(Chemical) Bonding is what makes life possible

Simone C. Fernandes is a 23-year-old Portuguese student. She concluded the BSc and the MSc in Chemistry in 2019
and 2021, respectively, at the Faculty of Sciences from the University of Porto (FCUP). Her academic path focused
on inorganic chemistry, catalysis, material science and green chemistry. She developed her masters’ thesis on
“Development of Desulfurization Processes of Maritime Fuels for Industrial Application” with the POMOF group
from LAQV/REQUIMTE at FCUP got a final classification of 19 (out of 20), graduating from the masters with an
average of 17. In 2017, after her first year as chemistry student, she received by SPQ (Chemistry Portuguese Society)
with a merit award “Prémio de apoio à licenciatura em química” for being in the top 5 students in the 2016 class.
Between July and October of 2020, she was also granted a summer scholarship by FCT for the Hands-on-Nano
programme, which focused on characterization techniques for nanomaterials. The work produced in the final
project of the bachelor degree has resulted in a publication in the Sustainable Energy & Fuels journal and the work
done during the master’s thesis has resulted in other two articles published in international journals (Catalysts
and Microporous Mesoporous Materials). Besides that, she has participated in national and international
conferences which have resulted in 3 poster communications and one oral communication.