As a child in Medellin, Colombia, Dr. Andrea Maria Hodge was more interested in putting together subjects and verbs than figuring out equations.
“I was a pretty good all-around student, but I was more into writing and literature,” Hodge says.
That all changed when she and her family moved from South America to the United States during her teen years. While she struggled to learn a completely new language, she discovered a new-found love for numbers and science.
“The classes I did well in were the ones with equations because the numbers didn’t change,” she says. “It was comforting to be a good student in something.”