We had the good fortune of connecting with Ricardo Bogaert-Alvarez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ricardo, what habits do you feel play an important role in your life?
I am a retired chemical engineer. I worked successfully both in industry and academia. There were several factors that helped me in my career. The first one is “belief in yourself.” In other words, you need to know you can do well even if the task is difficult. Furthermore, I you don’t believe in yourself, people are not going to believe in you. The second factor is constant discipline. By this I mean that you have to keep improving your knowledge of the field which makes the foundation of your job possible.

The third factor is enthusiasm. If you enjoy what you’re doing, that can help you overcome major problems, and also people may follow you. Enthusiasm can be contagious.

The fourth factor is patience. This is needed because at the beginning of a project, unexpected factors may occur and patience allows you to continue.

The fifth factor is diplomacy. You have to understand the feelings and opinions of the members of the team

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
After I obtained my chemical engineering bachelor’s degree in Dominican Republic, I went to the University of Delaware to study my masters. My background was deficient and I started at the bottom of the class, I searched for help from my classmates, I studied very hard and was able to graduate.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I will take him to the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Zoo. For restaurant, I would go with my friend to the Little Indian restaurant and watch a Colorado Ballet performance

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The University of Delaware. I learned so much about chemical engineering because of the knowledge, enthusiasm and patience of my professors in the chemical engineering department

Website: drbogaert.com

Facebook: Ricardo Bogaert

Image Credits
The above images are the front and back covers of my poetry book “Romance and Haiku Elixir.”

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