Mathematician heads education and science ministry of Portugal
ALUMNI | Nuno Crato, AS92PhD, recently was named Portugal’s minister of education, higher education and science by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.
Crato, who earned his doctorate in applied mathematics, conducts research in the general area of probability theory and its applications, with focus in stochastic processes and time series applied to climate and finance.
Gilberto Schleiniger, associate professor in UD’s Department of Mathematical Sciences and a longtime friend of the Crato family, says the new minister is “a very respected and well-known leader in educational issues.”
Crato previously served as president of the Portuguese Mathematical Society, whose objective is to promote and improve mathematics in the nation. He also was president of Taguspark, which Schleiniger describes as “a science and technology park that combines the efforts of universities, research and development institutions and technology-based companies to promote research, development and knowledge transfer among themselves and to the markets.”
After graduating from UD, Crato taught mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Stevens Institute of Technology for eight years. He returned to his native Portugal in 2000 and taught mathematics and statistics in the ISEG/Technical University of Lisbon.
