Erika Garcia

Erika Garcia has a diverse work experience spanning over two decades. Erika began their career as an Administrative Assistant at California State University, Los Angeles, where they handled various clerical and organizational tasks for the Early Entrance Program. From 2001 to 2005, they trained and managed student employees, maintained calendars, scheduled appointments, prepared documents, and performed accounting duties.

In 2012, Erika joined the Scherer Nanofabrication Group at Caltech as a Research Scientist. Over the course of 3.75 years, they worked in a team to design and fabricate a portable system for disease diagnostics, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2014, Erika became a Project Manager for the same group, overseeing $14 million in federal and non-federal funding. Erika monitored grant expenditures, prepared financial reports, and implemented cost-saving measures, resulting in $600K in savings during their first year. Erika also assisted in applying for grants, reviewing financial schedules and scientific scope of work for over 20 proposals.

In 2015, Erika took on the role of Grants Manager in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at Caltech. Erika was responsible for managing a portfolio of research projects totaling approximately $30 million in funding. Their duties included pre-award and post-award research administration, compliance with sponsor regulations, expenditure review, and advising faculty on grant-related matters.

Most recently, in 2020, Erika co-founded FastDetect Inc. and assumed the position of Head of Biochemistry. The details of their role at the company are not provided, but it can be inferred that they are utilizing their expertise in biochemistry to contribute to the organization's goals.

Erika Garcia completed their Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Biochemistry from California State University, Los Angeles, which they attended from 2000 to 2007. After that, they pursued a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Analytical Chemistry from the same institution from 2007 to 2009. Erika then furthered their education at Caltech, where they obtained another Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering from 2010 to 2012.