Dr. Alejandro Calderon-Urrea is a professor of biology at Fresno State. Apart from receiving an extensive international education, he also is very involved with two projects on campus.
One project focuses on algae, the other on crop pests.
He has also lectured Fresno State students who have continued their journey into doctoral programs across the nation. Over a span of 19 years, Calderon-Urrea has stood side by side with many successful graduates, sharing similarities such as being the first from his family to obtain a higher education.
Calderon-Urrea was born in Colombia. He received his bachelor’s in genetics from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Soon after, he began work for the International Institute of Agriculture. However, Calderon-Urrea wanted to further his education so he began to seek opportunities. He obtained a scholarship to attend Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium. There he received a master’s and specialized in plant molecular biology. Later, he traveled back to Colombia where he worked one more year at the institute of agriculture.
Next, he applied for a scholarship, offered by The Rockefeller Foundation. After winning that scholarship he moved, along with his wife, to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale University. There he received his doctorate in biology.
According to Calderon-Urrea, it’s impossible to find employment in the science sector with only a Ph.D. A postdoctoral associate is a must. After his extensive international education, he found himself in Albany, California. While at the Plant Gene Expression Center, a joint investigation institute with the USDA and UC-Berkeley, he received his postdoctoral associate degree.
According to Calderon-Urrea, both of his projects fall under the biotechnology sector of biology. With this in mind, students can find future employment with organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
His project with the algae has two projected goals. One is that the algae can live in industrial waste while cleaning the contaminated water, thus making the water reusable. The other goal is that the same algae can produce biofuels which, in turn, can be used as a more Earth-friendly energy source. The other project deals with the elimination of Nematus, a crop pest that affects crops grown worldwide.
Dr. Brian J. O’Roak, a former Fresno State student, has followed a similar path to that of Calderon-Urrea. According to his Oregon Health & Science University bio, O’Roak also attended Yale University and continued his postdoctoral training in the department of genome sciences at the University of Washington. He uses some of the most modern techniques in today’s autism investigations, said Calderon-Urrea.
“I am very pleased of what I’ve been able to do here,” Calderon-Urrea said. “I’m not a big fish like those big fishes at other universities, but what I do here has had an impact. I’ve graduated 16 students with their master’s theses and more than 60 undergraduates have passed through my laboratory. Many of them are now doctors, dentists and are linked with the pharmaceutical industry. They do it all. Some of my students have finished their master’s program and are now professors at universities across the nation. This always makes me feel good.”