My name is Americo Hinojosa, I am currently a Graduate Student in the MS in Physics program at the Department of Physics from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I am also a graduate student at The Mexican Institute of Pedagogy, in which I pursue a Doctoral Degree in Teaching Methods. My educational background includes an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science, a BS in Industrial Engineering from ITESM system and a Master’s Degree in Teaching Methods from The Mexican Institute of Pedagogy.
Each stage of my formation as a student has helped me to grow as a person and as a professional, but in my opinion the experience which has influenced me the most is being an international student in physics, because I have been able to not only learn about physics and science but to meet people from so many different cultures who share the love for science.
Right now, my main interest in physics is focused on three major areas which are:
- Observational astronomy and differential photometry, and the usage of programming to get and analyze data. I have had experience doing research as part of the Time Domain Astronomy Group from CGWA in which I helped to analyze data obtained by telescopes.
- Public engagement with science or science popularization, by doing public activities such as astronomy nights open to the public, science fairs and science festivals. I have been involved in different events like physics circus presentations, science fairs for young students and astronomy in the park, in which we setup some of the university telescopes and let the public use them to observe the sky.
- Science teaching.
My professional background includes two main fields: Engineering, in which I acquired experience in the automotive and electronic industries in areas as Project Engineering, Product Launches, Process Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering. The second field in which I have experience is Education, in which I started as a volunteer informatics teacher at a Mexican Non-profit organization for gifted and talented high school students, and now working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the UTRGV Physics Department.
My main career goals are to learn as much as I can in the different fields where I work and study (science, engineering, education and informatics, by now), so I can use what I learn to teach others in an effective way, so they have a better understanding of science, physics, informatics and engineering. I think that the best way to do this is in the educational field. So I would like to focus part of my time in teaching. On the other hand, I also want to continue my career in the industry, mainly in the product engineering and project engineering areas.
Instructional design and technology is a core part of my career goals because it would give me the tools to make my teaching more effective and even flexible, being able to develop both careers, education and industry, at the same time, by for example taking advantage of educational technology and do online teaching.
Americo Hinojosa 