Could you tell us about your journey to UCLA?
I had started a PhD program in Spain and was lucky enough to win a fellowship to spend the second year of the program at Cornell University as a sort of exchange graduate student. No long after arrival, I decided I wanted to pursue my PhD in the US! I started to prepare for my GRE and to draft applications. UCLA had one of the best history of science programs in the country, so I was very happy to see that I was accepted and that I was going to work with Norton Wise. From gorgeous to awesome!
Can you speak a little bit about your career and how it has progressed since graduating from UCLA?
I entered the History PhD Program in 2006 and graduated in 2011. I benefited from extraordinary professors, colleagues, and students. I spent the next 10 years in 3 consecutive research positions (European style!) at Barcelona, Berlin, and Sevilla (tenure track). This expanded my horizons onto new fields and methodologies. Just before becoming a professor in Sevilla, I obtained a European Research Council project (funded with 2 million €) to write the history of the deep Mediterranean Sea.
What would you say to a UCLA student who is planning on having an international career?
Learn languages, keep an open mind, and be willing to learn and to give the best of you!