Biography
Autobiography
This autobiography will serve to display my lived experiences and how they have shaped me as a person, scientist, and educator.
Early Life
I was born in Fahardo, Puerto Rico on May 31, 1989. When I was born, my father, Freddy Rodriguez, was serving in the US Marines while my mother, Marta Rodriguez, was finishing up her associates degree. I was always very curious, often asking my parents questions they could not answer (pre google days) while also highly encouraging my curiosity. I spent the first 6 years of my life in Puerto Rico, where I lived close to my maternal grandmother RIta. My memories here are faint, but I remember, watching Barney every afternoon after my grandma picked me up from school, having a lot of friends at school, looking up at the stars in el campo, and being spoiled by my grandmother.
At six years old, my immediate family moved to Broward, Florida, one of the most diverse places in the United States. In first grade, there was a science show at my elementary school, which really captivated and inspired me. This is where I first associated my curiosity of knowledge with science. At six years old, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in science. I remember telling my father that I wanted to be a scientist and him telling me there are a lot of kinds of scientist. At the time, I was unsure of which science I would pursue. At the time I liked the beach, to swim and animals so I thought perhaps Marine Biology. It's interesting our environment influences our decisions greatly. I always loved mathematics since my earliest memories and was able to grasps concepts just as quickly as my teachers were able to show them. I went on to graduate elementary school with honors.
The closes middle school to was was one of the poorest middle schools in the country at the time. Luckily, I was enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program where my courses were geared towards gifted students. I had a lot of friends who saw me as the one that would make it out of the ghetto, so they were like guardian angels in times I felt in danger. Some of my proudest moments were taking geometry in 8th grade, which only four students were enrolled, playing American Football for a city nearby, achieving a perfect score on the mandatory state math exam. At the time I was highly religious, as is my family, so we attended church once to twice a week. During these years I played drums at church and alto saxophone throughout middle school. However, soon my life would dramatically shift again.
At the age of 14, my family moved up the socioeconomic latter but into a predominantly white neighborhood in Palm Beach, FL. I did not take this the change pleasantly since I missed all the friends I had back in Broward. I really struggled being in such a different cultural environment and found it tough to make friends in the neighborhood, due to facing discrimination from local white kids. I attended Palm Beach Central High School in it's first year of operation and as the name implied, it was central, thus it brought many different kinds of people into one school. Our school was in the local news frequently that year, as racial conflicts were clear. During my 9th grade year I was depressed and technically failed the year. Fortunately I made it to 10th grade, where I decided to accept my new reality and make academic strides again to take care of my future. My experiences improved and I eventually made great friends. I began to work part time at the age of 16, and dedicated my free time to playing basketball, reading books and watching university lectures on youtube.
My love for physics was inspired by the greatest teacher I've ever had, Stu Greydanus. Mr. Grey, who taught me physics for two years. He taught physics in its entirety and did a great job bringing in concepts from literature, history, and more. During these year, I also discovered my passion for teaching when I tutored one of my mom's friends in the math for 6 months. These two key events would ultimately put me on the path of wanting to be a university physics professor. While I did not graduate with high school with honors, but I did receive a full scholarship to go to community college, which cemented my road ahead.
Pre Graduate School
Due to the high cost of living away from parents, I decided to attend the local community college, Palm Beach State University (PBSC), and then transfer to the closest University to home which was Florida Atlantic University (FAU). During these years, I worked as a Math and Physics Tutor for PBSC and privately. During my last year at PBSC, I was part of the Math Club which competed in yearly competitions in math against other colleges in FL. We went on to be the first team in PBSC history to win first place at the Math Olympics. PBSC was a great place to learn and I had many great instructors including my physics professor Carlos Ramos. I went on to graduate in Fall 2009 with my Associates of Arts from PBSC with a 3.62 GPA.
I transferred to FAU, during my last semester at PBSC, which meant commuting to both. I was part of the Society of Physics Students, and served as vice president my last year at FAU. I won the Undergraduate of the Year award in the physics department in Spring 2011. I also conducted his first research project at FAU in Biological Physics, where I had to model the Brownian Motion of a 2D rod immersed in a fluid. At one point, I balanced working 30 hours a week, having my own tutoring business, spending time with my then girlfriend, and taking 18 credit hours. Despite being extremely busy, I managed to graduate Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Physics and a 3.82 GPA in Spring 2011.
After graduating with my BS in Physics, I was able to move out of my parents house in Summer 2011. With this change, I decided to take on a new lifestyle and began training in Martial Arts under Sifu Mike Robinson. In Fall 2011, I enrolled in a new MS program in Medical Physics at FAU in Fall 2011, but did not receive funding for the following spring semester so I left the program. During my break from being a university student, I spent time being a martial arts student and strengthening my social relationships with family and friends while enjoying the extra free time. I took advantage of living in South Florida and partook in many cool events with friends.
Masters and Doctoral
In Fall 2013, I continued to pursue my physics studies at the University of Oklahoma (OU). I spent two years in Oklahoma, during which I trained 3 peers in Martial Arts. I excelled in my courses but struggled to find a research topic I was passionate about. First I tried experimental physics doing quantum entanglement research, but did not enjoy the delicate nature of lab work. Then I worked on theoretical physics, on soft condensed matter research, but could not cope with the lonely nature of theoretical work. What I did find a passion for was my teaching experiences at OU, so my then mentor Dr. Uchoa, advised me to look into PhD programs with Physics Education Research (PER) groups. I graduated OU with my MS in Physics and went back to South Florida.
I took a year to search and apply to a university with a PER research group in Florida. During this year off, my Martial Arts master Sifu Mike Robinson passed away, which broke my heart and caused a dramatic shift in my thinking. I began to see life as more temporary than ever before and decided to begin pursuing my dreams of traveling the world sooner than I'd planned. I would eventually attend Florida International University (FIU), where I would go on to finish his Doctorate in Physics, specializing in Physics Education Research. This is where I developed my skills as a researcher under the mentorship of Geoff Potvin at Florida International University. I worked on a total of five projects during my four years there, and continue to collaborate on research projects with FIU. I was able to learn qualitative and quantitative techniques, that would give me the versatility to pursue any future research interest.
During these years I gained a lot more teaching experiences as a teaching assistant at FIU and an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College. The theme of my dissretation is small group learning, so I implemented collaborative teaching techniques into all my classes. I had the privilege of teaching many students of color, majority Hispanic, which I valued so much after teaching mostly white kids at OU. These experiences were so wonderful that I cemented my desires to teach as part of my career.
I officially began traveling in 2017 with my first trip to the UK. Traveling vastly impacted the way that I think and really opened my eyes to the importance of politics and to the propaganda we get fed as American citizens. Every city I visited, every person I met, impacted me deeply, as I was learning so much about the world. After traveling to many countries, I eventually made it to Mexico, where I met and fell in love with my wife. I was able to live in Mexico for a little while and the pandemic made it possible to stay there, as everything switched to remote work. I defended my doctorate virtually while being in Mexico and graduate with my doctoral degree in the summer of 2020.
Postdoctoral Years
Once I finished his doctoral degree at Florida International University, I went on to work remotely for the University of Utah under the mentorship of Dr. Ramon Barthelemy. My project there involved critically studying the experiences of graduate STEM students of color at predominantly white institutions. I published a review article on Critical Race Theory and Standpoint Theory and several other publication submissions pending. I continue to work on these projects and will continue to do so until all the results are published. All this work led me to actualize my dreams of being a professor at a university where I can continue working on research projects and making new ones. Since the pandemic dominated the world during these years, I mostly spent time with my partner, where we got to spend all day everyday together for most of these two years. I miss those times dearly, as they were incredible and I got to know my wife very well.
California State University Professor Years
After working at the University of Utah as a Postdoctoral Scholar, I landed an awesome job at California State University Dominguez Hills. My job consists of three main responsibilities: teaching, research, and service. I teach my introductory courses using small groups, where students are actively engaged in their learning. I use videos, diagrams, demonstrations, and concepts in my physics classes so that students can better conceptualize the concepts they learn, as opposed to remembering math equations. As far as research, I am finishing project collaborations from my earlier research years while collecting new data for the next studies I will be conducting. I serve the university in various ways, at the university level I am the senator for the Physics department, within the department I am part of several committees and am revising the lab manuals.
Working at CSUDH is great since I get to help students from marginalized backgrounds, since the university is extremely diverse. Some of my students have overcome great obstacles to be in my class, so I am privileged to be able to teach them and help them reach their goals. More than anything else, I want to help students succeed in future classes and LIFE in general!