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Araceli is the Microsoft President’s Endowed Professor of Engineering Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She directs the graduate engineering education program at UTSA as well as the Prefreshman Engineering Program. As a researcher, Dr. Martinez Ortiz leads national intervention and research efforts that explore the impact of strengths-based, integrated content, and culturally responsive instructional approaches in K-12 engineering. Her curriculum and intervention programs have been implemented with historically underrepresented populations in engineering and support youth to recognize their funds of knowledge and consideration of future engineering careers. She also conducts research with educators as partners examining professional development that builds critical consciousness and guides in the use of instructional best practices in engineering education.

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M. Alejandra Sorto is a Honduran American born and raised in Tegucigalpa. Sorto earned a Fulbright scholarship to attend the University of Texas at El Paso where she completed a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Statistics. She continued her studies in the Mathematics Department at Michigan State University where she earned a second Master’s degree in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Mathematics with a dissertation study in Statistics Education. She is currently a professor at Texas State University Mathematics Department where she has developed her full career as a mathematics instructor and a mathematics educator researcher. Her primary research activities involve the design, development, and analysis of instruments that measure constructs related to teacher knowledge, quality of instruction, and, discipline-based self-efficacy to teach.

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Patricia Perea is the founder of PereaSearch Cross-cultural Research & Consulting, specializing in qualitative research in the LatinX market in the USA and Latin America, supporting major global corporate end higher education partners. Patricia has also worked as the executive director for a faith-based non-profit organization in Honduras called Manos de Dios. This organization has provided scholarships in Honduras for underprivileged students in grades 7th-12 and college since the year 2000.

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Cindy is a chemical engineer at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. She holds a master’s degree in engineering and has significant experience in process development, quality assurance, and compliance. She is knowledgeable in product design, environmental consulting, water management resources, and organizational effectiveness. Cindy is part of the original Brillantes instructional research team and has experience in supported various engineering education programs while at Texas State University.

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