Meet Rice’s Graduate Ambassador Carlos Taveras

Taveras shares his interest, experience, and advice to prospective graduate students

Rice University

Meet Carlos Taveras. Taveras is a first year Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Taveras is from New York and is a Rice Graduate Ambassador. Ambassadors are students who represent the university and help prospective students gain knowledge of student life as a graduate student at Rice.

Taveras chose Rice as a graduate school because of his passion for conducting research and his love for math. His research focuses on how we can exploit relations, or structure, in data to extract information and how we can transport things over networks.

When he is not conducting research, he serves in various leadership roles within the Rice community. He is a part of the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) and LatinGrads@Rice on campus.

Taveras advises prospective students to find a community on campus to help them find their place and navigate their way. 

“Mentorship is important,” said Taveras. “You need to find a community to help you, and you can help them too.”

Taveras advises current students to enrich their graduate school experiences to help keep them balanced outside the world of research.

“Find other ways than your research to fulfill your needs,” said Taveras. “A strong foundation is needed to help prevent burnout and exhaustion.”

Taveras attended DeWitt Clinton High School, which is the same high school as a few notable celebrities such as James Baldwin, Stan Lee, Sugar Ray Robinson, Ralph Lauren, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie.

Outside of academics, Taveras enjoys Croissant Brioche, Quarter Price Books, and Hermann Park.

Graduate ambassadors can be contacted via email at gradambassadors@rice.edu. Carlos Taveras can be contacted directly by email at cat18@rice.edu.