{"id":1034,"date":"2019-04-15T16:34:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T22:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2019-04-17T10:05:40","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T16:05:40","slug":"professor-spotlight-erik-plata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/15\/professor-spotlight-erik-plata\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Spotlight: Erik Plata"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/prof-spotlight0415_mixdown.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"780\" src=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_0332-1024x780.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_0332-1024x780.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_0332-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_0332-768x585.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Assistant professor Erik Plata began working at UTRGV in September 2018. Before deciding to become a full time professor, Dr. Plata taught at a community college in California for two nights a week to see if teaching was for him. <br>[su_quote] \u201cBecause I was debating to go into academia or into industry. I really liked the teaching.\u201d <br>[\/su_quote] <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Plata tells UTRGV Radio he grew up having to compensate for his learning disability. His passion for teaching comes out because he can relate to his students.<br><br>[su_quote] \u201cI can relate to them, being able to see myself in them, because I struggled growing and taking classes.\u201d <br>[\/su_quote] <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Assistant professor Erik Plata received his bachelors in Chemistry Engineering from Texas A&amp;M University Kingsville, and after that was urged by two professors to get his masters and doctorates in Chemistry. He tells students who are interested in chemistry, that it&#8217;s tough, but it will open so many doors for them not only in their field.<br><br>[su_quote] \u201cThe thing about chemistry is that, if anything, it teaches you more how to think like a scientist.\u201d <br>[\/su_quote] <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Plata is currently working on research projects in his laboratory and is a part of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). He is looking forward to being a part of Toastmasters, which is an organization that helps with public speaking, and hopes to bring back some of the clubs he was a part of when he attended the University of Texas at Brownsville.<br><br>[su_quote] \u201cBack in the day I was part of the Gorgas Science Academy, and we would take trips down to Rancho Del Cielo, we would do all sorts of things.\u201d[\/su_quote] <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Plata encourages students who are having trouble figuring out what they want to study, to stop by his office, because he was once in their shoes.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assistant professor Erik Plata began working at UTRGV in September 2018. Before deciding to become a full time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Professor Spotlight: Erik Plata - The Valley&#039;s Student Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/utrgvradio.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/15\/professor-spotlight-erik-plata\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professor Spotlight: Erik Plata - The Valley&#039;s Student Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Assistant professor Erik Plata began working at UTRGV in September 2018. 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