Ana Luiza Santos Martins

Ask Brazilian student Ana Luiza Santos Martins about visiting the United States, and she might forget to mention that she saw the Washington Monument and Disney World.

"It was the telescope that was very special to me," she said, referring to the James Webb Space Telescope, a space observatory currently under construction at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014.

Martins’ visit to the US on a World Learning scientific exchange program marks a giant leap in a journey that began in the shantytown outside Rio de Janeiro where she was raised. As a young woman, Martins dropped out of high school upon learning she was pregnant.

Years later, she made a commitment to return to school and make a future for herself.

Her determination helped her win first place in an astronomy contest sponsored by the US Embassy in Brazil, which brought her to the United States for one week in July. Highlights included a tour of the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, meeting an astronaut, and viewing the sun through the University of Maryland Observatory.

According to Martins, the program reaffirmed her desire to pursue a career in the sciences. It also inspired her to teach others about the value of scientific research, such as finding a cure for cancer.

Martins is now considering returning to the US for higher education. Although she hasn’t decided which field to study, she is leaning toward pharmacology, forensic science, or criminology.

"When I return to Brazil, I will tell people how advanced American technology is, and how they take scientific discovery seriously," she said.

by Michael Snyder

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