Concha Gómez


Concetta or Concha Maria Gómez is an Italian and Cuban-American mathematician. She is a professor of mathematics at Diablo Valley College. Gómez is known for being one of the co-founders of the women's organization The Noetherian Ring at the University of California Berkeley in 1991 while attending as a doctoral student. She is an advocate for diversity in the STEM fields and worked for the Wisconsin Emerging Scholars program of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, whose goal was to promote retention of minority students in STEM.

Early life and education

Gómez was born to Patricia Gomez. She attended University of Wisconsin–Madison for two years before dropping out due to lack of funds and support. She moved from Madison to San Francisco at the age of 20 and worked odd jobs before taking classes for fun at a community college. Gómez eventually transferred to University of California, Berkeley and earned a B.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics in 2000. Her dissertation was titled "Definability in p-adic power series rings." Leo Harrington was her doctoral advisor. Jack Silver and Deborah A. Nolan served on her dissertation committee. Gómez cites the support of Jenny Harrison and Donald Sarason for encouraging her to form relationships with mathematicians outside of UC Berkeley. Gómez is known for being one of the co-founders of the women's organization The Noetherian Ring at the University of California Berkeley in 1991 while attending as a doctoral student.

Career

Gómez was an assistant professor of mathematics at Middlebury College. In the fall of 2004, she began working at University of Wisconsin–Madison in a non-tenure track position to teach math and direct the Wisconsin Emerging Scholars program whose goal was to promote retention of minority students in STEM. In 2006, Gómez cited Wisconsin's passing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage as a motivation to seek academic employment elsewhere. She is a professor of mathematics at Diablo Valley College where she is also fostering a support network of Latinx faculty and students. She is an advocate for diversity in the STEM fields.

Personal life

Gómez was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as a doctoral student.