Olga I. Cordero-Brana
- Ethnicity: Hispanic
- Gender: F
- Place of Birth: Puerto Rico
American University
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Washington, DC 20016-8050
(202) 885-3120 (voice)
(202) 885-3155 (fax)
olgacb@american.edu
Education
- Ph.D. Institution: Utah State University, 1994
- Dissertation Title: Minimum Hellinger Distance Estimation for Finite
Mixture Models
- Advisor: Adele Cutler
- MS Institution: University of Iowa, 1985 (Statistics), 1989 (Mathematics)
- BS Institution: Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1980
Biography
Olga Cordero-Brana grew up outside of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in a small
farming community where few people were educated. Cordero-Brana's
father, a truck driver, only completed second grade. Her mother,
although academically talented, only completed seventh grade before her
parents decided to no longer allow her or her siblings to attend school.
Cordero-Brana's grandparents were land owners and farmers. The whole
family lived on the farm.
Cordero-Brana grew up in a large family. She has two brothers
and three sisters. One sister (Minerva) has a PhD in Mathematics, one has a MS in
chemistry and the third has a MS in Computer Science.
Cordero-Brana's mother encouraged her children to value Education.
She wanted all of her daughters to attend college, but to choose an "easier"
career like being a secretary so they could have a more traditional life.
Cordero-Brana did not agree. She wanted to study medicine.
Her mother talked her out it because only children from wealthy families
studied medicine and she would have to take labs which were taught at night
and she didn't want her daughter out alone at night. Cordero-Brana
then decided to study mathematics, which pleased her mother. Her
father died when she went to college; her mother before she finished her
PhD.
Cordero-Brana had very good mathematics teachers from first through
twelfth grade. Her teachers encouraged her to study and do well in
mathematics. She never felt cheated. Her teachers were proud
of her and her sisters. The first time she felt "different" was when
she went to Iowa to study and was labeled a minority.
After earning her BS, Cordero-Brana worked with an engineering firm
in Puerto Rico. She was placed in the electrical engineering department
doing computer work and government contract proposals. One of her former
professors encouraged her to apply to graduate school at the University
of Iowa. She was accepted with a fellowship. At the same time
she was offered a job with the Social Security Administration. It
was a difficult decision: "Should I accept the job or the offer from the
University of Iowa?" She received telephone calls from the Associate Dean
of Graduate Programs at Iowa and a professor in the mathematics department.
Those calls influenced her decision. She went to Iowa, earning two
MS degrees; one in mathematics, one in statistics. She moved to Utah
and attended Utah State University where she earned her PhD.
Cordero-Brana believes that "There is something exciting about mathematics.
It can be used to explain everything in life. I see graphs, curves, geometric
shapes, functions, and optimization problems in everything. Nature
is a perfect example of a perfect mathematical system."
[Vicki Hill]