Misc
Off the Clock
In my free time, I love reading, listening to music, and playing tennis. I like to think of myself as an opportunistic foodie, channeling my inner Anthony Bourdain. Opportunistic because I truly seek out exceptional food only when I’m with special people, or on the occasional post-Sunday Mass mission to track down something memorable.
Below, you’ll find a glimpse of what’s on my mind at the moment (or whenever I find the time to update this), along with a couple of songs that color my days.
How ‘Resilience’ Started for Me
During a two-week community service trip after my second year at university, I met an 85-year-old father and his daughter living in Nocheto, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. They had come to the city decades earlier after the 1970 Ancash earthquake destroyed their adobe home, killed his wife, and badly injured his daughter.
Half a century later, they still lived in fragile conditions, just as vulnerable as before. That encounter changed everything for me. I decided to pursue structural engineering and focus on seismic safety for the people most at risk. Today, a large share of Lima’s population still lives in non-engineered housing; helping reduce that vulnerability drives my research in resilience, adaptive design, and data-informed decision making. (Photography thanks to Jhordan Gamboa Revelo)
Life is Music, and Music is Life
Fun fact: Seu Jorge starred in one of my all-time favorite films, City of God (Cidade de Deus).
