Born in Cádiz, Spain • Birth year 1987 • Studied Mathematics at University of Seville in Spain • Highest degree PhD in Mathematics • Lives in Cádiz, Spain • Occupation lecturer at the Department of Statistics and Operation Research, University of Cádiz
My relationship with mathematics began before I was even born. My father was a high school teacher and so was my grandmother. They both were very enthusiastic about maths and wanted to support our development of mathematical thinking. Despite this, I don’t remember adoring maths when I was a child. What I do remember though is loving books. I spent most of my childhood time reading books, from comics to mystery novels. I devoured every book, and I still do nowadays. As a child I was keen on writing my own stories, I even won a literary contest! But above all, I remember that I wanted to be a teacher. Being a teacher was kind of an obsession, that was enforced by members of my family inspiring my teaching vocation. In addition to my father and my grandmother being high school teachers, my mom was a history, art and geography teacher. My own teachers have always been very inspiring for me too. I have had the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of excellent teachers that fed that vocation. I would say that I wanted to be a teacher since I was a child but I chose the subject to teach later on.
Above all, I remember that I wanted to be a teacher. Being a teacher was kind of an obsession, that was enforced by members of my family inspiring my teaching vocation.
My sister and I were both good students before University, very good ones. We stood out in our classes even if we did not want to. I imagine that it was also due to the persistence of our parents by instilling good study habits and the passion for knowledge in us. My father was also very (very) insistent on strengthening our analytical thinking and we spent one hour every day of the week during summer vacation solving maths problems. I was not proud of myself. For instance, I wasn’t as good as my sister at doing quick calculations. Nevertheless, for some reason I chose to study mathematics. It might be because maths seemed difficult to me, or because I was influenced by my grandmother and father, or because I wasn’t good at memorising concepts and I thought that in mathematics memorising didn’t seem that important.
Once at the university, during the first year I discovered that mathematics was something totally different from the maths taught in high school. But I enjoyed that the classes were more theoretical and had less quick calculations! I started loving the theory more than the exercises. Every year, I was struggling with a different subject which I had to study during the summer to pass the exam. I felt frustrated, especially in the first year, but I also started to enjoy living in a different city and making new friends. I remember those years as a very special time in my life and I met professors who inspired me a lot.
I had a very special female professor. Her way of teaching had a great impact on me. Her classes consisted not only of theory, but of open problems, computer practices and teamwork.
During my junior year (our fourth year), some friends and I decided to apply for an Erasmus and we finished our degree in Paris. At that time, I loved numerical calculus and I chose as many subjects in that field as I could. As a maths student, I remember that year as one of the best years ever. I had a very special female professor. Her way of teaching had a great impact on me. Her classes consisted not only of theory, but of open problems, computer practices and teamwork. At the end of that year I decided to continue studying maths and I started to look for PhD grants.
After several applications, I found a PhD position related to maths and solar energy. The research in this context was very applied, more related with cracking the code, developing and implementing algorithms and analysing results. Thanks to this opportunity I was able to study a wide range of algorithms, methods and programming languages, and I also met a lot of fantastic researchers.
From that point on I knew that teaching, mathematics and coding were a perfect match for me. This is how my journey as a maths teacher and researcher started. This journey has obviously lights and shadows, but my decision remains the same. Nowadays, I am working as a lecturer at the University of Cádiz, where my family lives. My passion for knowledge, teaching and maths is the same as once my father and my grandmother passed on to me, even though they passed away.