Following a brief description of personal background, a timeline of academic, administrative and scientific activities during 60 years will be presented. Initially, as a graduate student, contributing to the creation of the Master and Doctoral Program in Metallurgical Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, COPPE/UFRJ. Following a post doctorate at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, assumed administrative positions as Head of Department, Coordinator of COPPE, Under-Rector for Research of UFRJ and Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Education in Brasilia, Brazil. Since MSc and PhD graduate period, at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the University of Florida, has published more than 2,300 articles associated with more than 20,000 citations and a H index of 72 (Google Scholar). Received several awards, including ASM Fellowship, Brazilian Army Medal as well as several TMS distinctions. Consultant of the main Brazilian R&D agencies and Executive Editor of Elsevier’s Journal of Materials Research and Technology. Finally life-learned lessons will be described.