International Excellence @Fraunhofer IFAM

My name is Welchy Leite Cavalcanti – and you may have guessed it from the context of the headline, I have a cultural background that is not German. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and moved to Florianopolis, Brazil when I was a child. Later, I became a physicist and have been a physicist ever since!

…and in January 2001 I said a sentence in German that changed my entire life!

 

I said: "Spielen Sie Fußball?" (Do you play soccer?) 

One could say "German soccer changed my life" – but after the infamous result 7:1 of the 2014 world championship semi-finals in Brazil  started to play such an important role in both the cultures of Brazil and Germany, that would just not be appropriate! 

Back to the sentence that changed my life and to the person I asked in German "Spielen Sie Fußball?": He was a physics professor from Berlin, who was attending a science conference in Itapema close to Florianopolis in Brazil and during a break, we were standing next to each other watching other scientists playing soccer. During the small talk, some inexplainable, bigger power made me try out the bits and pieces I knew in German and it seems that this small talk would have a big influence on the person and scientist I became and on the fact that my "scientific home" is now the Fraunhofer IFAM in Germany.  

At the end of our conversation, we agreed that I would be a PhD student visitor at the Max Planck in Berlin for three months. Exciting news! 

 

Follow your heart and take a leap of faith

Sometimes in life, you just have to follow your heart and do something that might sound crazy – but feels right! So, a few months later, I packed my things and moved to Berlin. 

Initially, I faced many challenges, but this first opportunity was crucial for me to understand that I was ready to live abroad. My English became fluent during those three months in Germany, while my German improved significantly. For me, it was a huge step. The time was about learning and loving the culture each day. This beginning gave me the impulse I needed to grow both personally and professionally. Every day was a learning experience, I was feeling just like a child discovering the world, and this feeling after being an adult is impressive.

It kind of all fell into place: my English skills improved significantly, and I enjoyed living in Berlin! Being in such a prestigious scientific environment, surrounded by some of the best minds in the world, was an incredible learning experience. Attending lectures and realizing I could understand them even in English was as rewarding as the scientific knowledge I gained. The opportunities to engage with top scientists were invaluable.

 

The challenges and opportunities of living abroad

One important lesson I learned is that as a foreigner you might feel to be perceived underneath your intellectual capacity simply because you struggle to express yourself and your knowledge in a new language. This feeling may be common among those who study or work abroad. We are never as eloquent or quick-witted in a foreign language as we are in our native tongue, but that does not diminish our intelligence. People might not realize the huge steps we take by living and working in a foreign culture. Or with persons from a foreign culture. So we can trust that we will easily find out who is open for communication in our host country. For everyone it may be much easier to stay within the comfort of one’s own culture, but taking that leap is a significant and courageous step in life. In this way, we can make lives more interesting!

In fact, this continuous challenge of living abroad becomes a sort of addiction. Every day is a new learning experience: buying bread, visiting the doctor, handling official paperwork—all in another language and a different style. These personal challenges are not isolated; they contribute to our professional growth as well. Call it interdisciplinarity! Overcoming daily hurdles in a foreign environment sharpens our problem-solving skills, adaptability, and resilience, which are invaluable in a scientific career. Each step we take, we are learning and growing, constantly adapting to new situations.

Once you become part of the international scientific community, there is no going back! The world becomes smaller, and you are no longer just part of a Brazilian university; you become an international researcher, enriched by both your personal and professional experiences.

 

So – everything sounds pretty perfect, doesn't it?

Well, it wasn't! I was living between two worlds – I liked the safety and the structured approach to scientific work in Germany, but also missed the Brazilian sun and agility in Brazil.

Thankfully, my scientific community in Brazil did not really kick me out but rather supported me in growing as a person and scientifically by gaining a wider view. I was lucky and a colleague of mine pointed out a job offer at the IUB (now Constructor University) in Bremen, Germany with Prof. Florian Müller-Plathe, who – as it turned out – spoke some Portuguese, had already been to Brazil and had some relations to Brazilian researchers. He became a mentor to me and encouraged my independent thinking – which is something that I will always be thankful for! There at Florian’s group, I met some great people that I am still proud to call friends. Moreover, I learned: Life is all about making connections with people – connections that stay intact even during long times of absence and across borders!

 

"You always meet twice in life!"

I really liked Bremen, but in 2005the young scientific group that I was a part of was moved to Darmstadt. When, in 2006 I decided that Germany was the place I wanted to stay, so I hoped new projects would be waiting for me in Bremen.

In 2006 I was interviewed for a job at the Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science (BCCMS) at the Uni Bremen and – again – this made me understand the extent of being "international" since I met an old friend from Berlin who also started working at BCCMS at that time. 

"You always meet twice in life!" is an old saying. So true – both regarding Bremen and the friend whom I met again. I was lucky to join the group and started to apply what I had learned while being part of Professor Müller-Plathes group: I brought my own ideas to the table and we actually got my first very own project approved. I found myself in an environment that stimulated my growth considerably! When the postdoc contract approached its end, I once again needed to find a new job. Anybody who is a postdoc, knows exactly how that feels!

In June 2008 I saw a job opening at Fraunhofer IFAM and was hooked. I really wanted this more industry-oriented job although the interview process was tough and the job offer again was limited in time. In the end, I was very happy, because I got the job at Fraunhofer IFAM and much more: I found a new scientific family and finally even a personal family there!

In the meantime, I have become a true permanent IFAMese and I pride myself on having gained colleagues and customers from Brazil, and several European countries to become acquainted with the family at Fraunhofer IFAM in many different kinds of international projects. 

I love working at Fraunhofer IFAM and was lucky to be the host to many Brazilian students. I enjoy the work environment and also have a good command of the German language by now. I find people at Fraunhofer IFAM are open-minded, result-driven and easy to work with – a good matrix for international cooperation. I enjoy working in international project groups and I get to meet people from different places in the world at Fraunhofer IFAM and I get a lot of support for my international projects, which I appreciate a lot!

 

"Germany³": (Bremen x Fraunhofer IFAM x science) = advancement

The latest projects that made me and my research network grow were EU Horizon 2020- projects. You want to guess what was my entrée? My international network from my times in Florian’s team that had become a network of university and industry researchers!

I am a physicist and molecular modelling is my main focus – but it took me years to develop and shape out the high-order equation "Germany³": (Bremen x Fraunhofer IFAM x science) = advancement and I would say: 

"I am a proud part of Fraunhofer IFAM and this is a great environment for both German and international scientists."