Hispanic Americans impacting society through innovation and entrepreneurship

Katia Avila was born in Jalisco, Mexico, but was raised in Pomona, California, a lower socioeconomic community. She had a passion for learning and a dream of attaining higher education. Through her involvement with the Garey InvenTeam in 2017-2018, Aliva found an interest for engineering, which has led her to pursue computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, work as a Software Engineering Intern for Microsoft, and become an inventor through patenting her InvenTeam invention, the Heart & Sole. Upon completing her bachelor’s degree, Aliva looks forward to working within STEM education and invention education in rural and underrepresented communities.

Claudia L. Barrera is a Business Analyst and Advisor at the Virginia MBDA Business Center. She provides support for business services which include contracts, financing, procurement, strategic alliances, and referrals. She previously served as the Senior Analyst of the MBDA Federal Procurement Center, operated by the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council, from 2016-2021.

Barrera is originally from Bergen County, New Jersey, received her B.A. from Rutgers University – New Brunswick, and has a master’s in public administration from the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.

Antonio Gamboa was most recently recognized as the San Gabriel Valley, California, Teacher of the Year 2023. He led the 2017 Garey High School InvenTeam and is one of the inventors named on U.S. Patent 11382563 B2, awarded on July 12, 2022. After immigrating from Mexico in 1985, Gamboa earned a Master of Science in Biology from California State University - Fullerton and a Master of Science in Molecular Pathology from the University of California - San Diego as one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) service awardees. He was a Cancer Research Associate and made his transition into teaching in 1999, where invention and technology applications were his focus. As a STEM educator, he has led many students to earn prestigious science fair and STEM awards at local, state, and national level competitions, as well as scholarships to Ivy League and other prestigious universities. Additionally, he has been awarded research grants through the Immunology Society, the Society for Science, the California Teachers Association and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Edgar Guerra-Erazo serves as a Primary Patent Examiner and Technical Trainer in the USPTO’s Technology Center (TC) 2600. In this work, he examines patent applications in artificial intelligence, including computational linguistics, speech processing, and audio compression. Mr. Guerra-Erazo has also served as a TC 2600 TQAS (Technology Quality Assurance Specialist) Detailee, TC 2600 GS-14 Trainer Detailee, and as a specially-trained GS-15 Electrical Engineer Generalist Primary Patent Examiner Detailee, participating in a White House Initiative to form a Pro Se Pilot Program Art Unit. In addition to his examining and patent examiner training duties, Mr. Guerra-Erazo is spearheading the USPTO’s Eastern Regional Outreach Office Spanish language Intellectual Property (IP) quarterly series by supporting and presenting webinars in English and Spanish.

Mr. Guerra-Erazo is the recipient of a U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award for fiscal year 2014, Exceptional Career Award for fiscal year 2019, and recently was selected as American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) 2022 Outstanding USPTO Patent Examiner. He has both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Carlos Gutierrez started his career with service in the United States Marine Corps, working in the field of logistics; he completed two tours overseas, one of which was in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Persian Gulf. Subsequently, Gutierrez held roles in the private sector, including several years as an Executive Team Leader with Target retail stores and as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley. Additionally, Gutierrez holds a U.S. patent, was the founder of several companies, has served as an advisor for several nascent-stage tech startups, and has written and managed grants that have awarded a total of $1.73 million.

Gutierrez has a background in business development and program management in the private sector, state government, federal government, academia, and non-profit spaces. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in management from The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, and a Master of Science in technology commercialization from The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Keishla M. Tirado has more than 15 years of experience as an educator and college professor in different educational institutions and universities in Puerto Rico offering seminars and professional development, and has been in charge of the strategic planning, accreditation processes, and writing of grant proposals. Currently, Dr. Tirado is the Director of the Center for Innovation and Technology of the PR Small Business and Development Centers and also manages the PR Innovation Entrepreneurship Assistance Program (PRidea), an SBA grant of the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program (FAST) for which she was the main Grant Writer and that had not been awarded to Puerto Rico since 2015. As the Director of the center, Dr. Tirado provides her expertise in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer programs (STTR) to help entrepreneurs and researchers further develop their innovations and commercialize their products. The center also provides assistance and training to entrepreneurs in the areas of cybersecurity, intellectual property, and patents, among others.

Dr. Jorge L. Valdes is Education Advisor at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he is focused on increasing intellectual property knowledge through education, outreach, and collaborations with a broad range of stakeholders, including the creation of professional development programs for educators nationally. Prior to his role in government, Dr. Valdes held leadership positions at AT&T Bell Labs and received the E.O. Lawrence Laureate award from the U.S. Department of Energy on behalf of the President of the United States for pioneering work in reagent generation technology. Dr. Valdes received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and has an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Business. He holds 33 U.S. patents and has published over 100 research papers in science and technology. Dr. Valdes was co-founder of the Young Science Achievers Program – a national program dedicated to empowering more young women and students under-represented in STEM fields and careers.

Kathi Vidal serves as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – America’s Innovation Agency.

As the chief executive of the USPTO, she leads one of the largest intellectual property (IP) offices in the world, with more than 13,000 public servants and an annual budget of more than $4 billion. She is the principal IP advisor to the President and the Administration, through the Secretary of Commerce, and is focused on incentivizing and protecting U.S. innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Named one of Managing IP’s top 50 most influential people in IP in 2022, she leads an agency whose mission is to help American workers and businesses compete and collaborate, especially in ground-breaking technologies and across all demographics. As Director of the USPTO, Vidal is working to expand American innovation for and from all, and to bring more ideas to impact, including serving as the Vice Chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2), alongside Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo and the Council members, , a Co-Chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), and the Co-Founder, with the Secretary, of the Women’s Entrepreneurship (WE) initiative.

Read Director Vidal's full biography