Who is Eugene Cota-Robles?

Answer 1

Eugene H. Cota-Robles is an emeritus professor of microbiology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Aside from his contributions as a researcher he was very active in recruiting minority students to apply to and study at the University of California from the earliest days of his career. In recognition for his contributions towards increasing diversity at the University of California the Regents named the University of California GPOP Fellowships after him (search on "Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship Program" at any UC campus). He was born in Nogales, Arizona in 1926 to Mexican American parents, served on the heavy cruiser Baltimore during WWII and did his undergraduate work at the University of Arizona. He received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from U.C. Davis in about 1957, had a post-doctoral fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and joined the faculty of UC Riverside in 1958.