sfsu-colombia combinatorics initiative
san francisco state university
universidad de los andes
federico ardila



. lo que hacemos . what we do . courses . videos . papers . people . ecco . press .


The initiative has directly involved over 100 students, more than half of whom are members of underrepresented groups in mathematics. Many participants pursue academic careers in mathematics. Others are teachers, scientists, engineers, urban planners, and musicians. Here are some of them. (Last update: 2013)



. alejandro . alex . alex . amanda . ana . anna . benjamin . carolina . cesar . chris . dido . diego . elizabeth . emerson . federico . felipe . jeff . jose . jupei . kim . kristen . laura . luis . mike . pascual . rika . santiago . servando . tia . tristram . zach .

Alejandro Morales was a PhD student at MIT. He presented his graduate research at the SFSU Combinatorics Seminar and at ECCO 2012 in Colombia. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at Université du Québec à Montréal.

Alex Fink was a Ph.D. student at Berkeley, and presented his thesis work at FPSAC in Austria and the US, AMS meetings, and numerous international conferences. After a postdoc at North Carolina State University, he has accepted a tenure-track position at Queen Mary University of London.

Alyssa Palfreyman is a Master's student at SFSU. She attended ECCO 2013 in Bogot‡. She will join the Ph.D. program at Northeastern University.

Amanda Ruiz was an Oakland public school teacher who entered the SFSU Master's program. She presented her thesis at FPSAC in Chile and Altencoa in Colombia. She obtained her Ph.D. at Binghamton, won the National Alliance for Faculty Diversity in Mathematics Postdoc (declined) and has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvey Mudd.

Ana Botero was an undergraduate at the Universidad de Los Andes. She presented her thesis work at ECCO in Bogota. She is now a Ph.D. student at the Berlin Mathematical School.

Anna Brown was a Master's student at SFSU. She is now a mathematics teacher at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Benjamin Iriarte was an undergraduate at Los Andes and came to SFSU as a Master's student with a Provost Scholarship. He presented his two theses at FPSAC in Austria and Iceland. He is now a Ph.D. student at MIT.

Carolina Benedetti was an undergrad at the U. Nacional in Bogota and a Master's student at Los Andes. She presented her thesis at FPSAC in Austria. She is finishing her Ph.D. at York University, and has accepted a postdoctoral position at Michigan State University.

Cesar Ceballos was an undergrad at the U. del Valle in Cali and a Master's student at Los Andes. He presented his thesis at UC Davis, SFSU, Berlin, and Altencoa in Colombia. He received his Ph.D. at Freie Universitat in Berlin, and is now a postdoc at York.

Chris O'Neill was an undergraduate at SFSU and attended the 2007 Colombian Math Congress. His computer programs greatly helped US and Colombian students in their theses. He is now a Ph.D. student at Duke.

Dido Salazar came from the California community college system, and continued to a Master's at SFSU. He presented his thesis work at FPSAC in Iceland. He was the Distinguished Student Speaker at USTARS 2011. He is now a Ph.D. student at the U. of Iowa.

Diego Cifuentes was an undergraduate at Los Andes. He presented his research at FPSAC in Japan and ECCO 2012 in Bogot‡. He is now a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering at MIT.

Elizabeth Gross was a Master's student at SFSU and went on to the Ph.D. program at the U. of Illinois in Chicago. She was recently awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Emerson Leon was a student at the U. Nacional de Bogota. He coauthored a series of expository papers in combinatorics in Spanish. He is now a Ph.D. student at the Berlin Mathematical School.

Federico Castillo was an undergraduate at Los Andes. He presented his research at ECCO 2012 in Bogot‡. He is now a Ph.D. student at UC Davis.

Felipe Rincon was an undergraduate and Master's student at Los Andes. He presented his theses at FPSAC and AMS conferences in the US. He was one of the earliest contributors to this project, organizing and teaching a combinatorics class in Los Andes. He got his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley and is now a postdoc at Warwick.

Jeff Doker was a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley. He presented his thesis work at FPSAC in Austria and Japan, and several AMS meetings. He is now a mathematics researcher at Bloomberg Sports.

Jose Samper was an undergraduate at Los Andes. He is now a Ph.D. student at U. Washington.

Jupei Hsiao was a Master's student at SFSU and presented her work in Colombia. She is now a mathematics teacher at Mercy High School in San Francisco.

Kim Seashore was a Master's student at SFSU. She went on to the Ph.D. program in Science and Mathematics Education at UC Berkeley.

Kristen Freeman was a Master's student at SFSU and presented her work at ECCO 2008 in Bogota. She is now a mathematics specialist at the Academic Success Center at UC Davis.

Laura Escobar was an undergraduate at Los Andes and came to SFSU as a Master's student with a Provost Scholarship. She presented her thesis at FPSAC in Japan. She is now a Ph.D. student at Cornell.

Luis Serrano was a PhD student at the University of Michigan. He is the main organizer of ECCO 2014 in Colombia. He is now an NSERC postdoctoral fellow at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Mike Henley was a Master's student at SFSU; his thesis work was presented at ECCO 2013 in Colombia. He is now a mathematics teacher at University High School in San Francisco.

Pascual Restrepo was an undergraduate at Los Andes. Early on, he helped organized the first joint SFSU-Colombia course. He is now a Ph.D. student in Economics at MIT.

Rika Yatchak was a Master's student at SFSU; she presented her thesis work at ECCO 2013 in Bogota, and will present it at FPSAC 2013 in Paris. She is now a Ph.D. student at RISC in Linz, Austria.

Santiago Saavedra was an undergraduate at Los Andes. He went on to the Ph.D. program in Economics at Stanford.

Servando Pineda is the first member in his family to go to college, at UC Berkeley. He is currently a Master's student at SFSU. He attended ECCO 2013 in Bogot‡, and is a Distinguished Graduate Speaker at the USTARS 2013 conference.

Tia Baker was a Master's student at SFSU; her thesis work was presented at ECCO 2013 in Colombia, the AMS meetings, and FPSAC 2013. She is now a mathematics researcher with the US Navy.

Tristram Bogart was an NSF postdoctoral researcher at SFSU. He has advised students in the program, and recently moved to Bogota, where he is now an Assistant Professor at the U. de Los Andes.

Zach Bowen was a Master's student at SFSU. He presented his work at ECCO 2013. He joined the Ph.D. program at the Berlin Mathematical School.

(I'm sorry I didn't include everyone here.
If you would like to see your story here,
or if you would prefer it not being here,
please don't be shy and let me know.)