After getting her PhD she spent two years as a postdoc at the research group of Michael Fisher at the University of Maryland.
Dr. Barbosa was born in Rio de Janeiro, RJ and raised in Canoas, RS (Forbes, 2021).
When I asked why she decided to become a scientist, Dr. Barbosa stated that it was because of “helping my father make repairs in the house (electricity and hydraulics) and working as a volunteer in the college laboratory”.
It was there that at the invitation of the director of the school, Dr. Barbosa studied in the afternoon and worked at night to set up the laboratory (Santos, 2019).
In college, it came time to start her academic life in a discipline that is primarily composed of males and rampant with sexist ideologies.
The group worked with the aim of obtaining data on the participation of women in Physics at different career levels in the world, identifying the barriers that represent an obstacle and defining actions to reverse the problem (IUPAP, n.d.) Throughout her career, Barbosa has sought to unlock the secrets of water's anomalies, initially from a theoretical perspective and then by focusing her insights on practical applications for medicine and the life sciences.
Barbosa's work has helped explain why many characteristics of water – the motion of its molecules, its reaction to changes in temperature and pressure – make it different from other liquids in vast and important ways, and how biomolecules such as DNA, proteins and fats interact with water within the human body.
In parallel, she works on gender issues, for which she won the Nicholson Medal of the American Physical Society in 2009.
In 2008 she became vice-president of the Union of Pure and Applied Physics and director of the Instituto de Física da UFRGS.
[9][10][11] 2009 Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach Recipient from the American Physical Society[12] Barbosa, M. C. (personal communication, May 25, 2018) Currículo Lattes (2022).
Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/marcia-cristina-bernardes-barbosa-more-sp Marcos Pivetta, "The bizarre side of water", Revista Fapesp, 2013