International PhD student’s passion for mentorship recognized with Faculty of Science award

Bruno dos Santos had spent years dreaming of the moment when his flight from São Paulo touched down at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

But as he walked through the terminal and made his way to McMaster, all he felt was horribly homesick. The feeling lingered for months until he found a community of other Brazilian students, faculty and staff through the Latin American Network at McMaster University. Bruno became one of the network’s student mentors.

He also signed on to be a mentor with McMaster Equitable Pathways to Learning University Science (MePLUS), a free 10-month science outreach program for Black, Indigenous, and  Latin American/Latinx high school students.

His commitment to mentorship and community building earned Bruno the Faculty of Science’s 2024 Graduate Student Black, Indigenous and Latin American / Latinx Award. The award was given out during the Faculty’s annual Graduate Student Symposium in December. He says it was an unexpected surprise heading into the holidays. “The perfect gift.”

Bruno has a passion for mentoring first generation students from less privileged backgrounds because that’s his origin story. He’s the first in his family to go to university – his mother’s a housekeeper, his father’s a carpenter and so are his two older brothers. His parents didn’t have the opportunity to go to university – they grew up in poverty and moved to São Paulo before Bruno was born. His mother would go to weekend school to earn her high school diploma as a mature student.

“My dad always encouraged me to go to university. Maybe he didn’t want to spend his days working with all three of his sons. My parents and brothers are so supportive and proud of what I’m doing.”

Federal and state universities in Brazil are tuition-free but to get there Bruno first had to take the Vestibular. It’s a national entrance exam that spans multiple days. Competition is fierce for spots at top universities and students are known to study for years. Students who don’t pass the exam have the option of going to private universities but it would’ve been hard for Bruno’s family to afford the tuition fees. Bruno aced the exam and got accepted to Universidade Federal do ABC. He then went to the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais to earn his master’s degree in remote sensing. That’s where he began learning how to speak and read English – Portuguese is the official language in Brazil. “Everyone in the rest of the world assumes we speak Spanish.”

Bruno applied to the Emerging Leaders of the Americas Program and was awarded a scholarship for a short-term research exchange. His supervisor had a colleague at McMaster – Antonio Páez, a professor of transportation geography in the School of Earth, Environment & Society. Introductions were made and in August 2022 Bruno boarded the plane bound for Toronto.

At the end of the research exchange, Bruno flew back to São Paulo to complete his master’s degree. He then returned to McMaster in 2023 for an encore performance and an extended stay as a PhD student in transportation geography. He’s using spatial models and census data to measure transport inequalities in Canada. He doesn’t just study public transport – he relies on it to get to campus from his house in East Hamilton. It’s a 45-minute commute – far shorter than what he was used to growing up in the world’s third most populous city.

Being an international student has been an incredible experience, says Bruno. “You get to experience other cultures. That leads to a better understanding, more respect and greater tolerance for other people.”

It’s also made him better appreciate his own roots.  He says he travelled more than 8,000 km to discover that he’s super Brazilian. “I love my country’s music, the food, the football and the people. We’re more laid back and easy going. And it’s far easier to make friends. You can be in line getting a sandwich and wind up having lunch with the stranger in front of you.”  Bruno says Canadians who study, work and live abroad likely have a similar experience, realizing they’re super Canadian.

His homesickness still comes and goes – music is a trigger along with cravings for feijoada – but it’s less acute thanks to the friendships he’s made at McMaster. “And home is just a Zoom call away.”

His mother and a nephew are planning to visit in June and his brothers are already planning to crash at his house during FIFA World Cup matches in Toronto next year. They’ll be heading to Toronto Stadium in yellow and green shirts, blue shorts and white socks, cheering on the five-time FIFA World Cup Champions.