I was born in Bolivia where I obtained my degree as "Licenciado"* in Physics at the Physics Department of the University Mayor de San Andrés at La Paz. My thesis work (done jointly with Ricardo Forno), Design and Construction of a CO2 Laser, received an award at the Annual Science Exposition of the University.

I am co-founder and researcher at the Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics at my home university in La Paz. I intend to go back there once I finish my work in the US.

One third of Bolivia's territory is above 3000 m.a.s.l., high in the Andean region, and almost 40% of the Bolivian population inhabit the area. As a result, ultraviolet radiation plays an important role in the atmospheric research at the country. My specific interests are related to UV-B, its effects on living organisms, ozone and global climatic change.

I obtained my Ph.D. working with total ozone to classify the atmosphere by meteorological regimes in the Southern Hemisphere and investigating ozone trends within each regime the last 20 years (you can see the abstract here). My advisor was Prof. Robert Hudson.

Currently, I am doing my postdoc at JCET where I work with Dr. Omar Torres in the retrieval of tropospheric aerosols from TOMS instruments.

* equivalent to a B.S. plus thesis