Eliana Costa e Silva

My name is Eliana Costa e Silva and I hold a PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering, specializing in Robotics (2011), a MSc in Mathematics and Applications to Mechanics (2005), a postgraduate in Statistics (2015), a Specialization Course in Applied Optimization to Sciences and Engineering (2009) and a B.S. in Mathematics (2002), all from University of Minho. My multidisciplinary background results from my passion to apply Mathematics to a wide range of real-world problems in industry, aiming at contributing to academia-industry knowledge transference. I have extensive experience in mathematical and statistical modeling, data analysis, and on the development of solutions for companies. I have gained this experience since in 2004 in my MSc I had the amazing opportunity to apply my knowledge of Mathematics to Autonomous Robotics and work as a research assistant in the European project “Artesimit – Artefact Structural Learning through Imitation”. My contribution to the academia-industry knowledge transference is expressed in my participations, since 2012, at the European Study Groups with Industry (ESGI) held in Portugal, Spain, and The Netherlands, where I had the opportunity to “attack” industrial challenges and produce technical reports and tools for the participated companies, publications in journals and scientific conferences. I have also organized two ESGI which included to signal and recruit companies to participate with industrial challenges, to guarantee the financial support of the event by application to a COST Action and fees paid by the companies. Additionally, I have supervised MSc and BS projects in collaboration with companies in sectors such as retail, footwear, logistics, transport, social. Some examples are the co-orientation of a MSc within the project SMART RETAIL and my participation on the research team of the project “I-CATER - Intelligent robotic Coworker Assistant for industrial Tasks with an Ergonomics Rationale”. This academia-industry involvement also contributed the generation of new knowledge by the development of new optimization and forecasting models in collaboration with other researchers, which allowed the expansion of my collaborations and networks, as well as the invitation to speak at seminars and workshops such as The International Workshop FromACADEMY -- preESGI 2019 that took place at the Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development. My contributions to the scientific community also involved the organization of the V Workshop on Computational Data Analysis and Numerical Methods and 10 Special Sessions at Scientific conferences, being reviewer of international journals, member of scientific programs on conferences, and external evaluator of four COST Actions. My work was also recognized by the invitation to be part of the editorial team of the “Boletim Informativo” of APDIO - the Portuguese Association for Operational Research, which I welded for four years, and permit me to interact more closely with this scientific community. I have also contributed to the creation of new courses at ESTG, Polytechnic University of Porto (ESTG|P.PORTO) as a member of the creation committees of IBS - Industry Business School, Industrial Management and Logistics B.S., Technological Specialization Course in Industrial Management 4.0, Postgraduate Course in Advanced Materials for Industry 4.0.