Alberto Vázquez
Professor, University of Veracruz
Admiral Alberto Vázquez
Professor
University of Veracruz
Veracruz, México
Waitt Expeditions:
Mexico: Lost Fleet (Surveyor)
Biography
Alberto Mariano Vázquez De la Cerda was born in México City on August 30, 1943. He earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from Heroic Naval School in geography 1965 and naval mechanical engineering in 1967, before getting his Master’s degree in 1975 and Ph.D. in oceanography in 1993.
Commissioned as an officer of the Mexican Navy, Dr. Vázquez received training in remote sensing at NASA in 1968 and began working with Texas A&M University aboard the ship Alaminos operated by the Department of Oceanography, collecting physical data for research throughout the Gulf of Mexico. He also conducted research on the reefs of Veracruz using a NASA airplane. Vázquez worked with Texas A&M on several occasions over the next years. He worked with Dr. Ingvar Emilsson, expert of UNESCO, aboard the Uribe of Mexican Navy to carry out the CICAR program, operation GATE, and became Commander of the Oceanographic Ship H-02 from 1976 to 1979, conducting research with Texas A&M in both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Vázquez served as Chief Scientist on operation FGGE, an equatorial Atlantic experiment, which involved coordination of Soviet, German and Brazilian ships.
Dr. Vázquez became the first Director of the Oceanographic Institute in Veracruz for the Mexican Navy and held that office from 1979 to 1986. During that time he was also professor at the Heroic Naval School, Mexican Navy and Institute of Engineering, Universidad Veracruzana. He carried out operation “FRONTIER” in the western Gulf of Mexico for the Mexican Navy with Texas A&M University and Universidad Veracruzana.
After he became Captain of the Mexican Navy, Dr. Vázquez returned to Texas A&M University to work with Professor Robert O. Reid and completed his doctoral research on the cyclonic eddy in the Bay of Campeche. When hurricane Roxanne threatened the coast of Mexico in 1995, Vázquez was able to predict the trajectory of the hurricane.
Following his promotion to Rear Admiral in 1992 Dr. Vázquez became the Mexican Navy’s General Director of Oceanography. Two major achievements during this tour duty are the Marine Park in Veracruz Coral Reef System, and the Reservation of Biosphere in the Archipiélago of Revillagigedo in the Pacific Ocean.
Dr. Vázquez and his students from Universidad Veracruzana participated in oceanographic cruises in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea in 1998 and 1999 in cooperation with Texas A&M’s Geochemical Environmental Research Group, to study the transfer of the oceanic eddies and to help calibrate the satellites TOPEX and ERS.
In 2002, Dr. Vazquez, representing the Mexican Navy and the Universidad Veracruzana, collaborated with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the study of the Veracruz Reef System, which involved the use of Canadian mini-submarines. In addition, he began as member of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies based in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. In 2003, Dr. Vázquez received the Texas A&M’s 2003 Outstanding International Alumnus.
Alberto is married to Olga de la Medina. They have one son Alberto, and a daughter Olga, and four grandsons, Javier, Daniel, Alejandro and Iker.
