Graciela Perera
Assistant Professor,
Computer Science and Information Systems

Graciela Perera sees field experience as the best kind of confidence-builder. That’s why the computer science professor has made it a priority to find hands-on opportunities for students in her first two years on the YSU faculty.

She secured grant funds, for example, to send two junior computer science majors and one sophomore for a two-month research seminar with Ph.D. students at the University of California at Berkeley this summer.

Another grant paid for her and two undergraduates to travel to a conference at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., earlier this year. The students made a research poster presentation there before the annual meeting of the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), which provided funding support.

Now Perera is using a $10,000 grant from the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission to create a computer research project for Hispanic students at YSU, and she’s making plans to establish an undergraduate research group to engage more YSU computer science majors.

“A lot of times, students don’t succeed because they don’t believe in themselves,” Perera explained. “I think they need role models, mentors, and definitely opportunities to participate actively outside the classroom. I myself have mentors – like Ann Gates, an associate vice president at the University of Texas at El Paso, and others at CAHSI – who have given me guidance, support and invaluable advice.”

Born in Venezuela, Perera grew up in Canada and the United States because of her father’s employment. She is fluent in English and Spanish.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Metropolitan University and her master’s at Simon Bolivar University, both in Venezuela, and discovered her passion for teaching while working part-time as a lab assistant and tutor. When Microsoft offered her a computer industry position she turned it down to teach at Simon Bolivar, and then went to the University of South Florida to earn a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering.

Perera had just completed her doctorate when she met Alina Lazar, a YSU associate professor of computer science and information systems, and heard about the faculty opening at YSU. “She made a good impression, so I decided to apply,” Perera said of the YSU position. “It turned out to be the real thing.”