So I entered education wanting to be a math teacher.

I saw a lot of ways that the educational system disserved my family members and friends and I was privileged in a place where things came to me a little bit more quickly. I had a lot of support and I was able to succeed academically and I thought that math would be a way to help capture some of the lost students in school who don't have role models who look like them or who understand things like them or who are self defeated in a lot of ways.

I applied to the University of San Francisco's program when I did because of the messages I heard and you know what people said about it and then what I saw around was here. There's a real commitment to doing work that focus on addressing inequity in education.

[On screen text: What does your research focus on?]

So within higher education we focus on the structuring of access and opportunity and what that looks like for different groups of students particularly the marginalized students. A lot of my work does focus on Latino students.

[On screen text: What do you love about being at USF?]

The opportunity to continue working with the brilliant students that come to USF and to be a part of an institution that is the only growing and a commitment to address issues of inequity

[On screen text: What drives you?]

What really drives me is imagining the individuals I have the privilege to work with and imagining them sitting with a student and knowing that they're going to be making good decisions right knowing that what they help each other learn within the learning context that I help develop.

[On screen text: What is your biggest motivation?]

My family is everything. I remember when I was graduating with my masters and my mentors we were in Miami for a reason for a conference and my dad wanted to invite my professors over for dinner and cooked and prepared this big meal and to show their gratitude and I just remember him being so proud and wanting to show them how proud he was and saying you know what means most to me about this is that she's doing this for us you know she's doing this because she wants to make things better for us and I always remember that moment of like wondering do they get it can you possibly get how much this means for my dad you know as you know with the from their own context and knowing that there were limitations to that but that they were trying but just knowing how proud I was of my dad and how meaningful it was to hear him say that.