Can you say a few words about yourself?
I grew up in a city called Aguascalientes in central Mexico, where I went to university to study Mathematics. I lived in Mexico City while I pursued my master’s degree, and then I went to Southern California for my PhD at Caltech. I worked for many years at Georgia Tech before coming to Lausanne to teach Math at EPFL.
Did you choose your profession or did it choose you?
I only wanted to learn more Math, and I discovered that I could make a career out of it. I was lucky to be able to stay in academia for so long.
What attracted you to join LAPI?
We live in a time of great environmental challenges and LAPI is doing important work to address them.
Can you speak about the projects you are currently working on and other ones in the past?
I have worked in math modeling and chaos theory. I look forward to discover new projects to work on.
What have been some of your biggest challenges?
Recently, to learn French.
What have been some of your biggest successes?
All the challenges big and small are important.
You split your time between teaching and research. How do you view these two roles?
Both are important and challenging, but when I teach is when I get to have more social interactions.
What do you enjoy to do, outside of science and research?
I like long walks both in nature and in the city.
Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
I was left in awe in places like Acropolis and Teotihuacan.
A free thought for the end?
Speak more about both my successes and expectations.