What brought you to the USA?
Being accepted into the brand new PhD program at UMass-Dartmouth, and having been awarded an assistantship.

In what are you currently working on?
I am currently working on my Master's thesis, which I will defend in May of 2009, and am already thinking about preparing my PhD thesis, tentatively for May of 2011.

What conditions do you have here that you do not have in Portugal?
I am sure that I would never have had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant at a Portuguese public university. Also, I believe that here in the US our departments prepare us to become future academics, by motivating graduate students to publish and participate in conferences, and offering many networking functions where we have the privilege of meeting the best scholars in Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies in the World. Equally important are the research opportunities that libraries in the US have to offer, and the quality and dedication of our scholars.

What are your future plans?
I do not like the word “plans” as I like to take life as it comes. But, obviously, I would like to continue working in this field that I am passionate about and hopefully travel while doing so. Not knowing the “where” and “when” is part of the fun.

Why did you join PAPS?
I wanted to meet students and scholars in similar circumstances with whom I could share my experience in the US, and also keep up to date about current research projects.