Contemporary Mathematics: Contemporary Mathematics at Nebraska

Selenne Bañuelos is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at California State University Channel Islands. Bañuelos was born to Mexican immigrants and raised in East Los Angeles. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2013 where she received many awards during her studies. Her research interests are in mathematical modeling of biological systems including epidemiology, the dynamics of sleep, and phage treatment for bacterial infections.

Ron Buckmire is currently the Dean of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics and a Professor of Mathematics at Marist College. Previously he was the Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Professor of Mathematics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. He spent four years as a program director at the National Science Foundation where he helped decide what types of projects should be funded to improve mathematics nationwide. He earned his Ph.D. at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he studied computational aerodynamics. He continues to research applications of finite differences and differential equations. He is an enthusiastic advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in mathematics.

Ricardo Cortez is a professor of mathematics at Tulane University. He studied both mathematics and mechanical engineering at Arizona State University before earning his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the UC Berkeley. His research areas include computational fluid dynamics, numerical methods and scientific computing, and biological fluid flow applications. He is a member of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).

Sara Del Valle earned her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and works at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Born in Mexico, she moved to the U.S. when she was 16. Though she had always loved mathematics, she participated in a summer research program her senior year of college which led her to study mathematical epidemiology. She develops mathematical and computational models to study infectious diseases.

Raegan Higgins was born in Baton Rouge, LA and is now a professor at Texas Tech University. She was one of the first two African-American women to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2008. Her research includes applying time scales to systems in biology, epidemiology, economics and statistics.

Jennifer Mueller is a Professor of Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), a Professor Laureate in the College of Natural Sciences and holds a courtesy appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. With support from the NIH, her research encompasses development of new hardware, reconstruction algorithms, and clinical applications for electrical impedance tomography and acoustic tomography. Dr. Mueller serves as an Associate Editor for four research journals, including the IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. She is co-author of the book “Linear and Nonlinear Inverse Problems with Practical Applications,” SIAM, 2012.

Omayra Ortega is an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics at Sonoma State University. From 2021 to 2024 she served as the President of the National Association of Mathematicians. She participated in an undergraduate research experience that set her on a path toward mathematical epidemiology. She creates models to study the spread of an illness within different groups of people or in different geographical regions. One area of research involved the study of the spread of malaria between neighboring countries in Africa.

Freda Porter, a member of the Lumbee tribe, is one of few American Indian women who have earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. While married and raising a family, she earned her Ph.D. from Duke University in applied mathematics and computational sciences. Her research with US EPA contributed to groundwater contamination simulation models, specifically hydrocarbon spills. In 1997 Dr. Porter founded Porter Scientific with a mission of protecting and restoring the environment, for generations to come. In addition to Porter Scientific, Porter previously served as President of Lumbee Tribe Enterprises, LLC and is responsible for strategic performance and growth of the tribally-owned company.

Candice Renee Price is a mathematician at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Born and raised in California, she earned her doctoral degree (2012) in mathematics from the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on application of mathematics to biology primarily working in DNA topology and knot theory applied to the structure of DNA. More recently her research has included the study of how disease risks can impact social behavior.

Vanessa Rivera Quiñones was born and raise in Puerto Rico, where she obtained a B.S. in Pure Mathematics. During her Ph.D. program she studied the interactions between a host, a parasite, and the environment and how this can impact the spread of illnesses caused by parasites. Currently, she works as an Artificial Intelligence Coach at BeCode, where she is interested in how to tackle problems in sustainability and climate change with a social justice lens.

Luis Sordo Vieira is a Venezuelan-American who earned his Ph.D. in 2017 in number theory. He is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida. He works in systems medicine, and, among other topics, has studied the role of iron and tumor microenvironment on cancer progression.

Richard White is a professor of infectious disease modeling in the Center for the Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is co-head of LSHTM’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and is co-author of the textbook An Introduction to Infectious Disease Modeling published by Oxford University Press.

Dr. Kamuela Yong is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Hawaii, West Oahu. His research explains biological, ecological, and epidemiological processes using mathematical models. Dr. Yong earned bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering and Applied Math from Loyola Marymount University, and a master’s in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Iowa. Dr. Yong is the first Native Hawaiian to earn a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, and is a co-founder of the Indigenous Mathematicians community.