Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Contributions
At Stanford, I worked to engage my community on issues around diversity and inclusion at both the undergraduate and graduate level as a mentor, recruiter, and campus leader. For my work with El Centro Chicano y Latino and Stanford Engineering's Equity and Inclusion Initiatives to enhance DEI at Stanford, I was awarded the Stanford EE Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Service Graduation Award.
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As a faculty member, I aim to increase the accessibility and awareness of graduate programs for underrepresented minority (URM) students, provide research training opportunities and mentorship for URM students in STEM, and give these students a vision of what it would be like to earn a Ph.D. One of my main goals as faculty is to serve on hiring and tenure committees as an advocate for diverse candidates in efforts to increase the number of hired, tenured, and promoted URM faculty, and ultimately improve the diversity, equity, and inclusion of academia.
Stanford Engineering Recruiting
Through Stanford’s Equity and Inclusions Initiative, I helped lead recruiting efforts from 2016-2020 for Stanford Engineering by providing resources to students interested in applying to Stanford’s summer research and graduate programs at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and Graduate Education for Minorities (GEM) National Conferences.
El Centro Chicano y Latino
I was heavily involved as a leader and mentor for Stanford’s El Centro Chicano y Latino—both as a Graduate Scholar-in-Residence (2018-2020) and through their Frosh Scholars Program (FSP). As an FSP mentor, I met with and listened to my freshmen mentees’ concerns and guided their transition to Stanford. Furthermore, serving as a Graduate Scholar-in-Residence allowed me to mentor both undergraduate and graduate URM students and prepare them to succeed in higher education. For my work at El Centro Chicano y Latino, I was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 2019.
Equity and Inclusion Initiatives
​At Stanford, I participated in a working group with School of Engineering Associate Dean, Thomas Kenny, as well as former Engineering Diversity Programs Associate Dean, Noe Lozano, on how to identify, recruit, and retain URMs in STEM and advance their graduate school experience. In addition to meeting with admitted students at Graduate Diversity Days, I also served as a mentor for Stanford’s Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) program to help entering Ph.D. students adjust to graduate life, and as a Bay Area Graduate Pathways in STEM (GPS) Mentor to advise and promote graduate school to URMs and first-generation students from Bay Area universities.
Rice University DEI Contributions
My contributions to advancing equity and inclusion in higher education began as an undergraduate at Rice University, where I sought opportunities to help URMs in STEM by working with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). As the chapter’s community outreach coordinator, I helped organize our Noche de Ciencias and RACE Days events to introduce URM high school students to engineering concepts, the college admissions process, financial aid resources, and engineering careers. During my senior year with SHPE, in addition to presenting and volunteering with hands-on STEM activities for high school students, I advised Rice’s underclassmen by helping them prepare for career fairs, conferences, interviews, and internships.
Rice University Tapia Center for Excellence and Equity in Education
After graduating from Rice, I worked with the Tapia Center for Excellence & Equity as a Calculus course assistant for their Summer Math-Science Scholars Program. In addition to leading a group of five underrepresented minority (URM) high school seniors through their calculus course and summer research project, I advised students as they researched universities, prepared college essays, and explored STEM majors.
Tapia Math-Science Scholars Program
July 2015
Rice University, Houston, TX
