On July 4th, during the Master@DEEC event, Fábio Dias, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Afonso Vale, MSc in Aerospace Engineering, were awarded the Professor Luís Vidigal Prize. This award aims to annually recognize master’s students from Técnico whose dissertations demonstrate outstanding scientific merit, innovation, and quality in topics within the fields of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Informatics.

Fábio Dias received the award for his thesis titled Ultra-Compact Sigma-Delta Modulator for Organ-on-Chip Systems, supervised by Jorge Fernandes, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Diogo Caetano, researcher at INESC MN. His work focuses on the development of Organ-on-Chip technologies—devices that replicate the conditions of human organs and can be used to test pharmaceuticals, helping to avoid adverse reactions after administration. Additionally, these technologies aim to reduce animal testing and lower the overall costs associated with the testing process.

Afonso Vale was recognized for his thesis Design, Control and Testing of a Trimodal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, supervised by Meysam Basiri, researcher at the Institute for Systems and Robotics, and Frederico Afonso, professor at Técnico. The thesis involves the development of a modular vehicle capable of adapting to different environments depending on mission requirements—whether on land or in the air—with the ability to avoid obstacles and move vertically, including climbing walls. This device can be applied in fields such as agriculture or wildfire monitoring, and has potential use in surface inspection and exploratory missions in unknown environments.

The award ceremony featured a presentation by Professor Luís Silveira, who shared insights into the legacy of Luís Vidigal, highlighting his deep connection to teaching and his innovative spirit in promoting the development of products, services, and companies.

Following the introduction, the winners were announced and gave brief presentations of their work.

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