When I graduated from KCP in 2001, I wanted to pursue an Engineering degree. I went to the United States to study under the Georgia Rotary Student Program scholarship and started my first undergraduate courses related to Engineering. After a year in Atlanta (USA), I came back to Barranquilla and started Industrial Engineering at Universidad del Norte. I graduated as an Industrial Engineer in 2007 and was awarded a research assistantship to start a Master’s Program in Universidad del Norte. Since 2007, I have worked in research related to supply chain modeling, warehouse and production optimization, and transportation systems. In 2008 I planned to pursue a Ph.D. in the United States, but could not leave the country since I was suddenly diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I fought the cancer battle for 4 years, and during this time I graduated from my Master’s program in Industrial Engineering, worked as Lecturer in several universities in Barranquilla, and started my own consulting business. After I was cured of cancer, I discovered that my passions lie in research, and therefore decided to once again pursue a Ph.D. I applied to the Colciencias-Regalias scholarship to study a Ph.D. abroad, and through the Atlantico Government funds, I was granted this scholarship. I was accepted to study a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering and was granted a research assistantship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In 2015 I started my studies and research related to urban freight transportation and humanitarian logistics modeling.
What is your greatest professional or personal achievement to date?
I can answer both. My greatest professional achievement to date is related to my Ph.D. at RPI. I have had to overcome a number of challenges as a Ph.D. student in a very competitive school and early this year I took the Doctoral Qualifiers Exam and passed it without conditions. This means that I am already accepted to continue with my dissertation! This is one great accomplishment, but I will also like to highlight two recognitions I received as a result of my work as a researcher. The first one is the selection as an Eno Future Leaders in Transportation fellow, a very prestigious leadership program where only 20 students in Transportation-related fields are selected each year from the entire United States to be prepared as future leaders in Transportation. So I will be traveling this year in May to Washington D.C. for a week, where I will meet a number of transportation leaders, like those in the U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Research Board, Amtrak Rail Service, among other important organizations. Another related accomplishment is my selection as “Young Member of the Standing Committee on the Logistics of Disaster Response and Business Continuity” with the Transportation Research Board. This is a position that was offered through the nomination of existing members and runs from 2018 to 2021, and I have just recently accepted so I am looking forward to this wonderful opportunity. I also wanted to mention a personal achievement which is not less important than the above and marked my life from before and after it happened. I recognize winning the battle against cancer to be the greatest personal achievement, which changed my life and my relationship with God. Above all, I feel very privileged to have this second chance of life and of new opportunities, where one of them is the Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering and the recognition I have received in my professional career.
How did KCP prepare you for your career?
Well, I might mention three, some of which might seem trivial but they have definitively been important: 1) The English skills one learns have been definite in my career, even during the time I lived in Colombia; 2) Learning to type without looking was torture for me at KCP, but proved to be very useful; and 3) Gaussian Elimination and Math Proofs with Mrs. Rubio (still using them!).
What did you enjoy the most about studying at KCP?
I still remember my music class at KCP. One had to choose between ART or MUSIC and I always chose MUSIC. We had a great talented group, and I will never forget when we played “El Preso”.
What advice would you give KCP students?
I would say, enjoy life in school, it gets tougher every time. Make the most of the school and read a lot! Reading is important, I took it for granted and I would be much better at writing if I had done so!
UPDATED:
