About
Background and academic path
I am an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the City University of New York, New York City College of Technology (City Tech). My work connects rigorous mathematical ideas with computation and data-driven modeling, with current interests in machine learning for geospatial data (including LiDAR/3D point clouds), feature engineering, and dimensionality reduction. My broader background includes analysis, numerical analysis, and partial differential equations, and I enjoy building bridges from pure mathematics to applied and computational problems.
Education
| May 2014 |
Ph.D. (Mathematics), Oregon State University. Dissertation: Mathematical Treatment and Simulation of Methane Hydrates and Adsorption Models. Advisor: Dr. Malgorzata Peszyńska. |
| June 2009 |
M.A. (Mathematics), Bowling Green State University. Successful completion of written comprehensive examinations based on Mathematical Analysis and Abstract Algebra. |
| June 2003 |
M.S. (Mathematics), Universidad de los Andes. Thesis: Non-complementarity of Orlicz spaces in L1[0,1] and C[0,1]. Advisor: Dr. Diomedes Bárcenas. |
| 2001 |
B.Sc. (Mathematics), Universidad Central de Venezuela. Thesis: Regression Analysis using local polynomials (non-parametric statistics). Advisor: Dr. Ricardo Ríos. |
I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela, where I completed my undergraduate studies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela,
known as “the house that overcomes the shadows.” UNESCO declared the university a World Heritage Site in 2000 due to its
distinct architectural style. My first contact with research was through probability and statistics, and my undergraduate thesis
was in nonparametric statistics.
I did the first year of my master’s studies at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), an institute with an
exceptional library and research environment. I completed the second year at Universidad de los Andes in Mérida, Venezuela, where I
learned Banach space theory and was introduced to Orlicz spaces, the topic of my master’s thesis. This early work in functional analysis
played a central role in inspiring me to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics.
After completing my master’s degree, I returned to Caracas and taught at two institutions: Universidad Central de Venezuela and
Universidad Simón Bolívar. A few years later, I continued graduate studies at Bowling Green State University, where I earned a second
master’s degree and deepened my background in analysis, complex analysis, topology, and numerical analysis.
In 2009, I began my Ph.D. at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. I completed my dissertation under the direction of
Dr. Malgorzata Peszyńska, who introduced me to applied mathematics problems and mathematical modeling for physical phenomena,
including methane hydrates and adsorption models in porous media.
While at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), I worked on machine learning projects with Dr. Randy Paffenroth. That experience, together with collaborations from the AWM Women in Data Science and Mathematics (WiSDM) group, shaped many of the ideas I continue to develop—especially connecting mathematical structure to feature engineering and learning pipelines.
I was also a postdoctoral visiting scholar at ICERM (Brown University) during the Spring 2019 Computer Vision program. The program provided an unusually rich environment for interdisciplinary research and collaboration, and it continues to influence how I think about bridging mathematical foundations and computational practice.