Dr. Catalina Medina was born and raised in Northern California and always had a passion for helping people understand mathematics. While earning her bachelors at the University of Nevada, Reno she learned about the field of statistics and that statistics provided a discipline where she could apply mathematics to learn about science. The McNair Scholars program introduced Catalina to graduate school and the dream of becoming a statistics professor. She wants to help improve statistics education and promote data literacy. This fueled her pursuit of a PhD in statistics at the University of California, Irvine where she was coadvised by Dr. Volodymyr Minin and Dr. Mine Dogucu.

Catalina finished her PhD in the spring of 2025 and is now an Assistant Professor of Data Science at California State University Channel Islands. In her new position she looks forward to seeking opportunities to continually improve her practice while also giving back by mentoring others on their academic journey!

Catalina’s research interests include Bayesian statistics and epidemiological applications of statistics to better understand disease and infection, especially through collaborations with public health researchers. Due to her work in these areas she received the Excellence in Research Award from the Latino Excellence and Achievement. Some highlights of her work include improving public access to infectious disease surveillance through zip code level maps of COVID-19 cases, tests, and positivity on the COVID-19 Trends by UCI Statistics dashboard during the pandemic, finding evidence that Hispanic and Latino persons in Orange County had higher risk for infection and testing positive for COVID-19 even after controlling for several socioeconomic factors, and identifying potential targets for intervention to reduce adolescent exposure to the Aedes mosquito in an area endemic to dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses.

During graduate school she gained more teaching experience and received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award from UC Irvine’s Department of Statistics. Catalina’s research interests also include improving statistics and data science education and open access teaching materials. Statistics is a changing field that has rapidly become more accessible through technological advancements, and therefore the way it is taught also should be changing to reflect current practice.

Throughout her academic career she was extremely fortunate to have amazing mentors and so service, outreach, and mentorship have always been a major component of her academic focus. She has received formal mentoring training at UC Irvine and has mentored through various programs including the Diverse Educational Community and Doctoral Experience, Competitive Edge Summer Research Program, and the Irvine Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Undergraduate Data Science. Catalina outreach efforts include being a panelist on numerous panels to share her own experience learning about, applying for, and finishing graduate school. She is especially proud of the session she organized at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Diversity in STEM Conference in 2024 to introduce the field of biostatistics to underserved and underrepresented undergraduate students.

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“Hispanic Heritage Month to me is a time to celebrate culture and discuss struggles and achievements of Hispanic people. My father’s family came to the US from Peru and I feel closest to my Hispanic heritage when cooking Peruvian food and learning about my family’s history. I always look forward to attending the annual National Diversity in STEM Conference during Hispanic Heritage Month because it is a space where my heritage and academic identity is jointly valued and I get to build community in my discipline and across disciplines.”

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