Before pursuing a career in mathematics, Fabian was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area by two Mexican immigrants. Although Fabian struggled for most of his academic career, his family instilled in him the value of an education and the desire to earn a college degree. In large part due to his poor K-12 performance and financial restraints, Fabian enrolled in the local Santa Rosa Junior College where he promised he would only take the bare minimum math classes. However, having to enroll in a remedial college algebra class, Fabian found out that he had an aptitude for the subject. Using this momentum, Fabian broke his promise and went on to earn an associate degree in mathematics from Santa Rosa Junior College. Hoping to be one of the first people in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree, Fabian transferred to Sonoma State University, where he became involved in undergraduate research. Although his experiences ranged from looking for the disease-free equilibrium in a SIR model for measles to studying the chip firing game for a family of graphs, perhaps the most impactful experience occurred as a participant in MSRI-UP 2020. Enthralled by this experience, Fabian knew he wanted to be a number theorist. Currently in the process of making this dream a reality, Fabian is a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine where he is generously supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Fabian’s interests lie in studying elliptic curves, or more simply solutions to equations of the form , where . Although the equation above may look simple enough, it turns out to be intimately entrenched in complicated mathematics. Outside of his research, Fabian strives to support those from underprivileged backgrounds. To this end, Fabian has led several workshops for the McNair Scholars, a federally funded TRIOs program aimed at helping underrepresented groups get into and succeed in competitive graduate programs. He has also actively participated as a mentor in UC Irvine’s Math Circle and led a directed reading program with undergraduates entitled “A Friendly Introduction to Algebraic Number Theory.” In the Summer of 2023, Fabian participated as a research assistant in PRIME on the project “Elliptic Curves with Non-Trivial Isogeny” led by Dr. Alex Barrios.

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“I feel so incredibly lucky to be raised in a Hispanic family that loved and cared for me. I was just as lucky to have met with and worked with Hispanic professors like Dr. Omayra Ortega (check out her 2018 Lathisms entry) and Dr. Alex Barrios, who have taken me under their wing and helped me feel like I belong in mathematics. I am so incredibly proud of my Hispanic heritage and am so grateful to have a month to highlight all the amazing work the Hispanic community contributes to the world.”

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