News
“There is hope.” Tech Honors alumna, National Geographic explorer discusses mission to preserve the Amazon jungle
Tennessee Tech alumna Rosa Vásquez Espinoza. Photo by Stephanie King.
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza is a woman on a mission. The Peruvian-born chemical biologist,
National Geographic explorer, television personality and nonprofit founder has dedicated
her career to promoting conservation and sustainability in the Amazon rainforest.
These days, you can find Espinoza featured in the New York Times for her research
on the Amazon region’s stingless bees, profiled in Marie Claire U.K. as a champion
for “female empowerment in science,” ranked among an elite list of “50 people changing
the world” by The Explorers Club and even beamed into households across the world
as a presenter on the Science Channel documentary series “Secrets in the Jungle.”
But before becoming a world-renowned scientist and advocate, Espinoza was making her
way in Cookeville as a student at Tennessee Tech University.
“Tennessee Tech felt like a family away from home, and that felt like a very safe
space for me to explore any question that came to my mind,” said Espinoza on a recent episode of Tech’s “College Town Talk” podcast.
The 2015 Tech graduate admits she considered many universities for her studies but
was drawn to Tech for its “welcoming international program.”
“I had never been to Tennessee,” Espinoza recalled. “I didn't know what [Tech] would
be like, but I just kind of went with a hunch that it seemed so organized and welcoming.”
While Espinoza’s chosen fields of study – biochemistry and molecular biology – would
be challenging enough for anyone, she decided to push herself further through Tech
Honors, the university’s honors program curriculum. She would find a trusted mentor
in Tech Honors director Rita Barnes.
“I genuinely enjoyed the honors program and Dr. Barnes was such a big part of it,”
said Espinoza.
For Barnes, the admiration was mutual. “Rosa, from the time she came in, was very
self-possessed and very receptive to suggestions, but at the same time was clearly
her own person,” said Barnes.
Barnes went on to recall Espinoza’s leadership as co-chair of the service committee
for the Tech Honors student organization, the Associated Scholars Guild.
Espinoza used her passion for salsa dance to teach a two-semester-long series of salsa
classes to individuals with neurological challenges. She enlisted the help of her
committee members by teaching them salsa first.
“To this day, we use that as a model when we talk to students about civic engagement
and helping them be alive to what they care about,” said Barnes.
Years after Espinoza’s graduation in cursu honorum (“in the course of honors”) from
Tech, Barnes continues to keep in touch. She even watched via Zoom when Espinoza defended
her dissertation for a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Likewise, Charles Wilkerson, director of international recruitment and admission at
Tech, praised Espinoza for being “always generous with the other students.”
Wilkerson recalled Espinoza’s time spent teaching exercise classes on campus, including
female-only classes that allowed other international peers to work out without the
need for a hijab or abaya.
“I was so proud of her,” Wilkerson added.
Today, Espinoza is still teaching – but in a different way, and with a greater sense
of urgency.
As a National Geographic Explorer traveling to some of the planet’s most extreme environments,
and as the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Amazon Research Internacional,
Espinoza says time is of the essence when it comes to protecting Amazonian lands,
species and other natural resources.
“I don’t think there’s that much time for our rainforest, really,” Espinoza warns.
“And I think more people are getting to see that, but in a hopeful way. That is my
mission, not bring another ‘gloom and doom’ type of perspective, but rather saying
that there is hope.”
The thing that gives Espinoza the greatest optimism, she explains, is today’s students
and young adults.
“I get to work with a lot of classrooms and see how these newer generations are growing
with the worst impacts of climate change,” said Espinoza. “But they have so much more
hope than perhaps the media sometimes shows. I think that just gives me the energy
to keep working for this mission.”
As Espinoza looks to the work ahead of her, she says she feels gratitude for the strong
foundation that Tech provided, including the guidance she received from faculty like
her research mentor, David Beck, associate professor of biology.
“I think that has been the biggest positive impact that I've gotten from Tennessee
Tech … helping me build the confidence to take on the work that we do now,” Espinoza
concluded.
Listen to Espinoza’s full “College Town Talk” interview on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora and other platforms. Learn more about her work at www.rosavespinoza.com.
