Maria completed her undergraduate work in 1984 at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), in Columbia with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

She completed her graduate studies in 1992 at the Universität Stüttgart, Institüt für Kunststofftechnologie (IKT) with a degree in Extrusion Technology after receiving her degree in Polymer Chemistry in 1989 from the Technische Universität Dresden (TU-Dresden.

She received her Ph. D. in 2001 in Mechanical Engineering/Polymer Processing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.

Maria is currently the Technical Director at the Research Institute for Plastics and Rubber, ICIPC in Medellin, Columbia.  For 6 years she was the Chief of the Extrusion Department at the ICIPC.  Prior to the ICIPC she was the Project engineer of Enka de Columbia (AKZO) in Medellin, Columbia and before that the Research Engineer of the Fibers and Polymers Department for AKZO in Arnhem, the Netherlands.  In addition she worked as the Research Engineer of the Energy Conservation Department Research Centre (CIDI)-UPB in Medellin, Columbia.

Maria has written over 30 articles related to extrusion and four Power Pockets and co-authored Troubleshooting the Extrusion Process:
A Systematic Approach to Solving Plastic Extrusion Problems with Dr.Chris Rauwendaal, Hanser, 2001.