Ivelisse M. Rubio was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University. She was a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao from 1998 until 2007 and is now in the Computer Science Department of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.
Professor Rubio maintains an active research agenda in the areas of computational algebra, finite fields and coding theory. Over the years she has directed the undergraduate research projects in computational mathematics of over twenty minority students. In addition to directing the research of her own students, Professor Rubio has been involved in many activities to promote undergraduate research experiences and minority undergraduate students to graduate studies. In 1998 she co-founded the recognized REU Summer Institute in Mathematics for Undergraduates (SIMU) that aimed to increase the number of Hispanics and Native Americans earning graduate degrees in the mathematical sciences. In 2006 this program received the American Mathematical Society’s award to “Programs that make a difference”, being this the first time that this award was given by the AMS. Professor Rubio is now one of the Co-directors of the undergraduate summer research program at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI-UP) in Berkeley that adopts the basic model developed by SIMU. Professor Rubio also has co-organized many mathematics activities at the SACNAS conference and received a 2006 SACNAS Presidential Service Award. In addition, she was a member of the design team and organizing committee for the AMS-Promoting Undergraduate Research in Mathematics Conference in September 2006 and has served on many panels and organizing committees for activities related to undergraduate research and minorities in mathematics. She has just been awarded the 2010 Dr. Etta Z. Falconer Award for Mentoring and Commitment to Diversity and selected to the US National Committee for Mathematics.
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Her research interests are applications of computational algebra, finite fields, latin squares, and coding theory, which has applications in the internet, deep-space telecommunications, satellite broadcasting
and data storage. She has also organized and directed many undergraduate research programs and projects.
