Hi, I'm Valeria Serna

Data Engineer | Turning coffee ☕ and code 💻 into scalable systems for data-driven impact.

📄
View my CV PDF, English
📑
TDA & CNNs for Gravitational Waves Springer, MICAI 2025

Topological Data Analysis and CNNs for Gravitational Wave Detection

Combines persistent homology with CNNs to improve gravitational wave detection in noisy signals. Achieves higher accuracy with lower computational cost than CNNs alone.

View full PDF →
📑
Knowledge Graphs for Homicide Data VMBO 2025, CEUR-WS

Knowledge Graph Representation of Open-Source Homicide Information

Two approaches using OWL ontology and NetworkX graphs to represent open-source homicide data with epistemic uncertainty, evaluated on nine Dutch cases.

View full PDF →
📊
My Projects Data & Code

About me

I'm a data engineer based in Monterrey, México. I like building pipelines and systems that keep data trustworthy enough to actually make decisions on. Day to day I work mostly with Python, SQL, and AWS.

I studied Data Science and Applied Mathematics at Tecnológico de Monterrey, which is a long way of saying I spent four years on statistics, ML, optimization, and enough math to be dangerous with. The mix shapes how I approach messy data: I'd rather model the problem properly than patch around it.

Right now I'm at Enviaflores.com, where I build and maintain the data systems the rest of the company runs on. It's a fast shop, which has taught me to prioritize reliability over cleverness. A pipeline that doesn't fail at 2 a.m. beats one that's elegant but fragile.

Off the clock I read a lot (recent reviews are on the Books page) and I'm slowly getting deeper into coffee. Both are good excuses to slow down. If you want to talk about either, or about a data problem you're stuck on, the Contact page is right there.

Projects

Things I've built, automated, or optimized.

Camera Vision Traffic Analysis

Camera Vision Traffic Analysis

2025

Real-time vehicle detection and counting with YOLOv11 for a research initiative at Tec de Monterrey.

Computer VisionYOLOAI
Personal Data Protection System for Casa Monarca

Personal Data Protection System for Casa Monarca

2024

Data-protection audit and mitigation plan for a Monterrey NGO supporting migrants.

SecurityAuditNGO
Vibratory Phenomenon Modeling and Control

Vibratory Phenomenon Modeling and Control

2024

MATLAB/Simulink model of a vibratory system with an active control scheme to damp oscillations.

Control SystemsMATLABEngineering
BAM Communication Webscraping

BAM Communication Webscraping

2023

Selenium bot that automated social media collection for a comms agency, freeing ~6 hours/week.

SeleniumPythonGoogle Cloud
E-commerce Delivery Route Optimization

E-commerce Delivery Route Optimization

2023

VRP solver for last-mile delivery that cut total route distance by ~22%.

Operations ResearchOptimizationRouting
Mars Rover Intelligent Exploration System

Mars Rover Intelligent Exploration System

2023

Autonomous exploration system for a simulated Mars rover with path planning and target prioritization.

AIPath PlanningSearch Algorithms

Books

What I've been reading and what I thought.

29 books
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Read review →

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

★★★★★ 🧠 Psychology
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Read review →

In the Dream House

Carmen Maria Machado

★★★★★ 🪞 Memoir
El tunel by Ernesto Sabato
Read review →

El tunel

Ernesto Sabato

★★★★★ 📖 Fiction
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Read review →

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

★★★★☆ 🏺 Philosophy
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Read review →

I Who Have Never Known Men

Jacqueline Harpman

★★★★☆ 📖 Fiction
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Read review →

The Stranger

Albert Camus

★★★★☆ 🏺 Philosophy
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Read review →

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport

★★★★☆ 🌱 Self Improvement
Educated by Tara Westover
Read review →

Educated

Tara Westover

★★★★☆ 🪞 Memoir
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Read review →

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi

★★★★☆ 🪞 Memoir
Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung
Read review →

Almond

Sohn Won-Pyung

★★★★☆ 📖 Fiction
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Read review →

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Mark Manson

★★★★☆ 🌱 Self Improvement
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Read review →

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Lori Gottlieb

★★★★☆ 🧠 Psychology

Top 3

Books that shaped my thinking

Fun Stuff

Beyond the code.

data cleaning not included.

Data or Fiction?

0/0

Machine learning algorithms can now write convincing poetry better than most humans.

Think You Know Me?

5 questions about me and my data science journey. Get a little challenge in and see how well you really know me!

The Meme Archive

A curated collection of data science pain.

Excited data scientist when model runs Excited data scientist when model runs
Reality of data cleaning process Reality of data cleaning process
Correlation vs causation meme Correlation vs causation meme
Overfitting model meme Overfitting model meme
SQL WHERE clause meme SQL WHERE clause meme
Importance of Statistics Importance of Statistics
Normal vs Paranormal Distribution Normal vs Paranormal Distribution

Contact Me

Let's connect.

Let's connect. I'm always up for a chat about data, projects, or your favorite algorithm.

So I can get back to you.