Spring 2019 STEM Lecture Series
Date: October 15, 2019
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Location: MLK : Campus Center (CC) : Heritage Room
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Join us for our Fall 2019 STEM Lecture Series with guest speaker, Dr. Roman Gomez. Lunch will be served at 12:00 PMon a first-come, first-served basis. The lecture will follow at 12:30 PM with time for questions from 1:15 PM - 1:30 PM.
Dr. Roman Gomez
"A Life in Physics: From Southeast San Antonio to the Interstellar Medium"
Dr. Gomez hails from his birthplace of San Antonio, Texas. A resident of the Southeast Side, he attended Elementary School at Inez Foster, Middle School at Connell, and graduated in 1988 from Highlands High School (Go OWLS!). After choosing to forgo a college education early on, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as an infantryman from 1988 to 1991, achieving the rank of Specialist. After separating from the service, Dr. Gomez worked in several odd jobs, from a cook/bus person at Bill Miller’s BBQ to an assistant martial arts instructor. Finally opting to attend college in the spring of 1994 he first attended The University of Texas at San Antonio. After his first year at UTSA, he transferred to the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) majoring in Biochemistry and attending until the spring of 1999. In the fall of 1999, he transferred once again to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos as a declared biology major. He began a second major in physics in 2000 and finally graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in biology and physics in spring of 2002.
Dr. Gomez was accepted to start graduate studies in physics at Rice University in the fall of 2003. He specialized in the field of High-Energy Particle astrophysics and completed the defense of his master’s thesis “Characterization of the Xenon-10 Dark Matter Detector with Regard to Electric Field and Light Response” in the spring of 2007. After completing his master’s defense, he began studies in space plasma physics instrumentation under Dr. David T. Young at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio (Not the place with the monkeys J). While working at Southwest Research Dr. Gomez participated in several efforts including the Cassini mission at Saturn, and the Comet-Chasing Rosetta Mission. In 2011 he completed his Ph.D. Thesis “Simulation and Optimization of ESA Designs for Space Plasma Missions” through Rice University, was promoted to the position of Senior Research Scientist, and remains on staff at Southwest Research to this day. In 2012 he was appointed the calibration lead for the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer of the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS mission) which was launched on March 12, 2015. He is now in his fifth year as a project scientist on the MMS Mission and in his eleventh year as a Southwest Research Employee. In addition to his position at Southwest Research, he is also an adjunct professor of physics at Northwest Vista College, and St. Mary’s University.