Alejandro Calderon-Urrea

Over a span of 25 years, Calderon-Urrea has stood side by side with many successful graduates, sharing similarities such as being the first from his family to obtain a higher education.

Calderon-Urrea was born in Colombia. He received his bachelor’s in genetics from the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Soon after, he began work for the International Institute of Agriculture. However, Calderon-Urrea wanted to further his education so he began to seek opportunities. He obtained a scholarship to attend Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium. There he received a master’s and specialized in plant molecular biology. Later, he traveled back to Colombia where he worked one more year at the institute of agriculture.

After his extensive international education, he found himself in Albany, California. While at the Plant Gene Expression Center, a joint investigation institute with the USDA and UC-Berkeley, he received his postdoctoral associate degree.