Socrates Fellows Who We Are Gabriel Reyes-Rodriguez
Chemistry and BiochemistryGabriel J. Reyes-Rodriguez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (UPR-RP), where he spent two years of his undergraduate carreer working for Dr. Olga L. Mayol-Bracero in studying the chemical composition of clouds and rainwater, and how this composition would change with different air masses arriving to the island. Currently, Gabriel is attending UC San Diego, as a graduate student in the chemistry department with Dr. Charles L. Perrin. There, he studies the reactivity of para-benzyne intermediates derived from enediynes, and their selectivity towards different nucleophiles. Also, he serves as a teacher assistant in organic chemistry classes.
Prior to UC San Diego, he was a tutor for Organic Chemistry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus I & II classes. At the UPR-RP, he also served as the president of the Student-Affiliated American Chemical Society (SA-ACS) chapter where he attempted year to year to represent what we believes an integral chemist should be: a person that is fully involved not only in their place of business (in our case, the University), but also in their community. He performed diverse activities at UPR-RP, various schools, and other locations to promote a greater understanding and interest in chemistry in the community. The activities included a variety of chemistry demonstrations and some hands-on demonstrations.
His interests outside of research include music and sports. In his spare time, Gabriel plays the bass guitar, having played since age fifteen and being part of rock bands until moving to San Diego. He also grows orchids and is a member in the San Diego County Orchid Society (SDCOS).
It is Gabriel’s hope to inspire high school students (especially minority students) to pursue their dreams, as well as to give them a new perspective of the world through science, He is very excited to be a part of the Socrates program, as education in chemistry is his calling. He plans to undertake different efforts to serve our community in San Diego.
