Martiza is an overachieving undergraduate student from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. She has dedicated her undergraduate years in obtaining as much research experience as possible, therefore becoming a true inspiration for younger women who aspire to be female engineers. “My main goal of life is to motivate and educate young students like me in STEM. ” – Martiza Cruz Hernández
Maritza Cruz Hernández is a student from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. She was born and raised in San Sebastian Puerto Rico, which she describes as a beautiful town full of caring and lovely people. She comes from a hardworking family that taught her the values of sacrificing and overcoming any obstacles in life. She discovered her passion for science at a young age and decided to pursue a career in STEM, at the same time motivating and educating young students about a career path in this field.
Her desire to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering came from her experience at the Pharmaceutical Summer Camp, directed by Dr. Carlos Velazquéz and Dr. Nelson Cardona. Throughout her bachelor’s degree, Maritza has had many opportunities and experiences within the Pharmaceutical Engineering and Biomedical/Bioengineering fields. These experiences showed her how fundamentally important it is to conduct research at a young age for the development of a career in STEM.
Maritza began her journey in 2015 where she conducted research for a year at the Center for Pharmaceutical Engineering Development and Learning (CPEDaL) at the UPRM, analyzing the effect of hydrophobic excipient concentration on the granule size of a lactose base formulation by batch and continuous granulation. Afterward, in 2017 she participated at a COOP experience at Lilly del Caribe (PR01) where she worked in the new products development and technology transfer department. In the summer of 2019, she went on an REAU experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked on characterizing protein markers expression during the development of hPSC-derived blood-brain barrier cells.
Maritza is currently working at the Microbial and Biochemical Engineering Laboratory (MBEL) on Breast Cancer Microbiota, developing a semi-defined, co-culture media formulation. She also participated in various conferences to present her research such as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 2016, ACS Junior Technical Meeting 2019, ABRCMS 2019 and MRS 2019.
When Maritza participated in the REU at the University of Wisconsin-Madison it provided her with the opportunity to acquire knowledge, technical background, among other experiences. During the summer. She realized that it was a great achievement for her to have as many opportunities, as a female engineer in Puerto Rico. “I am very grateful that the University of Wisconsin-Madison provided me my first experience in an REU. Being part of this experience was crucial for my development as a student, professional and future researcher. I will continue growing in the Chemical Engineering field in order to obtain a Ph.D. in Biomedical/Bioengineering that I long for in order to contribute to the improvement of my country.” – Martiza Cruz Hernández
