Paola Gabriela Pesántez-Cabrera
Engineering Professor (Universidad de Cuenca / 2009 - current)
Ph.D. in Computer Science (Washington State University / 2013-2018)
M.Sc. Computer Science (Washington State University / 2011-2013)
Persevering, motivated and enthusiastic.
I am a Ph.D. in Computer Science, eager and passionate to learn about science and technology. I want to be part of the progress and innovation of Computer Science in my home country Ecuador (South America). I have been an engineering professor for more than ten years and I have learned that transferring knowledge is energizing and nourishes my soul.
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Favorite quotes:
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"Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it." - Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein
Awards and Honors
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ACM-BCB 2016 NSF Travel Award 08/17/16
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Outstanding Performance Award at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 08/15/15
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ACM-BCB 2015 NSF Travel Award 08/07/15
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ACM-BCB 2014 Big Life Sciences Travel Award 08/21/14
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EECS Outstanding TA award 04/10/14
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Academic award to continue PhD. program at Washington State University 05/10/13
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Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States 04/01/11
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Graduated with honors, Universidad de Cuenca, ranked # 1 in a class out of 20 05/15/09
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Prize “Benigno Malo” in recognition of academic merit, Universidad de Cuenca 10/21/08
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Engineering Student Representative to the Engineering Faculty Council 2009
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Member of the Subcommittee of Internal Evaluation of the Engineering Faculty 2008
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Judge in the Third Inter-Collegiate Contest of Oratory at “Técnico Salesiano” high school 05/03
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Second Place in the First Regional Inter-Collegiate Contest of Oratory about “The National Identity and Acculturation” 05/27/02
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First Place in the Second Inter-Collegiate Contest of Oratory about “Youth ready for anything” 01/31/02
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Second Place in the Seventh Inter-Collegiate Contest of Oratory about “Abdón Calderón” 05/21/01
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First Place in the First Inter-Collegiate Contest of Oratory about “The juvenile reality and freedom of speech” 02/09/01
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Top graduate at “Unidad Educativa Sagrados Corazones” High School. 07/11/03
Research Interests
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Data Science: bipartite networks, modularity, graph mining, community detection, clustering, information extraction, relationship clustering, entity disambiguation.
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Bioinformatics: Kinetic models, irradiation of skin cells, Monte Carlo simulations, gene-disease interactions, drug repurposing, pathogen-hosts interactions.
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Learning Analytics: adoption and implementation of learning analytics in Latin American universities.
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HCI: tactile user interfaces, accessibility mechanisms, use of pictograms in assisted living environments for elderly people.