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for a list of the SIMU 2002 students.
Short
Biographies of the
2002
SIMU Staff
Ricardo
Cortez, Computational Mathematics Applied to
Fluid Motion Seminar Leader
Ricardo Cortez was born on the east side of Manhattan but moved to San
Salvador, El Salvador at the age of 4. After studying in a Jesuit
school where Herbert's father used to teach, Ricardo returned to the
United States to go to college at Arizona State University, where he
received bachelors degrees in mathematics and mechanical engineering (he did
not know what he wanted to do). Ricardo decided to
continue studying mathematics and in 1995, he received a Ph.D. in applied
mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. After a
three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Courant Institute of Mathematical
Sciences at New York University he moved to New Orleans in 1998, where he is
an Assistant Professor.
Chris
Duncan, Integrals: An Introduction to
Research in Mathematics Seminar Associate
Chris was born and raised in upstate South Carolina. After
receiving his B.S. in Mathematics from the University of South
Carolina-Spartanburg, he joined the Ph.D. program a Tulane University.
He is currently a second year student, and faces the task of narrowing his
mathematical interests. When his face isn’t in a book, Chris enjoys
traveling, cheese, and music. Lately, he has been obsessed with the
roots of American music, such as pre-Sixties Blues, Folk, and Country.
Angela
Gallegos, Computational Mathematics Applied
to Fluid Motion Seminar Associate
Angela Gallegos was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and grew up there, in New
Mexico and in Texas. She received her B.A. from New York University in
1999 (where she first worked with Dr. Ricardo Cortez) and is currently a
Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics at the University of California, Davis.
Her primary research interest is mathematical modeling in reproductive
physiology. However, she also enjoys biofluids and applications
to some cellular processes. Angela's other interests include
triathlons, bouldering, reading, traveling and eating good food. Some
of these she shares with her husband Preston and her great big dog Roman!
Dante
V. Manna, Integrals: An Introduction to
Research in Mathematics Seminar Associate
Dante grew up
in western Massachusetts, and graduated from Wesleyan University (CT) in
2001 with a B.A. in Mathematics and an East Asian Studies minor. He
plans to receive a Ph.D. from Tulane University in 2006. Dante's
interests include discrete math, physics, logic, language, psychology,
music, food, and travel. In his spare time, he likes to sing and write
music. Dante is also fluent in Mandarin and can make a mean Gong Bao
Ji Ding (spicy chicken with peanuts).
Herbert A.
Medina, SIMU Co-Director
Herbert A. Medina was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States at
the age of eight. He received his B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science (1985) from UCLA, and his Ph.D.
in Mathematics (1992) from UC Berkeley. He is currently Associate Professor of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles, CA. His research interests center on functional analysis,
classical analysis, harmonic analysis, ergodic theory, and wavelets; among his other mathematical
hobbies are linear algebra and continued fractions. One of his other passions is
working on projects that aim to increase the participation of historically underrepresented groups in mathematics and
the sciences. His non-mathematical hobbies include running, biking, history
(esp. American and Latin American), Latin
American and Chicano literature, and eating lots of good food.
Victor H. Moll,
Integrals: An Introduction to Research in Mathematics
Seminar Leader
Victor Hugo Moll Becker was born in Santiago, Chile.
His interest in mathematics were observed by his elementary school teachers that
encourage him to pursue a career in engineering. After realizing that he
was not able to put wires together, he became a mathematics major at Universidad
Santa Maria in Valparaiso. He arrived in the U.S. in 1980 to study
mathematics at the Courant Institute, New York University. His advisor was
Henry P. McKean. At the Courant Institute he met his (future) wife Lisa J.
Fauci and, after a brief postdoctoral work at Temple University, they
joined the Department of Mathematics at Tulane University in 1986. They
have two sons: Alexander (12) and Stefan (8).
Ivelisse Rubio, Co-Director
Ivelisse M. Rubio was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She received her B.S. (1984) and M.S. (1988) in Mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras and her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University in January 1998. Ive is currently Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao. Her research interests are Gröbner
bases and its applications, in particular applications to error-correcting codes. She loves the beach and Afro-Caribbean music.
Alexander Villacorta,
Computational Mathematics Applied to Fluid Motion
Seminar Associate
Alex Villacorta is a SIMU '99 alumnus. He is a first generation
Salvadoran born and raised in Southern California. He did his
undergraduate education at the University of Michigan and majored in
Mathematics and Economics. He is currently in his second year of
graduate school at the University of Colorado and will receive his Masters
degree in Applied Mathematics in May of 2002. He has also been a
teaching assistant for Calculus 1,2, 3 and Differential Equations courses.
His future plans include completing his doctorate degree, obtaining an
industry position and further expanding his own business, endarte.
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2002
SIMU Students
