This is an opportunity that I’m very grateful for. BSU has allowed me to go for it and achieve things I never thought I would have achieved.
Evaneida Fortes, ’26, G’27, has always enjoyed math because it allows her to flex her brainpower. As a BSU student, she realized how far her love of numbers could actually take her.
This summer, Evaneida is contributing to the development of devices that could one day be used by astronauts in space.
“This is an opportunity that I’m very grateful for,” said the first-generation math major who grew up in Cabo Verde and Fall River. “BSU has allowed me to go for it and achieve things I never thought I would have achieved.”
With funding from the NASA Space Grant program, Evaneida is applying mathematical optimization and data analysis skills from her undergraduate courses to the design of integrated photonic devices. The devices would utilize particles of light called photons to help monitor astronaut health and study exoplanets, which are planets located outside our solar system.
Evaneida collaborates with Dr. Samuel Serna, an assistant professor of physics, photonics and optical engineering, and his students to understand how her computer-based modeling could play out in the real world. As she refines design algorithms to develop feasible concepts, Evaneida works with MIT material scientists to understand the extreme environments in which these devices must operate.
“I like problem solving and I like to be challenged,” she said. “Math can be applied in many different fields. I’m having so much fun doing that in this research.”
While Evaneida’s project is confined to a computer, she hopes to see the designs eventually built, potentially in collaboration with MIT scientists. The research also improves her coding and troubleshooting abilities, skills that will be invaluable as she eyes a career in data analysis.
Evaneida is also taking part in BSU’s 4+1 program, through which she can complete her bachelor’s degree while beginning her master’s degree in math. This allows students to count some courses toward both degrees and save time and money.
Outside of the classroom, Evaneida is a resident assistant for the honors living learning community, a position through which she mentors fellow honors students and introduces them to opportunities at BSU that she has found so valuable.
“Bridgewater State has helped me grow as a person,” she said. “It has helped me grow academically. It has made me feel a sense of belonging and that I can do anything I desire to do.”
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