Thales holds a Ph.D. in remote sensing and an M.S. degree in applied computing (both titles obtained at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research—INPE), and a B.S. degree in computer engineering (at FURG). The research areas of interest include remote sensing image segmentation, multitemporal analysis, image classification, data mining algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Thales is currently the president of the Remote Sensing Postgraduate Course Council at INPE, and also Executive Secretariat of The International Charter Space and Major Disasters.