Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 20:38:42 +0200
From: Valentin Goranko <goranko@maths.wits.ac.za>
To: Alberto Henrique Frade Laender <laender@dcc.ufmg.br>,
    Celso da Cruz Carneiro Ribeiro <celso@inf.puc-rio.br>,
    Claudio Leonardo Lucchesi <lucchesi@dcc.unicamp.br>,
    Flavio Rech Wagner <flavio@inf.ufrgs.br>,
    Henrique Pacca Loureiro Luna <pacca@tci.ufal.br>,
    Jose Carlos Maldonado <jcmaldon@icmc.sc.usp.br>,
    Virgilio Augusto Fernandes Almeida <virgilio@dcc.ufmg.br>
Cc: goranko@mail.maths.wits.ac.za
Subject: Letter of support: Prof. Ruy de Queiroz

Dear Member of the Scientific Committee for Computer Science of the
Brazilian
Research Council,


With this letter I would like to express my strong support the renewal of
the
research grant of Prof. Ruy de Queiroz, Centro de Informatica, Universidade
Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE).

I wish to point out that, if Prof de Queiroz's publication record over the
past several years may appear less than prolific, that is mainly because
over
that period he has exclusively devoted himself to promoting and advancing
the
status and recognition of mathematical logic and theoretical computer
science
not only in Brasil, but worldwide. I can think of very few other scientists
in these fields of research who have, in their personal capacity, carried
out
more enthusiastic and devoted service to their scientific community and have
made more impactful contributions to the popularizing of these fields of
research. I myself live and work in a country which, like Brasil, is not in
the very frontier of the scientific development in logic and computer
science,
and I can very well appreciate the enormous amount of effort, enthusiasm,
and
persistence needed for such unabating and devoted professional service in
these fields over so many years.

In particular, I think that the scientific and educational impact of the
WoLLIC conferences alone, organized by Prof. de Queiroz, can only be
compared
with truly seminal research output which very few researchers produce.
Adding
to that the numerous editorial and other professional activities in which he
has been involved over the past several years, I am actually surprised that
Prof. de Queiroz has, nevertheless, been able to produce a steady and
respectable, if not prolific, publication output, too.

I wish to summarize by noting that the academic standing and legacy of a
scientist should not measured just by formal criteria such as the number of
his/her publications and the impact factor of the journals where they have
appeared, but by his/her integral contribution to the scientific community
and
the society at large.

I therefore believe that by renewing the research grant of Prof de Queiroz,
the esteemed Scientific Committee for Computer Science of the Brazilian
Research Council would make a wise and fruitful investment in the
development
of this scientific field in the country and worldwide, and wish once again
to
strongly support such decision.


Sincerely yours,

Valentin Goranko
Associate Professor
School of Mathematics
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Private Bag 3, Wits 2050
South Africa

Tel.:(+27)-(0)11-717 6243
Fax.: (+27)-(0)11-717 6259
Email: goranko@maths.wits.ac.za
http://mail.maths.wits.ac.za/~goranko