Maria do Carmo Coimbra graduated in Applied Mathematics at the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto (FCUP) in 1986 and joined the Department of Civil Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) as Teaching Assistant in 1990, after a short time teaching at the University of Aveiro. In 1993 she started her post-graduate studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering at FEUP, where in 2000 she obtained her degree of Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences. Since then, she has pursued her teaching and research career at FEUP.