The Life and Work of Prof. Maria Eulália Vares 

1975 — B.Sc. in Mathematics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

1977 — M.Sc. in Mathematics, Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA)

Maria Eulália Vares pursued graduate studies at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro, focusing on probability and stochastic processes.

1980 — Ph.D. in Statistics, University of California at Berkeley

She earned her doctorate under the supervision of Pressley W. Millar. Thesis: On Two-Parameter Lévy Processes. This work placed her among the first Brazilian probabilists trained at a top international institution.

1981 – 2002 — Researcher at IMPA

Returned to Brazil and joined IMPA as a Researcher in Probability and Statistics. Her research focused on stochastic processes, large deviations, percolation, and metastability, a period during which she established herself as one of the leading figures in Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes in Brazil and internationally. Through her leadership and scientific engagement, she helped establish enduring collaborations between Brazilian researchers and leading groups in Europe, North America, and Latin America, while mentoring a generation of young probabilists who would go on to strengthen and expand the field across the region. Her trajectory at IMPA coincided with a phase of strong expansion and maturation of the field in the country, to which she made central contributions. She also played an active role in the creation and consolidation of the Brazilian School of Probability, an initiative that became a landmark in the field by promoting interaction between Brazilian researchers and international experts, as well as offering advanced training to young researchers.

2002 – 2011 — Researcher at the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF)

Maria Eulália Vares continued her significant contributions in all the directions mentioned above at the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) as a Researcher. She was the Editor-in-Chief of Stochastic Processes and Their Applications from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, she created the Interinstitutional Colloquium Stochastic Models and Applications (COLMEA). Since 2004 she has been the Editor-in-Chief of Ensaios Matemáticos for the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), which has since become a fundamental Brazilian publication for high level authoritative review and state-of-the-art papers and surveys of areas of Mathematics, see https://ensaios.sbm.org.br/.

2011 – Present — Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

From 2011 onwards, Maria Eulália Vares has served as Professor of Statistics at the Institute of Mathematics of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She has since played a fundamental role in the consolidation and leadership of the probability group, contributing decisively to its academic strength, visibility, and international integration. Through her research activity, graduate teaching, and supervision of students, Professor Vares has helped shape a strong and cohesive research environment in probability, fostering high-level scientific work and mentoring new generations of researchers. Her leadership has been instrumental in establishing the group as a reference point within the institute and in the broader probabilistic community. The excellence of her academic career has been recognized through prestigious honors and distinctions awarded by the international statistical and probabilistic community, which are listed below. Vares was the Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Probability from 2015 to 2017.

Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics

Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute

Permanent Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences

Fellow of the Brazilian Mathematical Society

Editor-in-Chief of leading journals: 

       Stochastic Processes and their Applications (2006-2009)  

       Annals of Probability (2015-2017)

President Elect of the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability (2025-2027)

Ashok Maitra Memorial Lecture - Indian Statistical Institute (2024)

Willem van Zwet Medal - Bernoulli Society (2021)

Lévy Lecture - Bernoulli World Congress (2012)

Medallion Lecturer - Institute of Mathematical Statistics (2003)

Percolation

Large deviation theory

Interacting particle systems

Metastability and statistical mechanics models