Featured Grantee

Quick Facts

  • Name: Fernando Piñero González
  • Comes from: Carolina
  • Lives in: Carolina, Puerto Rico
  • In three words: Breathe, Listen, Think
  • Leisure time activities: Yoga, reading, sudoku, playing Dungeons and Dragons
  • Likes: Math, roller skating
  • Unsuspected talent: I make a good flan
  • Currently reading:  The Yoga sutras of Patanjali

 In a nutshell

  • My research matters because… I can apply mathematical techniques to solve actual, tangible problems facing society.
  • One of the inspirations for my research has been… finding beauty and elegance in unexpected places.
  • The best thing about my job is… learning new things and guiding Puerto Rico’s next generation of bright minds.
  • My career highlight so far has been… leading an NSF-sponsored summer research workshop.
  • My advice to aspiring researchers is… to never give up and never surrender.

Interview:

I became a researcher because I am fascinated by the idea of developing abstract mathematical objects and, as an academic, I feel obliged to apply abstract mathematical tools to solve actual problems.

I am working on identifying genes which drive the development of endometriosis, developing statistical tools to identify amphibians from their songs, studying incidence geometry from subvarieties of the Grassmannian and doing research in public health.

A mathematician ends up researching endometriosis with great help and patience provided by their colleagues in Biology. As an undergraduate student and PRLSAMP scholar, I was exposed to many talks on biology, chemistry and ecology. At the time, I was far too involved with mathematics, but my interest in Biology slowly developed and matured. 

When I became a professor at UPR-Ponce, I saw there is a niche for someone with a mathematical mindset working on biological problems.  There is also a great deal of bioinformatics data ready to be explored. Moreover, when I talk to people about my research, nothing captures their attention more than when I speak about applications of mathematics and computer science to Biology, Public Health or Ecology.

The biggest unanswered question in Endometriosis research is finding a cure! As I understand the current state of research in Endometriosis, even finding genetic markers for easier diagnosis is a very open problem. Currently diagnosis is done by laparoscopy and biopsy of pathological tissues, and it takes on average about 11 years from onset of symptoms to diagnosis.

An interdisciplinary approach is important for most research projects because it allows for people with different perspectives and ideas to work together to solve a problem and achieve a common goal. For my research I am extremely grateful for the support Dr. Abigail Ruiz Rivera has given me. Although there are vast troves of biological data at the reach of my fingertips, it is very important to understand that the data represents actual biological objects and conditions.

Without the guidance of the subject matter expert, I would easily lead myself back to wild mathematical abstractions and speculations (which I find quite fun, but beside the point). With the proper guidance, I can develop ideas which will correspond to the actual things to be studied.

My research can improve people’s lives because it can help identify genes which drive the development of diseases which will improve people’s quality of life.