Sixto Gonzalez, director, Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

When Sixto Gonzalez left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his native Puerto Rico midway through his undergraduate education, little did he realize that it would benefit his career (see CV).

Gonzalez left, he says, because although he had little difficulty adjusting to a different language, he struggled with the heavy workload in a highly competitive environment — not to mention the long, cold winters, at odds with his native tropical climate.

But a choice based partly on culture shock was served up with a healthy dose of serendipity. While at the University of Puerto Rico he was able to work at Arecibo Observatory, home of the world's largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope — and he has remained there ever since. He says that if he had stayed at MIT, he would never have had the opportunity to work at the observatory.

The opportunities were plentiful. As an undergraduate, he was able to present papers at international conferences based on his findings at Arecibo. As a graduate student, he was able to base his thesis on data he gleaned from a summer spent at the observatory. And as a postgraduate, his familiarity with the instrumentation at Arecibo led him to getting a job there — making him the first native-born Puerto Rican to become a staff scientist at the facility.

His latest appointment extends that honour to the directorship of the observatory, although Gonzalez has mixed feelings about distinctions based on his nationality. On one hand, he is proud of his heritage and is happy to represent it. But on the other, being singled out by his nationality makes him uncomfortable. He is more excited about having two more Puerto Rican scientists joining him at the facility than about becoming the first director to hail from the country.

Gonzalez says that he is enjoying being in a position to help others to deal with the difficulties he faced early in his career at MIT. Young scientists need a support network, mentoring, ideas for projects and help to bring projects into fruition.

He sees his latest role as helping to provide all these things. “When you're in a position to make a difference for people, you have to provide them with as many opportunities as you can give them,” Gonzalez says.