♡ Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Educational Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Class of 2018

♡ Master of Science in Mathematics, Sam Houston State University, Class of 2020

♡ Doctor of Philosophy Student in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment, Quantitative Data Analysis Track, Boston College, Expected

Becoming a mathematician, statistician, or data scientist was never part of my plan. Looking back, I can only describe it as God's plan.

I am the daughter of two immigrants from the Dominican Republic, neither of whom completed high school. What my parents lacked in formal education, they made up for in work ethic, sacrifice, and values. They taught me that education mattered. They believed that if I worked hard in school, I could build a life with opportunities they never had. What they couldn't teach me was how to navigate higher education. They didn't know about college applications, financial aid, scholarships, graduate school, or academic careers. Like many first-generation students, I learned those things as I went.

My academic journey began at the College of the Holy Cross, where I majored in Mathematics and minored in Educational Studies. Until then, I had never considered graduate school. In fact, I didn't know anyone with a master's degree or a Ph.D and I was the very first person in my family and neighborhood getting a bachelor’s degree. Then during my last semester, one of my professors, Dr. Gareth Roberts, told me something that would change the course of my life: he told me that I had the ability to earn a doctorate in mathematics and become a professor.

That encouragement led me to pursue a master's degree in Mathematics at Sam Houston State University. There, I graduated with a 4.00 GPA, received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, and completed my thesis Understanding The Stratospheric Polar Vortex: A Parameter Sensitivity Analysis on a Simple Model of Stratospheric Dynamics.

Afterward, I entered a Ph.D. program in Mathematics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a Presidential Fellow. But after three semesters, I realized the program wasn't the right fit for me. Making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. For the first time, I felt uncertain about my future. I had spent years following a path that no one in my family had traveled before, and suddenly I no longer knew where the road was leading.

What followed turned out to be exactly what I needed.

I spent time working for the American Mathematical Society, as an assistant publications technical support specialist. I did the technical work of editing the corresponding research journal and book LaTeX files (LaTeX is a typeset language mathematicians use to type their work so that their equations and graphs look pretty).

Later, I returned to the College of the Holy Cross as a full-time Visiting Instructor, where I taught in the Mathematics and Computer Science department, did academic advising, and mentored a research student.

Working on knowledge creation and production, teaching, advising, and mentoring reminded me that knowledge is most powerful when it is shared. Those experiences ultimately led me back to graduate school, but with a new sense of purpose. Today, I am a Ph.D. student in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment at Boston College. My work sits at the intersection of statistics, education policy, economics, and social mobility. I am interested in understanding how systems and policies distribute opportunity, specifically, who benefits and where inequalities emerge.

More than anything, I want my work to help people. Whether through research, teaching, mentorship, or content creation, my goal is the same: to make rigorous knowledge accessible, empower people to pursue their dreams, and contribute to building a loving world that expands opportunity.