Education

Dual PhD in Computer Science and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Advisors: Dr. Charles Ofria & Dr. Alexander Lalejini
Dissertation: “Beyond benchmarks suites: Engineering diagnostic tools to characterize selection schemes”
Committee: Dr. Charles Ofria, Dr. Alexander Lalejini, Dr. Emily Dolson, Dr. Bill Punch, Dr. Wolfgang Banzhaf
Graduated: May 2023

Master of Science in Computer Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Advisor: Charles Ofria
Graduated: May 2019

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Minor: Mathematics
Graduated: December 2017

Fellowships & Awards

Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2023)
Amount awarded: $10,000

Travel Grant for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2022)
Amount awarded: $1,000

Graduate Fellowship from the BEACON Center (2019 & 2022)
Amount awarded: $20,000 per year

GEM Fellowship Program (2020)
Amount awarded: $16,000

Ford Fellowship Honorable Mention (2020 & 2021)

Publications

Please see publications section for more info.

Mentorship

Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP)
2022
Student and statistics coach at Michigan State University

Coached twelve students throughout their summer research experience, where most students came from underrepresented groups within STEM
Led weekly chalk talk sessions for students to practice and iteratively develop their final presentations by providing verbal and written feedback
Prepared feedback on iterative drafts of documents: posters, presentation slides, personal statements, and research papers
Held weekly meetings with students to check in on their personal well-being, confirm they were receiving adequate support from their research group, plan for upcoming deadlines, outline new documents, and discuss feedback on draft documents

Workshop for Avida-ED Software Development (WAVES)
2020
Student mentor at Michigan State University

Mentored six participants through a ten-week summer paid internship to develop educational tools and software where participants developed genomic prototypes, testing suites, and documentation for in-development computational software

MentorSHPE
2019
Student mentor for Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)

Mentored SHPE members at the Michigan State University Chapter by providing myself as a resource for advice and guidance

Latino Student Mentoring Program
2017
Student mentor at Michigan State University

Mentored Latin first-year students by providing myself as a resource for advice and guidance

Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions
2014 & 2015
Intercultural aide at Michigan State University

Provided a welcoming and comfortable community for an estimated 200 assigned dormitory residents
Contributed to high retention rates within the university through one on one conversations, programming events, and other special initiatives
Ability to be culturally and socially aware, and work with diverse and international student residents and connect with them with university resources to ensure their academic and social success
Created weekly events for residents to attend, putting forth intentional effort to transcend language barriers or disabilities
Facilitated discussions about controversial issues in an open and safe environment for participants

Outreach

Student mentor at Technovation
2018 & 2021

Assisted elementary, middle, and high school students from all over Michigan with lessons that taught how to implement code using Python turtle (2021) and how to implement code that would operate on a BBC micro:bit (2018)
Most students were from underrepresented groups within STEM

Student mentor at Girls Who Code
2019, 2020, & 2021

Taught middle and high school students from all over Michigan computer science and covered topics on code development, web development, and problem-solving

Activity leader at Introduce a Girl to Engineering
2019 & 2020

Presented the importance of women in engineering and hosted a group activity for participants between 6th and 12th grade from all over Michigan

Student mentor at Summer Research Opportunities Program
2019

Mentored Daniel Junghans through a summer research project regarding the understanding of evolutionary transitions to multicellularity
Held weekly meetings with Daniel to check in on his personal well-being, confirm he was receiving adequate support, discuss research progress and questions, and prepare for a poster presentation
Guided Daniel with statistical and data visualization for an ongoing project

Student mentor at Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
2019

Mentored Oscar Vargas through a summer research project regarding the understanding of evolutionary transitions to multicellularity
Held weekly meetings with Oscar to check in on his personal well-being, confirm he was receiving adequate support, discuss research progress and questions, and prepare for a poster presentation

Activity lead at Coding for More Conference
2019

Taught elementary and middle school students how to implement code that operates on a BBC micro:bit at Innovation Central High School, Grand Rapids, MI
Most students were from underrepresented groups within STEM

Student mentor at Engineering and Science Success Academy
2018

Taught an estimated 20 incoming freshman computer science through lessons from the Google Computer Science Summer Institute at Michigan State University
Most students were from underrepresented groups within STEM

Teaching Experience

CSE 476: Mobile Apps and Development
2018 & 2022
Graduate teaching assistant at Michigan State University

Assisted with teaching a total of ∼200 students concepts related to software development for Android mobile applications

CSE 232: Introduction to Programming II
2021
Graduate teaching assistant at Michigan State University

Assisted with teaching ~450 students concepts related to object oriented programming with C++; led two laboratory sections (~40 students each) where I developed and presented material that I used to help guide students through laboratory assignments

CSE 260: Discrete Structures
2017
Undergraduate learning assistant at Michigan State University

Assisted with teaching ~200 students concepts related to mathematical and computation theory

Professional Service

DEI Steering Committee
Committee member at Michigan State University
2022

Review results of surveys and Center for Inclusive Computing (CIC) reports data to identify needs and opportunities to improve DEI, share highlights with faculty and students, and identify questions for focus groups
Revise data collection plan to drill deeper in coming years
Review best practice recommendations around DEI by CIC (and current DEI research in computer science)

Chairperson Advisory Committee
Committee member at Michigan State University
2021

Elected by the computer science student body to represent them as the spokesperson between the community and computer science department chairperson, Abdol-Hossein Esfananian
Participated in meetings to voice suggestions and concerns regarding the graduate student population
Created surveys to gather information related to chairperson’s goals in regard to the graduate student population

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
Graduate advisor at Michigan State University
2019 & 2022

Provided support and guidance to the executive board during the planning, implementation, and execution of social and professional events
Provided myself as a primary point of contact for professional interactions and meetings
Mentored executive board and members with achieving their academic and career goals

Graduate Studies and Research Committee
Committee member at Michigan State University
2019 & 2020

Elected by the computer science student body to represent them as the spokesperson between the community and computer science department
Participated in meetings with committee faculty to discuss the academic curriculum and research topics investigated within the current faculty
Contributed to revisions of the graduate student handbook and discussions on applicants for the computer science graduate program

Presentations

2022 A suite of diagnostics for characterizing evolutionary algorithms. The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Convention Charlotte, North Carolina.

2022 Measuring the ability of lexicase selection to find obscure pathways to optimality. The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion, Boston, MA

2021 An Exploration of Exploration: Measuring the Ability of Lexicase Selection to Find Obscure Pathways to Optimality. Genetic Programming Theory and Practice, Ann Arbor, MI

2019 Girls Who Code at Michigan State University, Michigan Celebration of Women In Computing, Grand Rapids, Michigan

2018 Exploring the Effects of Adding Cohorts Within Lexicase Selection, BEACON NSF Site Visit Poster Session, Michigan State University

2017 Evolving Distributed Algorithms with Evolutionary Computation. Presentations at Michigan State University: BEACON Congress, Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experiences, and Summer Research Opportunities Program Presentations

2016 Graphical User Interface for Developmental Network. Presentations at Michigan State University: Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experiences and Summer Research Opportunities Program Presentations