Arizona State University Professor Erika Tatiana Camacho has been named the recipient of the 2023 M. Gweneth Humphreys Award by the Association for Women in Mathematics. Dr. Camacho is being recognized for her impactful and multidimensional mentoring activities that have enabled the success of generations of talented scientists and mathematicians. She will be honored by the Association for Women in Mathematics at the Joint Mathematical Meetings, scheduled for January 4–7, 2023, in Boston.
“I would like to thank the mentors who have influenced my career path and the hundreds of students and mentees that I have had over the years who have allowed me to be part of their journey,” Professor Camacho said. “It has been a true pleasure to get to know my mentees, affect their lives and see them rise to become great scientists. In the process of mentoring, I have transformed the lives of many of them, but they all have also greatly transformed my life as I have learned so much from them.”
Professor Camacho went on to explain the importance of her work by saying that “mentoring is invisible work that often goes unnoticed. Building the scientific capacity to advance science requires developing the human capital and workforce to carry the scientific enterprise as much as the intellectual aspect. Many times, we forget the need to develop scientists to move forward theories, and instead we focus only on the science innovation part. We need a substantial number of scientists ready to undertake complex problems. Most importantly, we need to have all the different perspectives and experiences at the table to be able to tackle complex problems from every angle and arrive at optimal solutions.”
Dr. Camacho is a full professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at Arizona State University and a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Institut de la Vision-Sorbonne UniversiteÌ, where she is researching photoreceptor degeneration.
A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Dr. Camacho is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts where she majored in economics and mathematics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.