Meet Rodrigo Ibarra. Ibarra is a fifth year Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Biosciences at Rice University. Ibarra is from Mexico and is a Rice Graduate Ambassador. Ambassadors are students who represent the university and help prospective students gain knowledge of student life as a graduate student at Rice.
Ibarra chose Rice as a graduate school because of his desire to do research on diseases. His research focuses on cancer development. When he is not conducting research, he serves in various leadership roles within the Rice community. He is a part of the Latin American Graduate Student Association (LAGSA) and Graduate Student Association (GSA) on campus.
Ibarra advises prospective students to evaluate their prospective school’s culture and community.
“Make sure the place you decide to be is the place you will feel the most comfortable,” said Ibarra.
Outside of academics, Ibarra enjoys Houston’s diverse food scene and the Museum of Fine Arts. Ibarra also likes to ride his bike around Rice’s campus to explore the community and nature.
Ibarra knows how to play the piano and is in a band with a few of their friends from Rice. Their band performs at some Rice events and is called ‘Plan B.’ “We named our band ‘Plan B’ to be an additional plan if our Ph.D. fails,” said Ibarra.
Graduate ambassadors can be contacted via email at gradambassadors@rice.edu. Rodrigo Ibarra can be contacted directly by email at ri8@rice.edu.