Angel C Pimentel

Biography

I was raised in Puerto Rico, where the beach was my playground, and during the night, I fell asleep to the rhythmic serenade of a small frog called coqui (to hear it you can press this link: Coqui Sound). My academic life has consisted of a series of transfers in which I was always privileged to find the right person to show me how to navigate the institution and succeed in obtaining my goals. My first experience in post-secondary education occurred in a community college in my hometown of Carolina. I was not sure whether or not college was for me, because most youngsters in the community where I grew up either learned a trade or joined the US armed forces after graduating from high school. I gave college a “test drive” and I immediate got fascinated with the fields of biology and philosophy. After many struggles in my courses, I was finally able to develop the necessary study habits and critical thinking skills that allowed me to succeed in science courses. I then transferred to the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in Biology.

Afterwards, I moved to New York City without knowledge of the English Language, with a one-way airplane ticket and $260 in my pocket to pursue a doctoral degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the City University and Graduate Center of New York. The biggest difficulty at this academic step of my life was my limited English language, which was required to take courses, perform scientific research, communicate with other colleges, write a lengthy Ph.D. thesis, and demonstrate scientific creativity. I vividly remember my first day of class (not necessarily for good reasons) when the professor realized that I was not able to speak or understand English.  It was then that the Dean of Science, Dr. Mike Fishman, enrolled me in English courses so I could gain enough understanding of the language. I was finally able join the Graduate and University Center of the City University of New York where I completed my doctoral degree in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Tadmiri Venkatesh.

My interest to pursue research in the field of memory and learning as well as to learn pedagogical techniques that will allow me to properly teach complex ideas to students made me move in 2002 to the Laboratory of Mani Ramaswami at the MCB department of the University of Arizona, under the sponsorship of the Postdoctoral Excellence in Teaching and Research (PERT) grant. Once I finished my postdoctoral training and with years of experience teaching in Hostos Community College, City College of New York, Pima Community College, and Cochise College, I joined the MCB department at the University of Arizona in 2008 as a lecturer, where I currently teach General Biology, Evolution of Modern Biology, and Bioethics. I immensely enjoy hiking, camping, and photographing the Sonora desert, but at night, I still miss the smell of the sea and the rhythmic lullabies of the coquis.

 

Degrees

• M.A. Higher Education
• The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
• NA
• Ph.D. Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology
• Graduate and University Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York, United States
• Cell Cycle Regulation and Pattern Formation in The Drosophila Compound Eye: Role of the Retina Aberrant in Pattern (rap) Gene.