2021 HENAAC Awards

The path taken by Dr. Patricia Ordóñez Franco to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, was not an easy one.

Initially discouraged from pursuing computer science, Dr. Ordóñez switched majors at Johns Hopkins University and graduated with an ethnic studies degree. After teaching high school for a few years, she took a position at a software company, where her passion for computing was reignited. She went back to school and earned both her master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, often taking classes at night.

Since taking a tenure track position at U-P-R, Rio Piedras, Dr. Ordóñez has worked to ensure that no one with a passion for a STEM field is discouraged from pursing it. She’s also committed to increasing the number of women and minorities in STEM Ph.D. programs, using her personal experiences as motivation.

Dr. Ordóñez is a founding member of Hispanics in Computing, an online community for faculty and students in computer science and related fields, and she’s been a major force behind numerous initiatives to expand exposure to computer science among high schoolers across Puerto Rico. She also works tirelessly to bring new opportunities that benefit all students at the University of Puerto Rico through various programs.

A passionate and committed mentor, Dr. Ordóñez counts among her greatest achievements as an educator the growing number of her students and mentees who have gone on to work at companies like NASA, IBM, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.