Math was part of Dr. Grisselle Centeno’s life at an early age.
On long road trips, rather than playing games or drawing in coloring books, she would solve math problems to keep herself entertained.
Years later, that passion blossomed into a career.
“My career in STEM was a perfect fit because it kind of supplemented my creativity in trying to solve problems with models, theories and approaches that could help me transform my ideas into real solutions,” says Centeno, a professor in the Department of Data Science and Business Analytics and director of the Health Systems Engineering program at Florida Polytechnic University.
After internships with Lucent Technologies Inc. and AT&T, her first introduction to academia was at the University of South Florida.
As a professor in industrial and management systems engineering, Centeno was able to use the concepts she learned in college to “train the next generation.”
“I feel that as an educator, I am serving the students but I am also serving the community,” she says. “Because when we educate people, that translates to many other beneficial aspects for the community at large.”
