Erika Tatiana Camacho


Erika Tatiana Camacho was born September 3, 1974 in Guadalajara, Mexico. She is a mathematical biologist and associate professor of applied mathematics at Arizona State University.
She is a 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring awardee. She was taught and mentored in high school by Jaime Escalante, who was the subject of the movie Stand and Deliver.

Education

Camacho attended high school at Garfield High School from 1990–1993 where she was taught by Jaime Escalante. After graduating from Wellesley College, cum laude, with Bachelor of Arts degrees in mathematics and economics in 1997, she went to earn a PhD in applied mathematics from Cornell University in 2003 for her research on mathematical models of retinal dynamics.

Career

After spending a year as a postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Camacho joined the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University in 2004. She co-founded and co-directed the summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the Applied Mathematical Sciences Summer Research Institute, that ran from 2005–2007 with support from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency. Her research focuses on mathematical models of photoreceptors in the retina. In 2007, she moved to Arizona State University where she is an associate professor of applied mathematics. In 2013–2014, she taught at MIT in the MLK Visiting Scholars program.
She is a staunch advocate for inclusivity in STEM.

Awards

Camacho is the recipient of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 2019 Mentor Award and a 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, awarded for her research with and mentoring of undergraduates. In 2020 she received the Louise Hay Award for Mathematics Education from the Association for Women in Mathematics. She won the 2018 American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Outstanding Latino/a Faculty in Higher Education Research/Teaching Award, the 2017 HENAAC Education Award, the 2012 SACNAS Distinguished Undergraduate Institution Mentor Award, and the 2011 Hispanic Women's Corporation National Latina Leadership Award.