N M Tech Student Participates in National Physics Conference

SOCORRO – Leo L. Rodriguez, a senior majoring in physics at New Mexico Tech, recently participated in the 2005 Annual Joint Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSBP/NSHP), which was held last month in Orlando, Fla.

Rodriguez, a native of Santa Fe, was one of a few undergraduates from throughout the nation who were invited to participate in the national physics conference by the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP).

“In particular, I was invited to the two-day string theory sessions hosted by university physicists from Princeton, Harvard, Michigan, Iowa, Duke, and Maryland,” Rodriguez said.

“It was an awesome two days,” he related. “I learned a lot about QCD strings, closed time like curves outside the event horizon, algebraic geometry in String Theory, and many more contemporary topics in high-energy theoretical physics.”

At the conference, Rodriguez met and interacted with physicists from throughout the United States, as well as some from several Central and South American countries.

“In all that I was able to learn while at the conference in Orlando, the most significant lesson was what a great school and community I come from,” Rodriguez said. “In every aspect—from administration, student-faculty relations, academics, and much more—there is no other school that compares to us, and it was an extreme honor for me to attend and represent New Mexico Tech.”

Most of Rodriguez’s expenses incurred in attending the recent NSBP/NSHP joint conference were paid for by conference organizers, with the remainder of the involved costs covered by the New Mexico Tech Academic Affairs and Research and Economic Development offices.

As an undergraduate at New Mexico Tech, Rodriguez has developed an interest in theoretical research topics in the physics of relativity and quantum gravity, and has actively collaborated on several ongoing research projects with Tech physicists and mathematicians.

Rodriguez is scheduled to graduate from New Mexico Tech this coming May, and plans to pursue his research interests in a graduate degree program at Tech or elsewhere.

-NMT-