Two things attracted me to study the natural world: first, for many years I was a competitive, long-distance fin-swimmer. I even participated in two world junior championships representing Colombia. The immense biodiversity that you see while swimming in these places is just breath-taking. Second, the work of my parents. I was lucky to join her many times.
My dad was a coffee farmer leader, so I spent almost all of my weekends at the coffee farms of my father-side family. He gained national prominence for his advocacy for farmers and, for many years, lead a process that guaranteed land rights to thousands of families in southwest Colombia.
Under the supervision of Dr. This was my first paper , and it is still one of my most cited papers. Roberto Godoy. From the first moment, I was in love with mycorrhizas!
When I first arrived in Valdivia, Chile February , where I did my PhD , Roberto was the only one characteristically working during holidaysβhe had just arrived from Antarctica. Therefore, Roberto was the first professor I talked to, and, after almost 9 years, we still collaborate strongly in spite of the fact that he is now retired. Everyone that knows Robertoβof course including meβadmires his unpaired human qualities and how kind, respectful, and generous he is.
The most important thing I have learned from him is that one can be a very productive, collaborative scientist but one must never be so busy that they forget their friends, family, and life. My study focus for this was related to soil health recovery after fires and mycorrhizal-soil-plant reciprocal transplants.
