Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez originally started stargazing in the Canary Islands, but he's also studied the stars from a Boeing 747 in the stratosphere. Now he has brought his research to South Carolina, where he joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of South Carolina this fall. 

Lopez-Rodriguez earned a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Florida and a master’s in science from the University of La Laguna in Spain. In addition to academic roles, he has worked as a research scientist for institutions including the SOFIA Science Center in California and Stanford University. His research aims to understand the effect of magnetic fields on galaxy evolution, active galactic nuclei and star formation.  

In this Q&A, Lopez-Rodriguez shares more about his experience as a first-generation college student who was inspired to reach for the sky – literally, the stratosphere – as an astronomer. 

Where do you call home? What brought you to USC? Tell us about your academic and professional journey so far. 

I’m from the Canary Islands, Spain, modest but beautiful islands in the Atlantic Ocean with a long and deep connection between Spain and America.  

I came to USC to support new astronomy courses to increase undergraduate interest in astrophysics careers. I see this as an opportunity to build a robust astronomy program in South Carolina.  My academic journey has brought me all over the world, and I usually call it the “internationalization of an astronomer.” 

Tell us a bit more about you! Would you share an interesting fact about yourself? 

Although I grew up in a beautiful place with bright skies, my path to becoming an astronomer was not clear or accessible by any means. I am a first-generation college student from a low-income, nontraditional background, with my mother as the only source of income because my father was incarcerated for twelve years of my childhood. 

From a very young age, I understood the benefits of education, and I pursued a life in academia as a path to change the socioeconomic status of the family. I think it is essential to understand the roots and where the people come from to support their journey in academia or whatever their paths bring them. 

A few years ago, my career as an astronomer brought me to NASA Ames in the Bay Area, California, to join the Stratospheric Observatory of Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) as an instrument scientist. This involved using a specialized telescope in the back of a Boeing 747, and I flew approximately 100 times into the stratosphere to perform astronomical observations. A dream of a job and a unique experience! 

What first drew you to your main area of expertise? What do you love about it? 

I’m interested in understanding the effect of magnetic fields on galaxy evolution. Magnetic fields are notoriously difficult to observe, but they permeate the whole Universe and we know little about them. The idea of measuring the magnetic fields via their effects on matter attracted me and drew me to new ideas on how to use the physical properties of matter to measure something in the distant Universe. I love the huge discovery space of this research field and the idea of using physics we know on Earth that still works on the distant Universe. 

Tell us about your approach to teaching. Do you have a favorite topic or class to teach? What do you hope your students will take away from your classes? 

My classes are very hands-on and interactive. I like the students to play with data to learn how astronomy research is done. My favorite class to teach is observational astronomy because it mixes astronomical instrumentation, data analysis and statistics, and scientific discovery. In this class, the students learn how wide the expertise of an observational astronomer needs to be to perform research. 

Do you have anything coming up at USC that you are particularly excited about? 

I recently got time at the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to obtain the sharpest image of the matter surrounding an active supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy. The exciting thing about this project is that I am using JWST in a completely new approach, using interferometric techniques, which allows me to improve the angular resolution of the observatory by a factor of two and obtain images without telescope artifacts. The data looks fantastic, and I’m very excited to perform this work at USC – with the potential support of students – and to publish it soon. 

Will USC students have opportunities to get involved with your research? If so, how can they get involved? 

Definitely! Undergraduate students are crucial to perform some of this research. They bring new and fresh ideas to this field. I’m currently working with four undergraduate students from freshman to senior levels. They are working with data from international observatories while learning coding skills, physics, astrophysics and writing skills. 

Students interested in research in astronomy can send me an email (elopezrodriguez@sc.edu) or visit my office. I am always happy to talk with them and offer projects of their interest.