'I participated in research spanning multiple disciplines'

Jerónimo Martín Duque: Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics

5/15/2026

Jerónimo Martín Duque

Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics
Bogotá, Colombia

Why did you choose Cornell?

Cornell's reputation played a big role in my decision to attend, but I think the most important factor was my personal connection to the university. My parents were graduate students here when I was a kid, so I'd already lived in Ithaca (Hasbrouck, just east of North campus) for a few years. The summer before senior year of high school, I visited Ithaca to relive old memories. Before that, I hadn't even considered applying to college outside my home country, but the visit convinced me to apply. I also applied to a few other places in the U.S., but my connection to Cornell, coupled with its academic excellence, easily made it my first choice.

What Cornell memory do you treasure the most?

This isn't really a single memory, but I really enjoy wandering around campus and its surroundings, whether that be at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday or during a small break between classes. My memories of these walks are probably some of the best from my days as a student here. It's easy to get used to our surroundings and become blind to the natural beauty all around us, so it's worth it to take some time to appreciate places like the Botanical Gardens, the Arboretum, random buildings on campus, Cayuga Heights, the parks and trails all around Ithaca, the dams, the gorges and the lake, just to name a few. These spots are often what come to mind when I think of Cornell, and they're among the things I'll miss the most after graduation.

What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?

A big one is juggling multiple responsibilities. Owing to the A&S distribution requirements, major requirements, and sometimes just my own interests, I ended up taking quite a few courses most semesters. When you add that to social activities, clubs, extracurricular commitments, applying for internships and jobs, and so on, it becomes very important to be able to quickly switch gears mentally and physically. Doing this for four years taught me how to organize my thoughts and my time to an extent I hadn't thought possible.

Another skill I've developed during my time here is the ability to have meaningful conversations and interactions with people whose interests are different from mine. A&S has by far the most diverse set of majors, so I've come across a wide spectrum of people during my time here, forcing me to step outside of my conversational comfort zone to engage with others' perspectives and communicate effectively without overreliance on shared interests.

What have you accomplished as a Cornell student that you are most proud of?

I'm proud of the fact that I've been able to participate in research projects spanning multiple disciplines.

I was fortunate enough to participate in two summer research programs at Cornell. The first was as part of the Nexus Scholars Program with Professors Doug McKee and George Orlov, where I worked on developing course materials for introductory microeconomics. I'm proud to still be a member of McKee and Orlov's Economic Education Lab (EEL), where I help maintain and develop the automation and visualization software behind assessments given to university students all over the world.

During my second summer, I had the privilege of working with Professor Eva Tardos on research in algorithmic game theory as part of BURE (Bowers Undergraduate Research Experience). We continued working on the project during the fall semester, culminating in a paper on learning in a network of servers with buffers, which we're hoping to have accepted to a conference later this year. More recently, I've been working with Professor Noah Stephens-Davidowitz on a project concerning methods of efficient entropy accumulation. We're not sure where it'll go yet, but it's been really fun and enlightening.

Every year, our faculty nominate graduating Arts & Sciences students to be featured as part of our Extraordinary Journeys series. Read more about the Class of 2026.