Professor Vanusca Dalosto Jahno

Vanusca Jahno has a degree in Industrial Chemistry and a Teaching Degree in Chemistry from PUCRS, with a Masters in Materials Engineering from UFRGS and a PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences from PUCRS. Currently, she is working on developing biodegradable polymers, on the study of repurposing solid urban waste, on the assessment of material degradation in the soil and on Circular Economy, with a Fellowship in Productivity in Research from the CNPq – Level 2. 

Vanusca is the coordinator of the professional Graduate Program in Materials Technologies and Industrial Processes, as well as of the undergraduate program in Chemical Engineering. She is also a professor at the Graduate Program in Environmental Quality, participates in and coordinates research projects involving national and international cooperation, participates in FAPERGS’s Technical and Scientific Engineering Advisory Committee and is a counselor in the Sanitation Committee in the city of Novo Hamburgo/RS.   

Since high school, Vanusca says she was interested in seeking knowledge in a specific area, when she fell in love with Chemistry. She was also searching for challenges to further qualify herself, coming into contact with several subareas in Chemistry until she got to the area of biodegradable polymers and solid waste.  

For her, “the participation of women in science still faces many challenges, especially regarding gender equity in STEM areas. Encouraging women towards science and technology, to be creative, and to show that, even when you have a family, it is possible to carry on and to contribute to science.”