Dr. Camacho: Home
Teaching
Research
Service
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Service Interests
Mentoring and AMSSI
Having grown up in East Los Angeles, California, I understand many of
the struggles that students must endure in striving to attain their
academic and professional goals. I began mentoring students during my high
school at Garfield High School, which was the subject of the movie Stand and Deliver. My initial interest in mathematics was motivated by one of my teachers,
Jaime
Escalante. Throughout my academic journey, I have had many other dedicated mentors and
role models that have instilled the desire in me to follow in their footsteps.
It has been my dream to continue this mentoring and I am delighted to
be Co-founder and Co-Director of the
Applied Mathematical Sciences Summer Institute (AMMSI).
This program will focus on the recruitment of undergraduate women and underrepresented
minorities who have not had research opportunities but who clearly show
the potential to succeed. It is funded through the gracious support of the
National Science Foundation (REU),
the Department of Defense (through its ASSURE program)
and the National Security Agency.
Research with Undergraduates
At the heart of a professor's role in a liberal arts education is the ability to help the academic growth of the student. One key way of providing this is with undergraduate research. I have guided three research projects that have been published as technical reports. Projects related specifically to coursework are given in my teaching section. Some of these projects have also
turned into publications in refereed journals; see my research section
Non-classroom Research Projects Supervised (or co-supervised)
- "Deterministic and Small-World Network Models of College Drinking Patterns",
Supervised Lorenzo Almada, Roberto Rodriguez, Melissa Thompson, Lori Voss, Laura
Smith (AMSSI students), Summer 2006
- "Alcohol's Effect on Neuron Firing", Supervised Jeannine Abiva, Edna Joseph, Arpy Mikaelian, Charles Rogers, John Shelton (AMSSI students), Summer 2005.
- "A Continuous Model of Gene Expression" Supervised Joseph Hunt, Lissette LaPlace, Elizabeth Miller, Jason Pham (AMSSI students), Summer 2005.
- "A Mathematical Model of Photoreceptor Interactions", Supervised Miguel Colon, Daniel Hernandez, Ubaldo Rodriguez-Bernier, Jon van Laarhoven (MTBI students), Summer 2003.
Selected Professional Service and Activities
- Steering Committee, Infinite Possibilities Conference, North Carolina State University, November 2007.
- Co-Chair of Steering Committee, Ford Foundation National Conference, Washington, DC, October 2006.
- Co-organizer, Women at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology,
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Annual conference, Boston, MA, July, 2006.
- Co-organizer, New Generation of Mathematics Ph.D.s - Research Talks,
Society of Chicano and Native America in the Science (SACNAS)
Annual conference, Denver, CO, Sept 30-Oct 1, 2005.
- Steering Committee, Ford Foundation National Conference, Washington, DC, September 2005.
- Organizer, Predoctoral Science Workshop, Ford Foundation National Conference, Washington, DC, Sept. 2005.
- Co-Organizer, Interdisciplinary Courses, Mathematical Association
of America (MAA) Annual Conference: Project NExT, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 2005.
- Panelist, Wellesley College Alumnae Association's Making Connections ALANA Forum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, October 2005
- Panelist, Rewards of Mathematics, Infinite Possibilities Conference, Spellman College, Atlanta, GA, April 2005.
- Panelist, Moderator, Andrew Mellon Minority Conference, St. Louis, MO, June 2004.
- Panelist, Moderator, Ford Foundation National Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 2003.