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Gerardo Vázquez, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor, Physics
Math & Physics Department, College of Arts & Sciences

Contact
vazquezg@queens.edu
Professional Resources

Biography

Dr. Vázquez was born in Puebla, Mexico, and earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Mexico’s largest and one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The computer code that he completed as part of his doctoral research was at the time one of the most sophisticated programs in existence, and it earned him a postdoctoral appointment at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore to work on galaxy evolution. This institute is supported by NASA through AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy) and operates the scientific part of the Hubble Space Telescope and also operates the navigation and scientific systems of the new James Webb Space Telescope since December 2021.

After his postdoctoral stay at the STScI, Dr. Vázquez moved across the street to work as Assistant Research Scientist in a joint program between Johns Hopkins University and the X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory in NASA-Goddard to study counterparts in infrared of Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (possible medium size black holes as the source of the X-ray emission) and radio active galaxies.

At Salisbury University, Dr. Vázquez was a recipient of several grants to continue his collaboration at the STScI working on updates for the galaxy evolution code Starbusrt99 and his own personal projects.

Dr. Vázquez taught physics and astronomy for twelve years and was the Physics Laboratory Coordinator for five years. He also advised the research projects of several students that went to grad school and succeed in the scientific community.

He enjoys outreach and giving public talks about astrophysics and motivates students to pursue a career in sciences.

In August 2020 Dr. Vázquez moved to North Carolina with his son Erik. He has a curious mind and he keeps working on research projects. He also likes writing about other topics not just science. He loves to play golf, disc golf, basketball, dance, and spend time with his son.

Besides scientific publications in peer-reviewed astrophysical journals, he has published three books on Amazon:

  • Waiting for God: A Real Love Story
  • From Father to Son: Love, Sex, and Other Little Things
  • The Diary of a Wimpy Astrophysicist and The Time Machine