LANA Member Highlights
Aleja Jurado Londoño
Aleja Jurado Londoño is a protocol officer for Berkeley Lab. She was born in Manizales, one of the three cities that make up Colombia's famous "Coffee Triangle." She holds a bachelor's degree in Modern Languages from Universidad de Caldas, in Manizales, and a master's degree in Cultural Management from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, in Barcelona. Read more of her story.
Rosa - Rodriguez Flores
Rosa Rodríguez-Flores works for the Lab’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) and is the principal resource analyst for the Energy Technologies Area. She plays an important role in scrutinizing and helping process funding proposals for research science. Read more of her story.
Melissa Bañuelos
From a young age, Melissa Bañuelos was always trying to get ahead and make every moment count. The Lab’s business operations specialist for the Security and Emergency Services division says it’s a trait she developed growing up as one of three daughters to Mexican émigrés. Read more of her story.
Robin López
As a research associate in the Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, Robin D. López is fighting to save our planet from climate change. And as a lifelong resident of Richmond, he is working to uplift his community through mentoring. Click to learn more about López.
Blake Simmons, Executive Sponsor
We kick off Latin American Heritage Month 2021 with a few questions for Blake Simmons, Chief Science & Technology Officer of the Lab’s Joint BioEnergy Institute, and executive sponsor of the Latin American and Native American ERG. Read the full interview.
Krys Avina
Kryshna Aviña credits his parents' tenaciousness, reverence for their Mexican heritage, and a love of Beatles music and American culture with helping his family thrive in the United States. Aviña, an 18-year Lab veteran with the Information Technologies division, shares his story with Elements. Read the full interview.
Christopher Payne
Christopher Payne, the Division Deputy, Operations in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division, has spent his career focusing on policy research on energy efficiency and sustainability. He identifies as Native American and spoke about what that means in his family. Read the full interview.
Armando Casillas
Armando Casillas, of the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division in the Energy Technologies Area, has worked at the Lab for a little over one year. He is a Scientific Engineering Associate working on a few projects related to grid-interactive efficient buildings. Learn more about Casillas as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Daniela Ushizima
Daniela Ushizima started at the Lab as a postdoc 13 years ago and is now a staff scientist working with machine learning and computer vision for scientific image analysis and autonomous experimentation reliant on pattern recognition. Ushizima is also the recipient of a Director’s Achievement Award and a Women@The Lab Award. Learn more about Dani as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Blanca Bocobo
Blanca Bocobo’s father wanted the American dream for his family, so he walked from Michoacan, Mexico to Stockton, Calif. to find work. Bocobo, a 14-year Lab veteran with the Benefits office in HR, shares this story, and more, in this 3Q4, the last in our Latin American Heritage Month series. Learn more about Blanca as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Lino Sanchez
Lino Sanchez has worked at the Lab for two years as a research associate in the Energy Technologies Area. He and his colleagues are addressing the need to make our built environment more resilient and trying to answer questions of how resilience can be measured through intuitive and practical methods and metrics, and how progress towards resilience can be verified statistically. Learn more about Lino as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Joselyn Delgado
Joselyn Delgado, an administrator for the Government and Community Relations Office, has worked at the Lab for only seven months, but has already had an important impact on the Lab’s outreach efforts: translating key materials into Spanish to help reach more people in the community. Learn more about Delago as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Patricia Valdespino Castillo
Postdoc Patricia Valdespino Castillo conducts research at the intersection of omics and chemical imaging, is at the Lab as part of a UC-Mexico fellowship, and loves communicating about science with youngsters. Learn more about Castillo as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Jose Sierra
Jose Sierra is thankful for the sacrifice his parents made after leaving their native Guatemala, searching for a better life for their children. He shares his experiences with co-workers to help broaden their point of view. Learn more about Sierra as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Michael Espinosa
Biosciences Area senior administrator Michael Espinosa has empathy for those who feel different. Learn more about Espinosa as part of Element’s Hispanic Heritage Month series.
Merlin Lopez
Merlin Lopez, an electrical coordinator for the ALS-U project, emigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador, stays connected to his culture through food and music, and counts his parents as role models. Learn more about Lopez as part of Elements’ Hispanic Heritage Month series. Full Story>>