about me
Born in Texas by Puerto Rican parents and raised in La Perla del Sur — Ponce, PR. I completed my B.S. in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, where I did undergraduate research ranging from biochemistry to computational chemistry to biophysics. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, where I study channelrhodopsins: light-sensitive proteins that let researchers control and study neurons using light. My work uses cryo-electron microscopy to determine their molecular structure and electrophysiology to measure how they function.
science communication
Science doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in communities, and whether people trust it matters as much as whether it’s true.
I’m the Program Manager for SciCommBites, a blog dedicated to making science communication research accessible to practitioners and the public. I’ve also written and edited for the Berkeley Science Review, the MCB Transcript, and beyond.
My scicomm approach is strategic and evidence-based: I believe trust in science is built through genuine community engagement, not just better explanations. The goal is to make people feel like science belongs to them too. We’re all inherently scientists, in different ways.
I’m queer, Boricua, and the first in my family to pursue a doctorate. Those identities enrich my work.
When I’m not at the microscope or writing, I’m probably being bossed around by my toothless cat, Fjord.
