I obtained a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering at the Catholic University of Guayaquil before working for several years as a building designer on the famous “Malecon 2000” project to improve the city’s waterfront. I then decided to move back to Mexico to do a Master degree in Civil Engineering (something that was not possible in Ecuador) at the Nacional Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). After finishing my master study I stayed in Mexico and worked again as building designer. However, working in industry was not my thing and wanted to go back to studying once more.
I looked for a PhD position at different universities all over the world and while doing so I met the man that is now my husband. This made the decision so much easier and I came to The Netherlands to start a PhD research on wood fibre reinforced concrete at Delft University of Technology while in the mean time running my coffee business. In December 2011 I received my PhD degree but I stayed at Delft University for a few more years working as a researcher on project involving self-healing concrete, while still running my coffee business.
When my last contract at TU Delft ended I fully dedicated my time to the coffee…..Well, ok, I couldn’t let engineering completely go: 1 day per week I still worked in engineering and I still occasionally gave presentations on my former research work.
But this stopped in 2023 when we decided to move to France. So now my last link with civil engineering is broken, but I got a quieter life as a coffee roaster in France in return.