Broadening Participation
Dr. Hernandez has focused graduate and undergraduate recruiting efforts on disabled students and those from socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in engineering education.
Dr. Hernandez served as Director of the Colorado Diversity Initiative from 2002-2013 where he conceived, designed and led a joint NIH NSF-funded program to recruit and integrate graduate students from socioeconomic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the sciences and engineering through STEM PhD and Post-doctoral programs.
Dr. Hernandez was chosen as a 2017-2018 BOLD Center Faculty Fellow to advise BOLD students and staff, host professional development opportunities for students and organize inclusive excellence events. The University of Colorado Boulder's BOLD Center Faculty Fellows engage in the development and implementation of the inclusive excellence efforts of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
The Leadership Alliance develops underrepresented students into outstanding leaders and role models in academia, business and the public sector. This consortium of 30 institutions and private industry has have provided research and networking experiences to over 4,000 young scholars. Dr. Hernandez serves on the Leadership Alliance's Executive Committee and has been the institutional representative of the University of Colorado for 18 years.
Graduate Students - Out of a total of 31 mentees, the pool of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows formally mentored by Dr. Hernandez as a primary advisor includes women (67%), and underrepresented students (40%). Of these, 6 are tenured engineering faculty at the following institutions: Yale, Cornell, Boston University, Ohio State, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Pudong University.
Undergraduate Students- Out of a total of 42 students, the pool of undergraduates formally mentored as an internship advisor now includes women (78%), and underrepresented students (50%). Of these, more than 60% have gone on to complete a STEM graduate degree.
Visit People to learn more about students in the ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Aerobiology Lab.
2012 Hispanic Educator of the Year
University of Colorado at Boulder, Diversity and Equity Award, 2008
2018 STEM Professional of the Week
Dr. Hernandez is a second generation Mexican-American with roots in El Paso, Texas.