2017 Program Participants

Alexandra Carruthers Ferrero is an undergraduate physics major at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. She will be graduating from a physics and mathematics double major in May 2018. She plans to pursue a PhD in applied mathematics.


Alicia Dominguez is a senior at the University of New Mexico pursuing a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and a B.S. in Statistics. She plans to graduate by December 2017 and then continue to pursue a Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics or Biostatistics. Dominguez would like to continue to pursue her interest in research. Specifically, she would like to be involved in areas of research such as diagnostic methods for rare chromosomal abnormalities like William’s Syndrome, health disparities between rural and urban communities in New Mexico, and statistical methods used for cancer research.


Andrea Ovalle is a neuroscience major at Smith College in Northampton, MA. She is from Colombia, South America but made the U.S her new home eight years ago. She became interested in Biostatistics and data science the moment she realized that becoming a skilled statistician would allow her to better understand patterns in neurobiological systems; patterns that could be highly important to understand and improve the way prevention and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is currently approached. Andrea is in her senior year at Smith College and after graduation she hopes to pursue a post-baccalaureate in biostatistics. Eventually, she would like to pursue a master’s degree in the field of neuroscience.


Daniel Meza `22 comes from Watsonville, CA where he graduated from Pajaro Valley High School. He is currently attending Monterey Bay State University and is majoring in Mathematics with a concentration in statistics. Daniel Meza is expected to graduate in December of 2017. He has managed to be part of a summer research program at the University of California, Santa Cruz and has experienced working as an intern at Earthbound Farms, an organic produce company. Daniel has developed an interest in the application of statistical theory and wishes to expand his knowledge on this subject in his graduate studies. As an undergraduate, he wants to develop a strong conceptual understanding of statistical theory to perform well in graduate school. Daniel’s main goal is to become employed at the Department of Defense where he can contribute to protecting his country.


Danielle Baldwin recently graduated from Hampton University in May 2017 with high honors. She is majoring in Mathematics with a concentration in Education where she will get her master’s in teaching. Upon her departure from Hampton University, she plans to get her PhD in statistics or Biostatistics and become a data analyst. Later in life she plans to open a nonprofit with her mother to help those who struggle with math anxiety.


David Angeles is currently majoring in General Mathematics at California State University, Northridge. He is a senior and will be graduating in the spring of 2018. After graduation, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Biostatistics because he is very intrigued by data analysis, medical and environmental research. He looks forward to learning more about the different topics in Public Health to narrow down his research interests and find out what he enjoys the most.


Jace Gilbert and was born and raised in Longwood, Florida. Before pursuing a degree he served four years in the United States Air Force as a medic. He is currently a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno where he will graduate with a bachelors in mathematics and a minor in economics. After graduation in December 2017, his goal is to earn a PhD in biostatistics and pursue a career that will allow him to use the sciences that he loves–mathematics and statistics– to help solve problems that he cares about in a biomedical setting.


Jeff Joseph is from Saint-Marc, Haiti but his family resides in West Palm, Florida. Currently a sophomore at Bowdoin College, he is a double major in Mathematics and Economics with a minor in Italian Studies. He has always found mathematics to be the most fun academic subject so it was fairly easy for him when he had to decide what his major would be. Upon graduation from Bowdoin, he aspires to earn a PhD in an area of mathematics even though he does not know which area of mathematics it will be yet.


Jovaniel J. Rodriguez Maldonado is a chemistry undergraduate student from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. He plans to finish his degree by 2019 and continue graduate studies in either MD or PharmD with a PhD in areas related to health and to conduct research to enhance quality of life, disease prevention and treatment of patients. After finishing his studies, he wants to continue researching and working as a data scientist. When he isn’t studying or working, he loves to read and practice his programming skills.


Julia Thome is a mathematics major and a biology minor student at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa graduating in spring of 2018. She plans on attending graduate school to pursue a PhD in biostatistics upon finishing her undergraduate education. Although she still does not know which specific subjects within biostatistics interest her the most, her end goal is to work in a hospital setting. She knows biostatistics is what she wants to study in the future; she is constantly amazed by the impact mathematics and statistics can have on solving public health issues in a way that no other discipline can.


Reibin Hiraldo will be graduating in the spring of 2017 from Salem State University with a degree in mathematics and minors in secondary education and psychology. He will be attending UMass Lowell in the fall for the graduate program in mathematics. He plans to start his career as a high school math teacher, and later on would consider moving into administration or a career that allows him to explore mathematics more in other contexts.


Silvio Martinez is an Honors Student at the University of Florida (Class of 2019) pursuing Public Health with a minor in Statistics. He is Pre-Med with a heavy interest in research such as social epidemiology and biostatistics for translational science. In the future, he hopes to contribute to research addressing underserved populations (e.g. those with low SES, minorities, etc.) along with neglected patient populations such as Sickle Cell patients, with a goal of improving healthcare delivery and quality, vaccine efficacy, and health policy addressing disparities. He aims to pursue an MPH or M.D.-Ph.D.


Tyler Vu is a third year applied mathematics and statistics major with a minor in computer science at California State University, Fullerton, and will be graduating in the spring of 2018. After graduating, he plans to purse a PhD in biostatistics. In doing so, he hopes to find a career teaching at a university and conducting research to solve health and environmental issues. This will allow him to apply his passions for problem solving and analysis to help our society.


Ula Widocki is an applied mathematics major at The College of New Jersey. After graduating in May of 2018, she plans to attend graduate school to pursue a PhD in either computational biology or bioinformatics. She loves patterns and is passionate about medicine and genetics. She hopes to become a scientist to use quantitative methods to improve the medical field.

Program Post-Bacs

Christina Howe earned her Bachelor of Science in mathematics, biostatistics, and nursing at Simmons College in 2017. She has research experience in bioengineering at MIT and in biostatistics at the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center. She is interested in combining her clinical and research background to bridge bedside care and big data. She will be working in the Medical ICU at Georgetown University Hospital and plans to pursue graduate work in biostatistics after gaining clinical experience in critical care.


Julia Kobe graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in 2017, earning her Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics. Through the co-op program at Wentworth, she participated in an internship with the pandemic research team at the catastrophe modeling company AIR Worldwide, and an NSF funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she worked to develop game theoretical models of cholera. Her research interests include biostatistics and disease modeling, particularly in relation to the study of infectious diseases. She plans on pursuing her Ph.D. in either biostatistics or epidemiology in the future.