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An Invitation to Faculty: Learn to Use AI in Your Teaching This Summer
The University of Texas at San Antonio is offering an eight-week summer workshop on integrating AI tools into undergraduate mathematics instruction. The workshop is part of a new NSF-funded project (Award #2518973) focused on improving student learning and success in College Algebra, Precalculus, and Calculus. No prior programming experience is required. The workshop is open
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Infinite return: A True story
Thinking of and working for the well being of the community, even through small efforts, can ripple for decades, perhaps centuries. I’m going to tell you a priceless story about it. In 1982, the principal of the school I was attending, Colegio Agustiniano Norte, Bogotá, Colombia, read in the news that personal computers were going
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a good translation for ‘ The Count of monte Cristo’
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books of all times. It has an unfair reputation of being a book of youth, or not literary enough because the author wrote for money… just like Shakespeare did. But… how to read it? Modern reviews praise endlessly the translation by Robin Buss, which is
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Sponsored Research: AI in Undergraduate Education
This project is titled “Supporting Student Learning and Success in Early Undergraduate Mathematics Courses via AI-Enhanced Education.“ This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Award #2518973 Research Team: Juan B. Gutierrez (PI), University of Texas at San Antonio. Funding: $374K Project Period: 2026-2029 This Level 1 IUSE ESL
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Writing Has Left the Page
We are not merely witnessing a shift in writing tools. We are witnessing the arrival of a new medium. When generative models are part of the writing process, the nature of writing itself changes—not because of content, but because of how language is produced, refined, and externalized. This is not about writing with assistance. This
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Empirical Data, Theoretical Blindness: The Missing Framework in AI-and-Writing Studies
The article “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task“ offers an elaborate empirical study comparing how students write essays with three different modes of support: no tools, traditional search engines, and Large Language Models (LLMs). The authors track neural activity using EEG, analyze the resulting
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Working with Python Virtual Environments in Visual Studio Code
A practical method for managing Python environments and workspace navigation can improve both the organization and speed of daily development workflows. This article outlines a method for launching Visual Studio Code in a specified project directory while simultaneously activating a chosen Python virtual environment. The process involves writing a portable batch script that simplifies repetitive
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Against Drivers of Exclusion and Inequity
In an era marked by intense scrutiny of initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, I’d like to provocatively redefine DEI as the Drivers of Exclusion and Inequity (DEI), advocating for an anti-DEI (as defined here) stance. San Antonio, Texas, is the seventh largest city in the United States, with a population of 1.5 million
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2024 Rowdy Datathon
The Rowdy Datathon is an annual data competition held at UTSA, attracting undergraduate and graduate students of all skill levels from across the United States. Participants this year came from Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, and Vermont. Students were tasked with solving a complex data problem, with the goal of proposing actionable recommendations based on their
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Large Language Models for Technical Tasks
This semester, I decided to offer a series of seminars to faculty on leveraging large language models (LLMs) for technical tasks. Initially, I hoped to attract around a dozen participants. The response, however, far exceeded my expectations—135 faculty members signed up! The level of interest underscores the pressing need for educators and researchers to quickly
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What Multiscale Modeling Must Do: Reflections from the Field
The real world is made of a complex web of interconnected events. The greatest understanding occurs when these events are studied as part of a multitude of systems across multiple scales. Multiscale modeling presents the promise of synthesis, yet the synthesis only holds if we are willing to confront the methodological, social, and philosophical discontinuities
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Sponsored Project: NIH R25 Reproducibility
See Data and AI Intensive Research with Rigor and Reproducibility (DAIR³) https://dair-3.org/ Training Biomedical Research Teams for Rigor and Reproducibility in Data Science. The project team will develop a training program to teach skills and tools for rigor and reproducibility in biomedical data science, through a bootcamp with a flexible syllabus and collaborative projects, follow-on
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Do we live in a simulation? A quick calculation.
When an event perceived as statistically impossible occurs, imagination runs rampant. One such event is the parallel biographical features of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, two American presidents separated by a century. These features are often presented as statistically impossible, to the point of being presented as proof that we live in a simulation.
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What is Data Analytics? The foundation of data science
We use the name “Data Analytics” to refer to data analysis (quantitative methods), and their connection to the larger enterprise of data science through other areas such as ethics, code versioning (or, more general, configuration management), solution architecture, reporting, etc. In brief, Data Analytics is the quantitative aspects of data science plus all else that
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Mathematics: The Gateway to Social Mobility
On August 31st, 2025, I will finish six years of service as Chair of the Department of Mathematics at UTSA. I reflect on this chapter guided by the principle that mathematics is everywhere, therefore mathematics should be for everyone. Mathematics is the alphabet with which the vocabulary of all sciences is built. It is no
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Prevalent Areas of Mathematics in Mathematical Biology
Did you ever wonder what type of mathematics is used in Mathematical Biology? Wonder no more. The Circos plot below shows the Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC) reported in published articles during a 5-year period in two leading journals in mathematical biology that require this information for submission. The MSC is a system used by the
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Making Music with a CNC Machine
Music. This is how I unplug my brain from daily toils and relax. Not listening to it; instead, making it… with a guitar or with anything available. A CNC (computer numerical control) machine is a type of machine that uses a computer to control its movement and cutting operations. CNC machines are commonly used in
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Have MATLAB talk to you
I want MATLAB to tell me when certain operations had completed on a program that involved long calculations. The solution is simple. Create a program called talk.m. The add the following code: This code works with MATLAB 2023b. A few previous versions of MATLAB returned the error “No voice installed on the system or none
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That time I met president Carter
I was attending a malaria conference around 2014, and in the same hotel there was another event to celebrate the elimination of river blindness in Colombia. This was something achieved with, among others, the support of the Carter Center. During my return flight, President Carter boarded the same plane. What I tell my kids is
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Making Music with a Boss RC-5 – Sync Issues Solved
Music. This is how I unplug my brain from daily toils and relax. Not listening to it; instead, making it. It is an infinite pursuit, for no matter how much effort I put into it, there is always more to learn and skills to improve. The trick is to make it variable, so I program
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Export Outlook to Google Calendar
Being able to share a calendar is a fundamental aspect of coordination in many aspects of modern life. Outlook offers a mechanism to export calendars here. But this does not solve the problem of being able to customize what is shared between Outlook and Google Calendar. Here is the solution in search of a problem:
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Coding Across Platforms (a Cautionary Tale)
While on a plane, my laptop ran out of battery. I was working in MATLAB. I switched to my iPad and started coding in Pythonista a simple program to produce points on a sphere. After half an an hour, I had coded a program that computed the coordinates of points along meridians. I needed this
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Sonification
It is possible to represent a dataset in (a trajectory, actually) with a combination of a 3-dimensional space, color and sound. Sound can be a powerful technique for representing data because it allows for the creation of complex and nuanced representations of information in a relatively compact and efficient format. Listening to a data set
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How to Visualize a Complex Professional Timeline
Professional achievements and contributions often do not follow a simple linear progression, but rather may be cumulative and intersecting in nature. Some tasks can be parallel and complex and some achievements can be incremental and hard to track and highlight in a linear timeline. Intersecting bubbles offer an interesting solution to complex timelines. They can
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SQL Server problem “Incorrect syntax near the keyword ‘PIVOT’.” Comparing SQL Server and Oracle
The problem: I had a query in Oracle that runs smoothly: and I needed to replicate it in SQL Server. I kept receiving the error  “Incorrect syntax near the keyword ‘PIVOT’.”  in SQL Server. I was baffled for I thought that this type of query was standard. The solution: SQL Server is very peculiar in the
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How to Resize a Windows Hard Drive in VirtualBox
The problem:  Resizing a hard drive in a windows virtual machine is a common problem with a solutions in multiple places over the Web. e.g. http://www.howtogeek.com/124622/how-to-enlarge-a-virtual-machines-disk-in-virtualbox-or-vmware/ In summary: Run the following command: where 1638400 in this example represents a desired size of 1.5 TB for the partition. Note that you DO NOT need 1.5 TB
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Making Music with Lattitude
First of all, what is lattitude? Music has been my safety valve. Either with a guitar and a looper or with any object that can make sounds, alone or with a band. Among many bands I tried in the past, Lattitude, Athens, GA, 2013-2018, and Los Amantes de LucÃa, Bogotá, 1994-1996 were my favorites. Below
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How to execute ImageMagick in PHP via exec in IIS Windows – MediaWiki Math
The problem: I had to install MediaWiki on my Windows server with the intention of using math notation. The math module would not produce any image. The solution: The first step was to identify the culprit. Consider the page test.php with the following source code: You will notice that the web page cannot produce the
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Lattitude
The concept of “lattitude,” as I define it to mean “Latin attitude,” is a reflection of a cultural and historical narrative that champions collective well-being and and a commitment to life’s pursuits with passion and intensity. At the heart of lattitude is a community-centric ethos that has historically shaped Hispanic culture, rooted in ancestral indigenous
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Someone wants to buy your home Above Market. Do you sell?
«Hi there. I have a buyer for your $500k house. We are willing to pay $600k. Please sell it to me :)» Would you sell? What about $700k? How to compute the point of financial equilibrium? It is relatively easy, but you need to understand amortization and annuities. Yet another reason why Algebra II is
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Remove all tables from a MySQL schema
The problem: I have a MySQL database schema with 100+ tables and I want to delete all tables using a simple command. The solution: Most solutions out there tell you to use a cryptic command line argument. You can actually do it with two SQL queries: First, list all tables in the MySQL schema: This
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Experience & Advice
Good judgement comes from experience. But experience often comes from bad judgement. I am always available to talk to current and prospective students. If you need academic advice, you might want to check the following videos first. These videos were recorded in the 2012 SACNAS Conference, when I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mathematical
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COVID-19 Models
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel human respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first cases of COVID-19 disease surfaced during late December 2019 in Wuhan city, the capital of Hubei province in China; this particular virus and is often referred to as the wild type (as opposed to variants that appeared later
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Biomathematics Research Group
The Biomathematics Research Group (BRG) was initiated by Juan B. Gutiérrez in 2012 at the University of Georgia (UGA). It grew from two students coming to office hours twice per week to a lab occupying half of historic Pound Hall at UGA, with up to 22 lab members. It transitioned to the University of Texas
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Sponsored Research: ALICE
This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Award #1645325 Research Team: Juan B. Gutierrez (PI), University of Georgia Jonathan Arnold (Co-PI), University of Georgia Pedro Portes (Co-PI), University of Georgia Co-Investigators from the BRG Karen Aguar, Mehdi Asefi, Saeid Safaei Funding: $300K Project Period: 2016-2019 Available at http://mathresearch.utsa.edu/alice We have
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Sponsored Research: HAMMER
This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. A research partnership within DARPA’s THoR (Technologies for Host Resilience) program, the HAMMER project uniquely focuses on malaria and its effects on human and non-human primate hosts. This project will explore the molecular mechanisms of resilience, susceptibility and resistance of non-human primate hosts when challenged with
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California Dreams
I always dreamed of living in California. Fifteen years ago, when I applied for jobs, I lacked what one might call “academic equity”—the proven value or credibility in my professional field. At that time, without a solid academic reputation, I was unable to secure any opportunities. Over the years, through hard work and persistence, I
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Sponsored Research: NSF INCLUDES
This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. Funding Agency: National Science Foundation Award #1649226 Research Team: Suzanne Barbour sbarbour@unc.edu (Principal Investigator) Michelle Cook (Co-Principal Investigator) Timothy Burg (Co-Principal Investigator) Joachim Walther (Co-Principal Investigator) Juan B. Gutierrez (Co-Principal Investigator) Funding: $117K Project Period: 2016-2019 (Co-PI Gutierrez, PI Barbour) Collaborative Research: NSF INCLUDES: An Integrated
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Sponsored Research: MaHPIC
This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. The MaHPIC combines Emory investigators’ interdisciplinary experience in malaria research, metabolomics, lipidomics and human and non-human primate immunology and pathogenesis with UGA’s expertise in pathogen bioinformatics and large database systems, and Georgia Tech’s experience in mathematical modeling and systems biology. The CDC has provided support in proteomics and malaria research, including nonhuman
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Sponsored Research: CLAIM
This is a project of the Biomathematics Research Group. The International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research – Center of Non-Amazonian Regions of Latin America – CLAIM is a comprehensive project designed to establish an international Center of Excellence for Malaria Research in Latin America (CLAIM) composed of multiple public and private research centers from
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How did I obtain my Green Card
Read Previous: How did I obtain labor certification in the US? After 4 years of trying to immigrate through my employer (read other posts in this blog), I found out by accident that there was a way to immigrate to the US without the need for an employer, i.e. through self-petition. It is called “Alien
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From Visitor to Resident in the US: Labor Certification
Read Previous: How did I obtain a work visa to come to the US? ISF had offices in North and South America. There was a shortage of skilled workers in my area of expertise in the US in early 2000. I was offered a good salary and the prospect of establishing permanent residence in the
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How did I obtain a work visa To Come to the US
Read Previous: How did the journey to America begin? I traveled to Cartagena a few weeks later, on a Sunday when the guerrillas had decreed a no-transit day. I barely had enough money to pay for the gas for that 1,000 km trip. I started at 4 AM. There are mountains halfway through, and then
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How did my journey to America begin
This is the story of my American dream: I escaped from hell by crossing a river of fire. I came as a slave to the land of the free, empty-handed and on my knees. Today I walk tall and harbor great expectations for the future. Do you want to jump to the end of the
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Personal
Looking for the professional side? My music My published Fiction My American Dream I was born in Colombia in 1973. I started my professional activity in 1996, first as a civil engineer, then as a fiction writer, and then designing software for my own instrumentation business in the petroleum industry. But I had to leave
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Juan B. Gutiérrez’s Bio
Dr. Juan B. Gutiérrez received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Florida State University in 2009. He earned tenure at the University of Georgia in 2016, and since 2019, he has served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). His research spans data science, artificial
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