She was nominated in September 2020 to be part of the UPR Governing Board by former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced. Although the positive report from the Senate Nominations Committee then identified her as a resident of San Juan, she is a professor at Northwestern University in Illinois, where she earned her Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy. In 2014, she founded COFI in San Juan, whose representative agent is the former chief of staff of the Vázquez Garced administration, Antonio Pabón Batlle.

Velasco worked with the National Science Foundation and has been recognized for her scientific and academic work by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).