUTURO 2020 (BRL 19.684,00) – to finance field studies of the Master thesis “Distribuição e uso de habitat do polvo Octopus americanus Monfort, 1802: informações para manejo e conservação” - https://www.funbio.org.br/bolsa_funbio/qual-o-papel-das-aguas-rasas-de-florianopolis-e-arredores-no-ciclo-de-vida-do-octopus-americanus/
Awards
2026
Second place (PhD student modality), poster presentations in the XIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Malacología 2026, Asociación Colombiana de Malacología - through the abstract “Anatomy of Semirossia patagonica (E.A. Smith, 1881) (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae)”
2023
Prof. Maury Pinto de Oliveira Award – 2nd place (postgraduate modality), oral presentations in the Encontro Brasileiro de Malacologia and Congreso Latinoamericano de Malacología 2023, Sociedade Brasileira de Malacologia - through the abstract “Caracterização da dieta do polvo Octopus americanus em águas rasas de Florianópolis, sul do Brasil”
2022
First place in the Aid to Stimulate Participation in International Congresses (BRL 500,00), to finance the travel to 4CAM (4º Congreso Argentino de Malacología), (postgraduate modality), Sociedade Brasileira de Malacologia - through the abstract “El complejo de especies Octopus vulgaris a través del atlántico occidental: lo que ya sabemos sobre las especies descritas recientemente, Octopus americanus y O. insularis”
2022
Nancy Voss Memorial Conference Travel Awards (USD 1000) to attend to the Cephalopod International Advisory Council in Portugal 2022 – the travel award was refused due to the COVID pandemic and the abstract awarded (The Brazilian common octopus Octopus americanus: a comparative insight about its habitats in shallow waters) was presented online
2021
First place in the Aid to Stimulate Participation in National Congresses - edition XXVII EBRAM 2021 (postgraduate modality) - through the abstract “Pesca experimental com espinhéis de potes: como ela afeta a população de Octopus americanus em áreas rasas do entorno de Florianópolis (Brasil)”
2017
Honourable mention for the abstract “Stocking Curimbatás, Prochilodus lineatus (Valenciennes, 1836), Actinopterygii, in the Volta Grande Reservoir, Grande River, Brazil” selected among the best works presented in poster form at the XIII Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil e III International Symposium of Ecology and Evolution
2017
Honourable mention for the abstract “Autoecology of the Invasive Piranha, Serrasalmus marginatus (Valenciennes, 1847), Actinopterygii, in the Paranaíba River” selected among the best works presented in poster form at the XIII Congresso de Ecologia do Brasil e III International Symposium of Ecology and Evolution
Extracurricular activities
2026-2027
Second secretary of Brazilian Malacological Society (Sociedade Brasileira de Malacologia – SBMa)
2025
Member of the Support Committee of the XXII World Congress of Malacology - WCM 2025
2021-2022
Student representative - Titular member of the Delegate Collegiate of the Postgraduate Program in Ecology - PPGECO - CCB – UFSC
2020-2021
Student representative - Alternate member of the Full Collegiate of the Postgraduate Program in Ecology - PPGECO - CCB – UFSC