Sergio Machado Rezende graduated in Electrical Engineering in Rio de Janeiro in 1963 and received his MSc and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Electrical Engineering-Materials Science. He was one of the founders and first chairman of the Physics Department of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) (1972 – 1976) in Recife, Brazil, where he is currently Full Professor. He has held two appointments as Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara (1975-1976 and 1982-1984). His publication record encompasses over 270 scientific papers in international journals on dynamic excitation phenomena in magnetic materials, magnetic nano-structures and spintronics. His scientific activities have evolved uninterrupted alongside his numerous positions in science management; namely as Dean of the Center for Exact Sciences of UFPE (1984-1988), Scientific Director of the Pernambuco Science Foundation (1990-1993), Secretary for Science and Technology of Pernambuco (1995-1998), President of FINEP, the main federal agency for funding of S&T in Brazil (2003-2005) and Minister for Science and Technology of Brazil (2005-2010). He has supervised 40 MSc and PhD students, and is a long-standing member of several scientific societies and recipient of several prizes and awards in Brazil and abroad.