Dr. Alves holds his degree in Agronomy from the College of Agricultural Sciences of Pará, Brasil; Master’s degree in plant physiology by Federal University of Viçosa Minas Gerais, Brasil; and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Cornell University, Ithaca-NY, USA. He has served as Visiting-Scientist in the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia, acting as Coordinator of the Cassava Biotechnology Network for Latin America and the Caribbean. As Senior Scientist at Embrapa-Labex-USA in Genetic Resources, he has also worked at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, ARS / USDA, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Since 1987 he has been Scientist at Embrapa Cassava & Fruits, , where he is currently cassava team leader and international affairs supervisor. His agronomy experience emphasizes cassava physiology, working on abiotic stresses tolerance (particularly drought), biotechnology (molecular markers, tissue culture and cryopreservation), pre-breeding and cassava genetic resources preservation.