Michael Ruddy was born as Michael Gerard Ruddy Romaguera in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At a young age
he moved from Puerto Rico to a small town in Tennessee. During his undergraduate studies at the
University of Tennessee at Martin he discovered his passion for mathematics. He then obtained his PhD
in Mathematics from North Carolina State University. After his graduate studies he held postdoctoral
positions at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences and the University of San Francisco.
His last academic position was as an Assistant Professor for the MS in Data Science program at the
University of San Francisco. He currently works as a Senior Data Scientist for Qventus, a remote start-up
focused on using AI to improve healthcare operation, and resides in Waterloo, Ontario.
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At North Carolina State University, under the supervision of Irina Kogan and Cynthia Vinzant, Michael
conducted research at the intersection of differential and algebraic geometry. His research focused on
geometric invariants and their computation. He continued this research as part of the Nonlinear Algebra
group at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences.
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Michael has taught numerous mathematics classes, implementing and creating inquiry-based learning
materials for these courses. At the University of San Francisco, he helped develop a deep learning course
using PyTorch and made the materials available for a broad audience online.
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In his industry positions, Michael has focused on mentoring. He has volunteered with the nonprofit
AI4ALL to help empower young adults from diverse backgrounds to pursue a career in AI. He also
launched the internship program at Qventus where he has mentored interns in the field of AI in
healthcare.
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Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate the incredible diversity of people, culture,
language, and art in the Hispanic community in the US and the world. The Hispanic community consists
of many different, yet intertwined peoples and stories.

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“During Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, it is important that we remember that different Hispanic
communities have been and are being impacted by US colonialism in different ways. This is the backdrop
for the stories of determination and achievements of Hispanics in the US that we celebrate this month.
For example, my family moved away from Puerto Rico when the manufacturing industry collapsed on the
island due to policy enacted by the US government; a government within which Puerto Ricans have no
representation.”

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