Madalena Maria Gomes de Queiroz Dias has contributed to Chemical Engineering through her academic achievements, research, and roles in institutional management.
She graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in 1977, joining the Department of Chemical Engineering of FEUP as Teaching Assistant. She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, Texas, USA, in 1984, specializing in the Simulation of Flow in Porous Media.
Following her doctoral studies, she worked as a Research Scientist at the multinational company Schlumberger Ltd., first at Schlumberger-Doll Research, in Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA and later at Schlumberger Cambridge Research, Cambridge, UK, where she conducted research in the characterization and simulation of flow in oil reservoirs.
In 1988, she returned to FEUP, where she pursued her teaching and research career, becoming an Associate Professor in 1993.
Throughout her career, she has held various leadership and institutional management roles. Notably, she served as the Director and Scientific Coordinator of the Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM from 2013 to 2021, and from 2005 to 2010, she was involved in the founding of Fluidinova, SA, a spin-off company of U.Porto.
She served on various councils and committees,including: Chemical Engineering Department Executive Committee (1997-2001); Chemical Engineering Course Scientific Committee (2001-2012); Chemical Engineering Department Council (2001-2022); FEUP Scientific Council (2005-2022); University of Porto Senate (2014-2019); CEMUP - U.Porto Materials Centre Coordinating Council (2016-2022); CoLAB MORE Scientific-Technological Council (since 2020); CIMO/ IPB External Advisory Board (since 2017); RMIN - Rede Nacional de Investigação de Montanhas Coordination Council (since 2017).
She continues to contribute to research activities at LSRE-LCM following her retirement from teaching in 2022.
She is co-author of more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and book chapters, supervised 15 Ph.D. thesis, 16 Master dissertations, and 5 post-doctoral researchers. She was the Principal Investigator of 29 research projects and has participated in more than 30. She is co-author of 1 patent granted in EU and USA, 1 patent granted in Germany and USA, 1 patent granted in Portugal, and 4 other international patent applications.