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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil

Purdue has a long history of collaborating with Brazilian institutions. Purdue's partnership with Brazil goes back several decades. Brazil is one of Purdue’s original “strategic partner countries.” We have been engaging since the 1950s, when Purdue’s College of Agriculture helped Brazil establish the Federal University of Viçosa and EMBRAPA. 

Over the past few years, Purdue has increased its collaboration with Brazil in a number of ways:

  • CAPES-Purdue Program for Joint Research
  • CAPES-Brazil Agriculture PhD Program 
  • MOU with the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) 
  • Fulbright-Purdue Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies with Fulbright Brasil 
  • Participation in Brazil's Modernization of Undergraduate Education Program 
  • PONTES Undergraduate Research Program 

At Purdue, the Brazilian student population is 10th overall for Purdue's international student population. 178 Brazilian students joined Purdue in Fall 2025 - 97 undergraduates and 81 graduates.  

Through the CAPES-Purdue Program for Joint Research, the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education will fund up to five 4-year joint research projects between Brazilian and Purdue research teams in order to strengthen Brazil-U.S. scientific collaboration, build sustainable research networks, and promote student and faculty mobility. Click here to see the latest call for the CAPES-Purdue Program for Joint Research.

Through the CAPES-Brazil Agriculture PhD Program that began in fall 2021, the Brazilian government and Purdue co-funded up to 10 doctoral students in Purdue’s College of Agriculture each year. The program aimed to encourage scientific exchange and increase academic expertise of Brazilian professionals in the field of agriculture.  

PONTES: Through this program, established in 2022, approximately 15 Brazilian undergraduate students a year spend a semester a Purdue doing research, co-advised by a Brazilian and Purdue faculty member. Purdue provides a scholarship/living stipend to each student to cover most costs except travel. “Pontes,” or “Bridges” in English, was designed to build sustainable research connections between Purdue and its four participating institutions University of Campinas, University of São Paulo, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and the Aeronautics Institute of Technology, while providing students with a meaningful research experience.