Achievement

The two professors from Brazil - Dr. Vanessa Silva da Gomes and Dr. Maristela Silva da Gomes - completed their visiting professor appointments at UPitt. A direct outcome of their tenure was the development of two new Life Cycle Assessment courses at their respective Brazilian universities. For example, Scott Shrake, UPitt IGERT, has worked with Dr. Maristela Gomes Da Silva at the Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo to develop the course to introduce students to LCA. The course focuses on the history, use, and strengths of current LCA methods. The students actively evaluate the status of LCA in Brazil by reviewing available LCA data and determining the validity of the data. The students also work on developing methods to incorporate the social and economic impacts within the LCA framework. The course culminates in the final presentations of the experiences in the class and recommendations to improve the state of LCA in Brazil.