Prof. Dr. Alberto Ferreira De Souza

Prof. Dr. Alberto Ferreira De Souza

Professor Emeritus of Computer Science

Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)

6,728

Total Citations

27

h-index

77

i10-index

Last updated: February 2026

About

My research career began in computer architecture and high-performance processing during my undergraduate studies in Electronic Engineering at UFRJ, through undergraduate research at the Systems Laboratory of the Graduate Program in Systems and Computer Engineering (PESC) at COPPE/UFRJ. My undergraduate project, developed within PESC, was the first parallel machine developed in Brazil.

During my master's degree at COPPE, I conducted research in computer architecture and high-performance processing, being one of the designers of the NCP-1 supercomputer - Brazil's first supercomputer. In the same period, I had my first contact with artificial intelligence in general and neural networks in particular, topics to which I would later dedicate myself.

In 1993, I joined UFES as a professor. From 1996 to 1999, I completed my PhD at University College London, UK, where I proposed the processor architecture called Dynamically Trace Scheduled VLIW (DTSVLIW). Upon returning, in 2002, I created the High-Performance Computing Laboratory (LCAD), which I coordinated until 2019, when I retired and began serving officially as a volunteer professor at UFES.

From the end of my doctorate to the present, I have contributed to the university in various capacities, including Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Informatics (PPGI), Coordinator of the Doctoral Program Creation Commission (created in 2010), Director of the Institute of Technology, Vice-Director of the Technology Center, Dean of Planning and Institutional Development, and Research Director of the university. In 2023, I was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of UFES.

From the late 2000s, I began to dedicate myself more intensely to AI, neural networks, and their applications in autonomous robotics and other areas. I served as Paper Submission Chair of the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence 2018 (WCCI'2018) and Director of I2CA. My highest-impact scientific articles are from these areas.

Current Affiliations

  • Professor Emeritus, Department of Informatics, UFES
  • Director, I2CA - Institute of Applied Computational Intelligence
  • Founder, LCAD - High-Performance Computing Laboratory

International Collaborations

  • City St George's, University of London (Prof. Artur Garcez)
  • University of Twente (Prof. Giancarlo Guizzardi)

Research Interests

Deep Learning

Convolutional Neural Networks, Transformers, Generative AI

Neurosymbolic AI

Neural-Symbolic Integration, Knowledge Graphs, Ontologies

Autonomous Vehicles

Self-Driving Cars, Computer Vision, Sensor Fusion

Computational Genomics

Genomic Transformers, Aging Biomarkers, Epigenetics

Current Research Focus

My current research focuses on developing neurosymbolic AI platforms for analyzing genomic data from humans and model species, aiming to identify biomarkers genetically and epigenetically associated with both healthy longevity and age-related diseases. This work combines the predictive capacity of deep neural networks with the interpretability provided by symbolic reasoning, ontologies, and biological knowledge graphs.

The methodological strategy integrates state-of-the-art deep learning architectures, such as long-context genomic transformers (Enformer, AlphaGenome), trained with multi-species data and validated through a symbolic module based on ontologies and biological knowledge graphs. This approach aims to produce biologically interpretable discoveries that could contribute to understanding molecular mechanisms and developing future therapeutic interventions.

Selected Publications

Self-driving cars: A survey

C. Badue, R. Guidolini, R.V. Carneiro, P. Azevedo, V.B. Cardoso, A. Forechi, L. Jesus, R. Berriel, T.M. Paixão, F. Mutz, L.P. Veronese, T. Oliveira-Santos, A.F. De Souza

Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 165, 2021

1,695 citations

Facial expression recognition with Convolutional Neural Networks: Coping with few data and the training sample order

A.T. Lopes, E. de Aguiar, A.F. De Souza, T. Oliveira-Santos

Pattern Recognition, Vol. 61, pp. 610-628, 2017

999 citations

Keep Your Eyes on the Lane: Real-Time Attention-Guided Lane Detection

L. Tabelini, R. Berriel, T.M. Paixão, C. Badue, A.F. De Souza, T. Oliveira-Santos

IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), pp. 294-302, 2021

596 citations

PolyLaneNet: Lane Estimation via Deep Polynomial Regression

L. Tabelini, R. Berriel, T.M. Paixão, C. Badue, A.F. De Souza, T. Oliveira-Santos

International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR), pp. 6150-6156, 2021

467 citations

Copycat CNN: Stealing Knowledge by Persuading Confession with Random Non-Labeled Data

J.R. Correia-Silva, R. Berriel, C. Badue, A.F. De Souza, T. Oliveira-Santos

International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), pp. 1-8, 2018

250 citations

Featured Projects

IARA - Intelligent Autonomous Robotic Automobile

The most advanced autonomous vehicle in the Southern Hemisphere. IARA made an unprecedented autonomous journey from Vitória to Guarapari (74 km). The project includes over 13 million lines of open-source code.

View on GitHub

Embraer Autonomous Taxiing System

Development of the world's first autonomous taxiing system for passenger jet aircraft, in partnership with Embraer. This groundbreaking project is now part of aviation history.

World First Achievement

Neurosymbolic Genomics

Neurosymbolic AI for Genomics

Developing a neurosymbolic AI platform for identifying genetic and epigenetic biomarkers associated with healthy longevity and age-related diseases. Combines genomic transformers with biological knowledge graphs.

View on GitHub

Deep Tech Startups

Spin-off Companies

Co-founder of three deep tech startups born at LCAD, collectively employing over 150 people:

Honors & Awards

🏅 2023

Professor Emeritus

Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)

🏆 2021

CONFAP Science, Technology & Innovation Award

3rd place - Innovative Researcher Category

🌟 2017

Researcher of the Year

State Council of Science and Technology - ES

🤖 2015

7th Place - Amazon Picking Challenge

Amazon Inc.

🎯 2013

12th Place - DARPA Virtual Robotics Challenge

DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

🎖️ 2009

IEEE Senior Member

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Media Gallery

IARA on Globo TV

National television coverage

First Brazilian Electric Autonomous Car

Partnership LCAD/UFES - Lume Robotics

DARPA Virtual Robotics Challenge

12th place worldwide

Get in Touch

Interested in collaboration, research opportunities, or have questions about our work? Feel free to reach out.