Those who dedicate themselves to numbers have a beautiful and fascinating world ahead of them.

In about 15 years, the presence of women in mathematics research could be consolidated to stop having only sporadic cases, considered Alma Saraí Hernández Torres, who received the Scholarship for Women in Science 2024, awarded by the L’institute. Oréal México and the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC), together with the UNESCO office in our country and the Mexican Commission for Cooperation with that international organization.

In interview with The Daythe academic also mentioned that The participation of women in this area of ​​knowledge is low and depending on the level of education (bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate or research position) it is reduced even further..

She said that when she studied for her doctorate, she was the only woman in the probability seminar, and there was no reflection on the importance of us being involved in science.

Now, he said, in public education institutions Efforts have been made to revalue our contribution and progress has been made, but perhaps we will see the most important changes in 15 years, when the girls who are entering their bachelor’s degree today apply for a research position..

Originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Hernández Torres graduated from the University of Guanajuato and the Mathematics Research Center. He earned his master’s and doctorate from the University of British Columbia in Canada. He then completed a postdoctoral stay at the Israel Institute of Technology and since July 2022 he has been part of the Mathematics Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

She was awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO-AMC 2024 Scholarship for Women in Science for her work. Emergent geometry in discrete stochastic processes: phase transitions and criticalitywhich looks at a way of looking at something that changes over time in a random or unpredictable way, but with certain mathematical rules. Although the concept seems far from the common citizen, in reality it is not, he explains, since it has to do with the probability of a coin landing eagle or sun in a toss, the variation in the stock market or the number of customers in the line at a bank and the time it takes to be served.

The researcher sees mathematics as a social activity and considers that a large part of being successful in it lies in the quality of the exchanges between classmates.

“Our experiments are a logical construction, the way we check our work is by telling another person our steps, who by listening to them can identify whether the approach is clear or not, or suggest how it can be fixed. If you are alone, it is easy to get confused.

Our labs are the whiteboards, the conversations we have with our colleagues, and the computer simulations, so there may be solitary moments, but a lot of it is spent chatting with our peers.

Hernández Torres acknowledged that he is inspired by the Iranian Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields Medal – considered the Nobel Prize in Mathematics – for her contributions in the fields of geometry and dynamical systems. Mirzakhani died of breast cancer in 2017, aged 40.

She spoke very passionately about this area of ​​knowledge, but her life story must not have been simple being born in a country like Iran, and then moving to the United States. He had to overcome many difficulties to pursue his dream and do it in an exceptional way. He used to say that the beauty of mathematics is only revealed to the most patient followers.

Many of the models that Hernández Torres works on can generate advances in areas such as computing or artificial intelligence.

In a message to the new generations, the winner highlighted that those who dedicate themselves to the science of numbers have an enormous privilege, because it has a beautiful and fascinating world ahead of it. I would invite students to accept the challenge and let themselves be captivated by mathematics..