Carla Wilza Souza de Paula Maitelli holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (1990) and a Master's degree in Aeronautical Infrastructure Engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (1995). She completed her PhD at the Graduate Program in Petroleum Science and Engineering at UFRN (2010). In the period between 1998 and 2007, she worked as a professor in the undergraduate courses of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Computer Engineering at Potiguar University and worked as a civil engineer at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte between 2005 and 2010. She is a Professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte since 2009, where she served as the head of the department between December 2011 and July 2015. She is currently the deputy director of the UFRN Technology Center and executive manager of the TECNATUS/UFRN business incubator. She teaches the disciplines of Artificial Oil Lifting and Norms and Practices for Submerged Centrifugal Pumping Installations. She was a member of the Permanent Commission for Teaching Progression and Performance at CT/UFRN and CONSUNI/UFRN.