Maru Sarazola was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, the capital of a tiny country where all her family still
lives. Growing up, Maru was an avid reader who enjoyed writing short stories, and also loved solving
puzzles. When the time came to choose a career, she was torn between pursuing literature or
mathematics and she decided to flip a coin; you can imagine where the coin landed! She attended
Universidad de la República in Uruguay for her undergrad, earning a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
In 2015, Maru moved to the US to start her PhD at Cornell University, which she completed in 2021 under
the supervision of Inna Zakharevich. After Cornell, she was a postdoc for two years at Johns Hopkins
University, before starting her current position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota.
Maru's research is in algebraic topology, and more precisely, on abstract homotopy theory. She likes to
work with very abstract structures, and her research uses categorical methods to study problems of a
foundational nature in a variety of settings where higher homotopical structures play a major role. Overall,
Maru's work is guided by a homotopical and categorical perspective that applies in a wide range of
mathematical settings, which allows her projects to feature a variety of mathematical structures, such as
(higher) categories, modules, trees, spectra, and graphs. She enjoys math the most when it is done and
shared with others, and has a wonderful group of collaborators whose expertise she is constantly learning
from.

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Maru is also devoted to her role as a teacher, and strives to create a classroom experience where
students are active participants in their own learning process. She believes that math is best learned by
doing, and has developed active learning materials for several undergraduate classes. Aside from this,
Maru has always been very passionate about communicating mathematics. She is invested in sharing her
experience with younger mathematicians, and creating opportunities for formal instruction in mathematical
communication.

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In the past year, Maru was invited to be a mentor in Matemáticas en el Cono Sur, a series of week-long
research workshops aimed at increasing collaboration and networking opportunities for Latinx
mathematicians across the globe, especially those with connections to South America. She is excited to
help provide opportunities, mentorship, and support for younger Latinx mathematicians, and will
contribute from an organizing role in the next edition in 2027.

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“I feel that many Latinos in the US often make an effort to ‘blend in’, to be less loud, to adjust to a culture
that is not quite like our own, in order to prove that we are good enough to belong here. Opportunities like
Hispanic Heritage Month allow us to be unapologetically ourselves, enjoying the richness of our culture
and celebrating how far we have come.”

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