As a woman in a heavily white and male-dominated field, I hope to be a role model for students who love mathematics, but have never met a mathematician who looks like them.”

Katie’s Story

Through the support of the Knowles Teaching Fellowship, Katie thrived as a ninth- and tenth-grade algebra and geometry teacher at San Francisco International High School for seven years. Alongside Knowles colleagues Kayla Urquidi and Nicholas Chan, Katie worked passionately to support her school’s population of newly arrived immigrant students, who were learning English for the first time. Using the leadership skills fostered by the Knowles Fellowship, she went on to mentor Knowles Fellow Alma Nuñez in her student teaching year and to write curricula that were adopted by the San Francisco School District. 

Hungering for a different type of intellectual challenge, Katie left the high school classroom in 2018 to try her hand at mathematical research. She earned a master’s degree in mathematics from San Francisco State University in 2020, where she wrote a thesis on algebraic geometry. She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in mathematics at the University of Michigan. Katie hopes to bring her knowledge of equitable teaching practices and her strong leadership skills to bear on the complex social justice issues involved in higher education.