Change Maker Series

Omayra Y. Ortega

Omayra Y. Ortega is an Associate Professor of Mathematics & Statistics at Sonoma State University in Sonoma County, California. She earned her Ph.D. (2008) and an M.S. (2005) in applied mathematics and computational sciences from the University of Iowa, where she also was awarded her Masters of Public Health. She earned a B.A. in music and in “pure” mathematics from Pomona College in 2001. Dr. Ortega has directed the Mathematical Epidemiology Research Group (MERG), an undergraduate research group, since 2007. Her scholarly interests reflect her expertise in mathematics: mathematical and computational biology, mathematical epidemiology in developing countries, infectious disease epidemiology, the participation of women and minorities in sciences, and most recently, data science.

Dr. Ortega was the President of the National Association of Mathematicians Inc. (NAM) from 2021-2024, she served as the editor of the NAM newsletter from 2018-2021, and was one of the NAM contributors to the MAA Math Values Blog. NAM is a non-profit professional organization in the mathematical sciences with a mission and purpose of promoting excellence in the mathematical sciences and promoting the mathematical development of all underrepresented minorities. Dr. Ortega is also very active in the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). In her free time Dr. Ortega enjoys travel, the outdoors and the fiber arts.

How to Attend

The event will take place on April 30 from 3:30–4:45pm in Brighton Hall, Room 202. Please join us at 3:15 for light refreshments before the talk. There is also an option to join via Zoom if you can not attend in person. Please indicate how you plan to attend when registering for the event.

Registration for the 2024 Change Maker Event is now closed

To request an ASL interpreter, live captioning or other accommodation, please email joshua.wiscons@csus.edu by April 22.

Event Flyer

Flyer credit: Nikita Aleksandrova

Thanks

This event is made possible in part by support from:

• University Enterprises, Inc. through their Campus Grants Program

• National Science Foundation under grant number DMS-1954127

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this webpage or during the event do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation nor University Enterprises, Inc.

Marissa Kawehi Loving

Dr. Marissa Kawehi Loving is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and a Nellie Y. McKay Fellow at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Prior to this she was an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Hale Assistant Professor in the School of Math at Georgia Tech. In 2019, Marissa graduated with her PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and an Illinois Graduate College Distinguished Fellowship. Marissa was born and raised in Hawai’i where she completed her B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Mathematics at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo. She is the first Native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in mathematics. She is also Black, Puerto Rican, and Japanese. Her research interests are in geometric group theory and low-dimensional topology, especially mapping class groups of surfaces (of both finite and infinite type). Marissa is also deeply invested in making the mathematics community a more equitable place. Some of her work includes mentoring undergraduate research (through programs such as Summer@ICERM, MSRI-UP, and the Georgia Tech School of Math’s REU) and co-organizing initiatives like SUBgroups and paraDIGMS.

How to Attend

The event will take place May 03 from 3:00–4:15pm via Zoom. Please register via the link below. There will be a “watch party” in Sequoia Hall (SQU) room 316 where people can gather to attend the event together and share snacks that will be provided. Video and audio will be projected in Sequoia 316, so no computer is needed for those who attend the watch party. People are also welcome to virtually attend the event from a different location. After completing the registration, you will receive an email with the information needed to join the Zoom meeting.

To request an ASL interpreter, live captioning or other accommodation, please email joshua.wiscons@csus.edu by April 26.

Registration for the 2023 Change Maker Event is now closed

Event Flyer

Flyer credit: Ayesha Karan

Thanks

This event is made possible in part by support from:

• the National Science Foundation under grant number DMS-1954127

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this webpage or during the event do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Pamela E. Harris

Dr. Pamela E. Harris is a Mexican-American mathematician and serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Faculty Fellow of the Davis Center and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Williams College. She received her B.S. from Marquette University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Pamela E. Harris’s research is in algebraic combinatorics and she is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed research articles in internationally recognized journals. An award winning mathematical educator, Dr. Harris was the 2020 recipient of the MAA Northeast Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching, the 2019 MAA Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Beginning College or University Mathematics Faculty Member, and the 2019 Council on Undergraduate Research Mathematics and Computer Sciences Division Early Career Faculty Mentor Award. She is the President and co-founder of Lathisms: Latinxs and Hispanics in the Mathematical Sciences, cohosts the podcast Mathematically Uncensored and is a coauthor of the books Asked And Answered: Dialogues On Advocating For Students of Color in Mathematics, Practices and Policies: Advocating for Students of Color in Mathematics, and Read and Rectify: Advocacy Stories from Student of Color in Mathematics.

How to Attend

The event will take place via Zoom. Please register via the link below. After completing the registration, you will receive an email with the information needed to join the meeting. To request an ASL interpreter, live captioning or other accommodation, please email joshua.wiscons@csus.edu by April 20.

Registration for the 2022 Change Maker Event is now closed

Event Flyer

Flyer credit: Angela Guererro

Thanks

This event is made possible in part by support from:

• the National Science Foundation under grant number DMS-1954127

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this webpage or during the event do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Candice Price

Dr. Candice Price is a mathematician and an assistant professor at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Born and raised in California, Candice has a bachelor’s degree (2003) in mathematics from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree (2007) in mathematics from San Francisco State University. She earned her doctoral degree (2012) in mathematics from the University of Iowa under the advisement of Isabel Darcy. Her area of mathematical research is in the application of mathematics to biology primarily in DNA topology, knot theory applied to the structure of DNA. She is an advocate for greater representation of women and people of color in the STEM fields and is a founder of the Underrepresented Students in Topology and Algebra Research Symposium (USTARS) and the website Mathematically Gifted and Black.

How to Attend

This event will take place via Zoom. Participants must use a Zoom account associated to their Sacramento State email address. Please register via the link below. After completing the registration, you will receive an email with the information needed to join the meeting. To request an ASL interpreter, live captioning or other accommodation, please email joshua.wiscons@csus.edu by April 15.

Registration for the 2021 Change Maker Event is now closed

Event Flyer

Flyer credit: Anna Babchanik

Thanks

This event is made possible in part by support from:

• the DEGREES Project at Sacramento State
• the National Science Foundation under grant number DMS-1954127

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this webpage or during the event do not necessarily reflect the views of the DEGREES Project or the National Science Foundation.