Graduate Student Spotlight: Miguel Rodriguez
PRIME is ecstatic to welcome Miguel Rodriguez, a first-year mathematics education
doctoral student, to the program.
Miguel is from Colombia and grew up in Villavicencio, the capital of the department of Meta. It is a city located in the center of Colombia and is the greater city of the Orinoquía region.
While in Colombia, Miguel worked in two cities in the department of Meta, these were Villavicencio, and Granada. After that, he moved to the department of Santander-Colombia, where he had the chance to live and work in Ocamonte, San Gil, Bucaramanga, and Curití.
In his free time, Miguel enjoys exercising, especially swimming, running, and jumping rope. He also enjoys reading books, watching movies, dancing, and cooking.
When asked about traveling, Miguel says he loves to travel and tries to travel as
much as he can. He has been to Mexico, Ecuador, New York, and many different places
in Colombia. He recommends visiting the beautiful area in Colombia called Palomino.
Miguel commented that it is a “little town with the most beautiful beaches…this is
my favorite place to rest and feel the sea vibes.”
Before coming to PRIME, Miguel received his bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics at Universidad de los Llanos in Villavicencio-Colombia. He went on to obtain a master's degree in management of technology Education at Universidad de Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia. He recently obtained a master's degree in mathematics education at the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico.
When he lived in Bucaramanga, Miguel and some colleagues would meet up to sing and
play instruments. They would perform songs for their students. While in Curití, he was a part of a theatre group named Arte Parlante, which was composed of
secondary students and his partner.
For the past five years, Miguel lived in Curití, Colombia and taught in a public rural school in a village called Manchadores.
During his time here at PRIME, Miguel hopes to explore his interests deeper through research. He hopes to approach his mathematics education in the context of rural schools. He wants to use mathematics modeling to find links between traditional practices and mathematics from a critical perspective. Miguel is also interested in finding ways to use performing arts to explore the emotional, sensitive, corporal, and cognitive side dimensions of learning mathematics and the ways these dimensions could counter the domination of body-mind in mathematics classrooms viewed as enculturation spaces.
After graduating from PRIME, Miguel sees himself as a mathematics education professor and researcher working with communities that historically have been neglected and placing mathematics as a tool for those who must fight for their rights.
Miguel says he loves meeting new people, and we are all excited to meet and get to know him! We wish him the best of luck during his time here at PRIME!
Written by
Ansley Duke
