Rodrigo Perez-Garcia, international alumni ambassador 2012-2013, Spain

Name: Rodrigo Perez-Garcia

Home country: Spain

Programme: Theoretical Chemistry and computational modeling

Scholarship: Erasmus Mundus

Contact: a.c.polyhedra gmail.com

The dedicated and efficient professors, who are always helpful and encouraging are what I liked most about student life here .

About stuying in Groningen

I choose the university because of the great group of researchers at the Theoretical Chemistry department (http://theochem.chem.rug.nl) as well as the excellence of the university. Outstanding diversity and breadth of the master curricula stand out in my study program.

I have gained mainly Theoretical Chemistry knowledge but also skills as a teacher after having been a student assistant. The availability of resources is unlike what one is used to in Spain. What I like most about the city is the not so common sunny days in such a green and spacious city. The dedicated and efficient professors, who are always helpful and encouraging are what I liked most about student life here.

I have only good words to describe Dutch culture, apart from their food! As a sportsman I enjoyed biking. I encountered a bit of a language barrier, but most of the people do speak English very well. My advice to incoming student is to immediately find a house as it can be difficult at times.

Biography

Rodrigo is a self-motivated and hard-working person. Raised in a multicultural environment, he attended several European universities. He has been educated to respect others and promote dialogue, friendship and has an open-minded attitude. Having completed a university degree in Chemistry in the Univ. of Salamanca and worked in different companies such as the European Commission and private multinationals, he specialized in Theoretical Chemistry and computational modeling at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (Groningen) under the supervision of prof. Broer and Dr. Havenith with an excellence EU scholarship. He is currently a research student in Japan thanks to ICI-ECP 'INTERFACES' grant, carrying out his Master thesis research on the electronic properties of PCBM-copolymer blends for solar cells applications.

Besides the various cultural projects he is currently working on, he is a member of the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Board of Cahiers d’Art (international magazine of art and culture) and founder of a cultural association for Art and Science, called Polyhedra.