2021 HENAAC Awards

Dr. Rolando A. Flores Galarza is a pioneer in the agricultural and environmental sciences.  His impressive body of work has helped leverage advances in those fields to impact social mobility and economic development in rural communities across western hemisphere.

In his current role, Dr. Flores is focused on demonstrating how technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, and green energy can improve everything from water usage efficiency to soil health and carbon management.

Born and raised in Costa Rica, young Rolando joined his country’s National Production Bureau after earning his mechanical engineering degree in 1974.  Tasked with overseeing food processing investment projects, Dr. Flores implemented a series of technical innovations that sparked an economic revolution in Costa Rica – a revolution that continues to reverberate.  Today, the country exports nearly 80 agricultural products, up from the mere 4 or 5 it exported when he first joined the Bureau.

In the 80s, Dr. Flores brought his talents to the United States, earning a master’s degree from Iowa State University, and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University.  After several prolific years as a U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher, and later as an educator and administrator at the University of Nebraska, he landed with us at New Mexico State University.  He’s skillfully led our College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences since 2016.

Far from an ivory tower technocrat, Dr. Flores connects directly with the people in rural communities who benefit most from his research.  He engages regularly with farmers and ranchers from rural communities and Native American land across New Mexico, as well as the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, to help improve their food production, and, in the process, their livelihoods.