{"id":12731,"date":"2015-06-22T06:17:26","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T10:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=12731"},"modified":"2016-12-01T12:51:33","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T17:51:33","slug":"chemistry-alumna-found-her-inspiration-at-ucf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/chemistry-alumna-found-her-inspiration-at-ucf\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry Alumna Found Her Inspiration at UCF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/06\/Tamra-Legron-Rodriguez.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12732\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2015\/06\/Tamra-Legron-Rodriguez-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Tamra Legron-Rodriguez\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Tamra Legron-Rodriguez, \u201908, \u201913, says her time in the UCF Chemistry Department inspired her to strive to be the best teacher she could be.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Legron-Rodriguez graduated with her bachelor\u2019s in forensic science and then her doctorate in materials chemistry from UCF. As a two-time UCF chemistry graduate, she spent a lot of her time in UCF labs.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Legron-Rodriguez says her time as a research and teaching assistant at UCF gave her the experience and tools she needed to start a career in education. Her research experience at UCF includes chemistry education research for engaging STEM at UCF, environmental\/materials chemistry research, and hair and fiber identification research with the UCF Chemistry Department.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating, Dr. Legron-Rodriguez worked as a visiting assistant professor of chemistry at Rollins College in Winter Park. She went on to work as a visiting instructor at the University of South Florida in Tampa teaching chemistry courses. Dr. Legron-Rodriguez will return to UCF in fall 2015 to teach forensic and chemistry.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMy favorite thing about teaching is seeing the light bulb moment of a student when they understand something that they have been struggling with for a while,\u201d <\/em>said Dr. Legron-Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Legron-Rodriguez shared more about her time at UCF and her advice to students and alumni.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you choose to attend UCF?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>I grew up in Ohio and always wanted to move to Florida. The cold and snow just aren\u2019t for me. After taking chemistry in high school, I knew that I wanted to learn more about how the subject could be used in the real world. When I found out UCF had a forensic science program, and how forensics was related to chemistry, it seemed like the perfect fit!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you stayed connected with UCF since graduation? If so, how?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Over the summers I work at UCF as a laboratory consultant for the AP College board continuing education program for high school AP chemistry teachers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your best UCF memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>My best memory was hearing my committee congratulate me on passing my dissertation defense. The sense of accomplishment after working so hard for so long is something that I will never forget.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What piece of advice would you give to current students as well as UCF\u00a0alumni?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>To current students, I would say: Enjoy UCF! Get involved and find friends you can count on, it makes college easier. Some of the most amazing people I know I met at UCF.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To alumni, I would say: Make your life what you want it to be. Decide what\u2019s most important in your life and live without regrets.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Legron-Rodriguez answered some fun questions in our 30-second get-to-know-you round of the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Who is your favorite musician\/band?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Zac Brown Band<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the last book you read?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could watch only one TV show, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Breaking Bad<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is something most people do not know about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>I LOVE rollercoasters!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tamra Legron-Rodriguez, \u201908, \u201913, says her time in the UCF Chemistry Department inspired her to strive to be the best teacher she could be. Dr. Legron-Rodriguez graduated with her bachelor\u2019s in forensic science and then her doctorate in materials chemistry from UCF. As a two-time UCF chemistry graduate, she spent a lot of her time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":12732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,35,38,39,13,41,25,28,29],"tags":[629,2856],"class_list":["post-12731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-chemistry-departments","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-shining-knights","category-staff-news","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-chemistry","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chemistry Alumna Found Her Inspiration at UCF - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/chemistry-alumna-found-her-inspiration-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chemistry Alumna Found Her Inspiration at UCF - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tamra Legron-Rodriguez, \u201908, \u201913, says her time in the UCF Chemistry Department inspired her to strive to be the best teacher she could be. 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