On the 24th, the Masters@DEEC 2026 ceremony took place at the Técnico Innovation Center. Outstanding Master Thesis diplomas were awarded, recognizing the work developed by the alumni of the MSc programmes in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Data Science and Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering. The ceremony was attended by several distinguished graduates and their families, as well as the programme coordinators, Rui Castro (MEEC), Paulo Flores (MEE), and Mário Figueiredo (representing MECD).

The ceremony began with a brief address by Sérgio Pequito, Vice President for Research, Development and External Relations of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who congratulated the alumni present. He wished them continued success, emphasizing that they will always remain part of the Técnico family.

Sofia Cabeleira, Head of the Career Development and Alumni Office (Technology Transfer Area), invited the graduates to join Técnico’s Alumni Network.

Next, João Francisco Felizardo, host of the ceremony and currently a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, invited the distinguished alumni present to the stage and announced their respective theses:

• Francisco Dias Ferreira, with Optimization of Energy Management in On-grid Energy Communities with Hybrid Generation and Storage;
• Francisco Miguel Ferreira Domingues de Sousa e Silva, with No Time to Backprop: Online Learning on Dynamic Graphs with Recurrent Neural Networks;
• Inês Monte Corvo Simões, with Graph Neural Networks for Multimodal and Longitudinal Analysis for Predicting Alzheimer’s Progression;
• João De Assis Marcos Soares Nabais, with Using Large Language Models for Natural Language Inference on Clinical Trial Reports;
• João Francisco Batista Maia, with Stream-based Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Accelerator;
• João Francisco Marafuz Gaspar, with Decentralized Estimator for Dynamical Multi-Agent Systems with an Application to LEO Satellite Formations;
• João Mendes Pereira Matias, with Vision-Based Target Pursuit and Formation Maintenance for UAV Teams using Nonlinear Model Predictive Control;
• João Paiva de Castelo Branco, with Integrating Deep Reinforcement Learning and Bayesian Active Inference for Object Search in Mobile Robotics;
• Maria Clara Domingues Cortes Simões, with Ultrafast Transient Response Dynamic Low-Dropout Regulator;
• Maria Francisca Cardoso Pereira, with Low-Cost Antenna for Tracking LEO PNT Signals;
• Martim Rendeiro Bento, with A Fast Mapping and Co-Design Toolchain for Stream-Based CGRAs;
• Miguel de Oliveira Lameiras, with Design of a Highly Dense Tactile Fingertip for Dexterous Hands;
• Nuno Miguel Matos Torgo Gonçalves, with Accelerating Sparse Transformers: Bridging Adaptive Sparsity and Efficiency;
• Patrícia Simões Marques, with Quantum Computation for Cancer Driver Gene Prediction using Protein Interaction Network Data;
• Pedro Alberto Oliveira Paiva, with Speeding-Up PVT-Inclusive Analog/RF IC Sizing Optimizations with Artificial Neural Network-Based Performance Regressors and Transfer Learning;
• Pedro Miguel de Castro Amado, with Flex-TTC: An Agile Multi-Band Telemetry, Tracking and Command Transceiver for CubeSats;
• Tiago Manuel André Vaz, with Development of a Telemetry System for a Motorcycle Prototype.

The afternoon also featured several presentations on the different master’s theses, covering topics such as the use of neural networks to analyze Alzheimer’s progression, accelerating integrated circuit development through artificial intelligence, applying quantum computation to identify cancer driver genes, and optimizing the telemetry systems of the TLMoto prototype.

The event concluded with a coffee break and networking moment.

📷 View the full photo gallery here.