Manuel Valera

Manuel Valera, Ph.D. has a diverse work experience in various fields. Manuel is currently a Data Scientist at Axos Bank, where they develop, tests, and deploys Machine Learning models for fraud detection, risk management scorecards, time series forecasting, recommendation engines, and credit risk modeling. Manuel also conducts advanced analysis of financial datasets for executive decision-making and researches and contracts high-technology solution vendors.

Prior to their current role, Manuel worked as a Research/Teaching Associate at San Diego State University, where they were part of the Coastal Ocean Modeling research group. Their responsibilities included researching, designing, and implementing numerical algorithms to improve the General Curvilinear Coastal Ocean Model (GCCOM), parallelizing and re-validating the GCCOM model for large-scale experiments, and modeling field-scale coastal ocean experiments.

Manuel also gained experience as a SiParCS/CISL Intern at NCAR - The National Center for Atmospheric Research, where they worked on the Remapping and Conservation Project. Additionally, they worked as a Seismologist at Funvisis, where they contributed to the Tsunami Project by modeling risk scenarios in the Caribbean and improving the automatic earthquake detection system. Manuel also focused on improving seismological divulgation resources.

Earlier in their career, Manuel served as a Thesis Student at Universidad Simón Bolívar, where they worked on their undergraduate thesis involving the fabrication and dielectric characterization of polymer-clay nanocomposites. Manuel developed skills in machine operation and analysis of nanocomposites using Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and dielectric techniques.

Overall, Manuel has demonstrated expertise in data science, numerical modeling, oceanography, seismology, and nanocomposite fabrication throughout their career.

Manuel Valera, Ph.D., pursued their education with a focus on computational science. Manuel first attended Universidad Simón Bolívar from 2003 to 2013, where they obtained a Licenciatura en Física, a five-year degree in Physics. Continuing their academic journey, they pursued two Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Computational Science. From 2015 to 2021, they studied at both Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University, acquiring a Ph.D. in the field.