Mónica Rodríguez Guillén is a Spanish astrophysicist and cosmochemist whose research includes the chemical composition of

interstellar cloud An interstellar cloud is an accumulation of gas, plasma, and cosmic dust in galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium, the matter and radiation that exists in the space between ...

s including

H II region An H II region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light year ...

s and

planetary nebula A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. The ...

e. She works in Tonantzintla, Mexico, as a researcher in the

National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics The National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (in Spanish (language), Spanish: ''Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, INAOE'') is a Mexican science research institute located in Tonantzintla, Puebla. Found ...

(INAOE).

Education and career

Rodríguez is originally from

Petrer Petrer (; ) is a town and municipality located in the '' comarca'' of Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante of the autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. Petrer joins together with the city of Elda to form a conurbation with over 95 ...

in Spain, where she was born in 1969. She studied astrophysics as an undergraduate at the

University of La Laguna The University of La Laguna (ULL; Spanish: ''Universidad de La Laguna'') is a public research university situated in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife, Spain. It is the oldest university in the Canary Islands. The univers ...

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

before traveling to England as an

Erasmus scholar Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1992. She returned to La Laguna for doctoral study in astrophysics, completing her PhD in 1998. Her doctoral dissertation, ''La abundancia de hierro en regiones H II galácticas'' 'The iron abundance in galactic H II regions'' was supervised by Mexican astronomer Guido Münch. She became a researcher at INAOE in 2000.

Recognition

Rodríguez is a member of the

Mexican Academy of Sciences The Mexican Academy of Sciences ''(Academia Mexicana de Ciencias)'' is a non-profit organization comprising over 1800 distinguished Mexico, Mexican scientists, attached to various institutions in the country, as well as a number of eminent forei ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Monica 1969 births Living people Spanish astrophysicists Women astrophysicists University of La Laguna alumni Alumni of the Erasmus Programme Alumni of University College London Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences