Speakers 2020

Nayda Santiago, Ph.D.

Eliana Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Flor Narciso, Ph.D.

Ivelisse Rubio, Ph.D.

Marie Lluberes, Ph.D.

Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz, Ph.D.

Tamara Gonzalez-Feliciano

Melissa Wessel

Anamari Irizarry Quintero, Ph.D.

Student panelists

Professional panelist

Nayda Santiago, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez

Email: naydag.santiago@upr.edu

Nayda G. Santiago is professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM) where she teaches the Capstone Course in Computer Engineering. Since 2006 she is member of the Computing Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) where she is a trainer to undergraduate researchers using the Affinity Research Group (ARG) Model and is an ARG hub leader training faculty to adopt the ARG model. In 2014 and 2016 she directed the 1st and 2nd Caribbean Celebration of Women in Computing, respectively. These are part of the ACM-W celebrations project. Dr. Santiago is NCWIT academic alliance member, member of Henaac, former board member and lifetime member of SACNAS, member of the CIAPR, senior member of the IEEE, member of the ACM, and senior member of the Latinas in Computing (LiC) organization. Dr. Santiago has been awarded 2017 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award, 2008 Henaac Educator Award, 2008 Distinguished Computer Engineer of the CIAPR, and UPRM Distinguished Alumni award. Dr. Santiago is a Licensed Engineer in Puerto Rico.

Eliana Valenzuela, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Arecibo

Email: eliana.valenzuela@upr.edu

Eliana Valenzuela-Andrade holds a doctoral degree in Computing, Information Sciences and Engineering, a M.E. in Management Systems from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus and a BS in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, Colombia. She has nearly fifteen of teaching experience and ten of research experience. The research areas of Dr. Valenzuela-Andrade are Database Management System, Educational Robotics, Swarm Robotics Outreach for STEM careers, among others. In the past eight years, she has been interested in innovative tools to motivate young people to explore CS topics before and during college and encourage them to continue a career in this discipline. She is part of Latinas in Computing, FemProf, and CAHSI.

Flor Narciso, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez

Email: flor.narciso@upr.edu

Flor Narciso recibió su Maestría en Informática en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid-España en 1988, y su Ph.D. en Ciencias de la Computación e Ingeniería en la Universidad del Sur de Florida-USA en 1999. Fue profesora en la Universidad de Los Andes en Mérida-Venezuela durante 31 años en Ingeniería de Sistemas, y en 2014 fue contratada por la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Mayagüez (UPRM), donde ha estado enseñando Ciencias de la Computación en el Departamento de Ciencias Matemáticas. Ha participado en congresos, conferencias y simposios, y tiene publicaciones en congresos, conferencias, simposios, revistas científicas, libros y capítulos de libros. Actualmente, es Directora Asociada Interina del Departamento de Ciencias Matemáticas de la UPRM.

Ivelisse Rubio, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras

Email: iverubio@gmail.com

Ivelisse Rubio has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University and is Professor at the Computer Science Department of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. She is an active researcher in the area of finite fields that has directed undergraduate research projects in computational mathematics of numerous minority students. Dr. Rubio has been involved in many activities to promote undergraduate research in mathematics and co-founded the REUs SIMU (1998-2002) and MSRI-UP (2007-2015). In 2006 SIMU received the American Mathematical Society's inaugural award to "Programs that make a difference”. Ivelisse has received a SACNAS Presidential Service Award and the Dr. Etta Falconer Award. She was a member of the Editorial Board of the American Mathematical Monthly, the US National Committee for Mathematics and of the Executive Committee of the Association for Women in Mathematics.

Marie Lluberes, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras

Email: marie.lluberes@upr.edu

Dr. Marie Lluberes is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Dr. Lluberes holds a PhD in Computer and Information Science and Engineering from University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and a BS in Civil Engineering from Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Dr. Lluberes research interest are binarization algorithms for gene expression profiles, gene expression networks and Boolean models for gene expression representation.

Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz, Ph.D.

Ciencia Puerto Rico

Email: gdiaz@cienciapr.org

Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz is a scientist, educator, communicator and advocate of diversity and inclusion in the careers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), especially girls and women. Throughout her professional career, Greetchen has participated in countless initiatives to promote these disciplines, both in Puerto Rico and in the United States. Her efforts include the creation of projects and collaborations in education, communication, community outreach and science public policy. Greetchen, who was a volunteer at Ciencia Puerto Rico for almost ten years, is currently Director of the Science Education Program and Community Partnerships of the organization. At Ciencia Puerto Rico, she founded the Borinqueña blog, focused on empowering Hispanic and Puerto Rican women and girls in STEM, and the Program “Semillas de Triunfo” (Seeds of Success). “Semillas de Triunfo” is a STEM Ambassadors program — the first of its kind in Puerto Rico — that motivates middle and high school girls to pursue STEM careers, but above all to develop their leadership skills. So far, the program has directly impacted 250 girls and they have reached almost 16,000 people through their STEM ambassador projects. For her achievements and trajectory, Greetchen is currently recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as one of their “IF/THEN” Ambassadors, with the purpose of motivating the next generation of pioneers in STEM.

Tamara Gonzalez-Feliciano

L3Harris Technologies

Email: Tamara.Gonzalez-Feliciano@l3harris.com

Tamara Gonzalez-Feliciano is an Associate Software Engineer for the Space and Airborne System segment of L3Harris Technologies. Gonzalez-Feliciano assumed the position of Software Developer for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ground Control Station program this year, previously, she served as a Software Developer for the company's mentoring application. In this role she had the opportunity to present and demo the application companywide engaging with segment leaders, engineering managers and colleagues.

Before joining L3Harris, Gonzalez-Feliciano was a SW Developer at Parknet LCC where she had the opportunity to collaborate on a software startup.

Tamara Gonzalez-Feliciano has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering with a major in Software from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus.

Melissa Wessel

L3Harris Technologies

Email: Melissa.Wessel@l3harris.com

Melissa Wessel is the Director of Engineering Management for the Space and Airborne System segment of L3Harris Technologies. As an Engineering Manager, Wessel supports the segment's program execution and business pursuits focusing in the Power, Digital, FPGA and DSP areas. Previously, she served as the lead for the Advanced Wireless and Signal Processing groups.

Before joining L3Harris, Wessel was an Analog Integrated Circuits developer for Motorola Inc. where she supported transistor-level analog circuit design, layout and simulations.

Melissa Wessel started her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus and completed the degree at the University of Central Florida.

Anamari Irizarry Quintero, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras

Email: anamari.irizarry@upr.edu

Anamari Irizarry holds a post-doctoral degree in Marketing and Management from the Warrington College of Business of the University of Florida at Gainesville, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Creole Languages from the UPR. She currently teaches Business Communication at the School of Business Administration, UPR-RP. She has taught numerous undergraduate courses focused on communication, research, storytelling, pitch, public speaking, career development and writing skills.

She is currently providing services in English Writing, Storytelling and Pitch in the Center to foster Innovation and Commercialization (Centro de apoyo a la Innovación y Comercialización) - UPR i+c. She has provided academic service to the School through the Career Development Center assisting students in their job seeking skills and providing workshops on résumés and interviewing skills to the whole university community; she has also served in the School’s Assessment Committee.

Her research interests are intercultural and managerial communication, communication competencies, international business and performing arts integrated to business soft skills.