September’s free open house event at the Ilum School of Science will offer activities in areas like microscopy, fun with math and science for kids
On September 26, the Ilum School of Science at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, São Paulo will receive high school students and other visitors for its annual open house, Ilum de Portas Abertas 2026. With programming divided into two different shifts in the morning and afternoon, the event promotes a closer connection between students and researchers through attractions and guided tours of the institution’s laboratories.
Under the supervision of their professors and the school administration, students in their final year at Ilum prepare interactive stations inspired by the projects they completed during their studies, covering knowledge and practices in the fields of biology, physics, mathematics and computing. The students interact with visitors and explain the dynamics of each experiment.
The highlights of this edition include a station featuring Living Organism Microscopy, a journey using microscopes to observe everything from static cells to living organisms in motion; an activity entitled Feeling the Invisible that uses an accessible approach to introduce scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and its applications to investigate surfaces on the nanometric scale; another entitled Choose, Grab and Go! which playfully shows how algorithms applied to mathematical problems work; a station for children called Paint Your Cell where kids use paint and colored pencils to color models of plant, animal and bacteria cells; and the Esca𝜋 room, with interdisciplinary missions involving math to show how this subject bridges different areas of science.
The open house event is part of the outreach component of the Ilum curriculum, and highlights the school’s differentials such as its advanced laboratory infrastructure, unique admissions process (extending beyond conventional entrance exams) and the benefits offered during the undergraduate program. All of these unique features attract young people interested in careers related to biology, chemistry, mathematics, data science, physics and technology.
Registrations open for the 2027 Admissions Process
Ilum will accept applications for the 2027 Admissions Process until 6:00 p.m. on December 15, 2026, exclusively through the online form at the Ilum website. Forty spaces are available in its Bachelor of Science and Technology program, with at least 50% reserved for students graduating from public high schools.
Students do not gain admission to Ilum just by taking a traditional entrance exam: the process considers each candidate’s score on the national high school exam (ENEM, taken in 2025 or 2026), along with their letter of interest submitted at the time of registration. The top 250 applicants are invited to participate in individual remote interviews where the admissions committee evaluates each candidate’s competencies, skills and affinity with the interdisciplinary curriculum contained in the program, not just test performance.
The full-time program spans three years and provides all students with a complete support network, room and board, transportation, a notebook computer, English classes and psychological support so they can dedicate themselves exclusively to their studies.
About the Ilum School of Science
Ilum offers a free undergraduate degree program that utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to train scientists and professionals in science and technology. With an innovative educational model, the three-year full-time bachelor program offers courses that connect life sciences, materials science, data science, artificial intelligence, and the humanities in order to prepare researchers to work in an ethical and collaborative manner in the search for solutions to the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The Ilum School of Science is funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and is part of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, São Paulo, a social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI). Ilum’s educational mission offers early contact with experimental activities, in teaching labs at the school as well as at CNPEM, in projects carried out together with researchers.
About CNPEM
The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is home to a state-of-the-art, multi-user and multidisciplinary scientific environment and works on different fronts within the Brazilian National System for Science, Technology and Innovation. A social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), CNPEM is driven by research that impacts the areas of health, energy, renewable materials, and sustainability. It is responsible for Sirius, the largest assembly of scientific equipment constructed in the country, and is currently constructing Project Orion, a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research. Highly specialized science and engineering teams, sophisticated infrastructure open to the scientific community, strategic lines of investigation, innovative projects involving the productive sector, and training for researchers and students are the pillars of this institution that is unique in Brazil and able to serve as a bridge between knowledge and innovation. CNPEM’s research and development activities are carried out through its four National Laboratories: Synchrotron Light (LNLS), Biosciences (LNBio), Nanotechnology (LNNano), Biorenewables (LNBR), as well as its Technology Unit (DAT) and the Ilum School of Science — an undergraduate program in Science and Technology supported by the Ministry of Education (MEC).
