The Postgraduate Program in Geology and Geochemistry (PPGG) of the Institute of Geosciences (IG) of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) emerged in 1976 as a need to separate the then fully developed Postgraduate Course in Geophysical and Geological Sciences (CPGG), established in 1973 at the same University. It was the first stricto sensu Postgraduate program (master's and doctorate) in Geosciences in the entire Legal Amazon. Throughout its existence, the PPGG has focused its activities on training and qualifying professionals at the Master's and Doctorate levels, the basis for training high-level researchers and professionals. Since its creation, it has promoted the training of 668 master's and 186 doctorate degrees, with a total of 854 dissertations and theses.
The PPGG has twenty-five (25) permanent professors, three (3) collaborators and one (1) visitor. The students who graduated from our program currently work in several institutions in the Amazon, such as UEPA, IFPA, UFAM, UFT, UFRO, UFRR, UFAP, IEPA, UFMT, MPEG, DNPM, FACI, UNAMA, as well as other institutions in the country and several national and international companies such as PETROBRAS, VALE, Geological Service of Brazil – CPRM, Anglo American, Votorantim, among others.
The PPGG was the first graduate program in the entire Northern Region to join the CAPES Academic Excellence Program – PROEX. The quality of teaching and research developed at the PPGG was recognized by CAPES, maintaining a grade of 6 in the evaluations (2007-2009), (2010-2012) and (2013-2016) and achieving a GRADE of 7 in the four-year evaluation 2017-2020. Thus, the PPGG is the first postgraduate program in Geosciences in the Legal Amazon to obtain the highest score from CAPES. All of this reflects the important role of the PPGG in the technical and scientific development of the entire Northern Region of the country.
The teaching and research activities developed by the PPGG faculty and students are supported by a good laboratory infrastructure installed at the UFPA Institute of Geosciences, represented by 19 analytical laboratories (geochronology and isotopic geology, X-ray diffraction and fluorescence, EAA, ATD/TG, FTIR, SEM-EDS, electron microprobe, ion chromatography, optical microscopy, laser granulometer, among others), in addition to basic support such as classrooms, a multimedia room, and study rooms for postgraduate students. The research is supported by research projects coordinated by its professors-researchers with financial support from CNPq, CAPES, FAPESPA, VALE, PETROBRÁS/ANP and mining companies and international cooperation. The PPGG maintains academic-scientific exchanges with national and international institutions and companies, such as UFS, UFMT, USP, UNICAMP, UNB, USC (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain), UiO (University of Oslo, Norway), ETH (Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Germany), UWA (University of Western Australia), University of Orleans (France), Vale, Belo Sun Mining Corporation, among others.