Our Story

         The former Ecology and Environmental Technology Graduate Program (PPGETA) brought together professors from UNIFAL-MG interested in generating basic and applied knowledge in environmental sciences, with a long-term focus on solving environmental problems caused by human activities. This program leveraged resources and facilities available in the institution to stimulate teaching, research, and training of students in environmental sciences. The initial proposal for this graduate program was based on principles of cooperation and integration between biology, geography and biotechnology.

       The interdisciplinarity of this program was clearly evidenced in the curricular structure and in the research areas, in which the integration of basic and applied sciences is noted. The integration and exchange of knowledge between the different fields (biology, geography and biotechnology) were considered essential by us, as they enable faster and more efficient solutions for problems as well as training students to be capable of generating and applying knowledge. With the expansion of undergraduate programs in Biological Sciences, including an emphasis on Environmental Sciences, Geography and Biotechnology, as well as, more recently, the creation of the Environmental Engineering Course, in addition to the implementation of distance courses in Biological Sciences , human resources and infrastructure focused on the environmental issue were accumulated. From this context, at the beginning of 2008 a natural process of studies began for the formalization of a Master’s Degree in Ecology and Environment, effective until 2013. In 2013, with the first three-year evaluation of the PPGETA, an update committee was established aiming at improving this program in compliance with the recommendations of the triennial report. Thus, in 2014, the update proposal was processed aiming to update the name of the former PPGETA into Environmental Sciences Graduate Program (PPGCA); update the courses available in this program in order to make the program more attractive to graduate students from different backgrounds, as well as allowing greater interdisciplinarity with the entry of new professors, forming a critical mass for the search for solutions to environmental problems.