Dr. Vázquez-Rivera is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison under the supervision of Dr. Zac Freedman and an instructor and coordinator of curriculum development in toxicology for the Molecular & Environmental Toxicology-Summer Research Opportunities Program at UW–Madison. He joined the Bugni Research Group in 2011 and worked on the development of a microscale cocultivation approach to induce cryptic antimicrobial compounds from marine Streptomyces spp. He earned his PhD in molecular & environmental toxicology and completed a postdoctoral appointment also at UW–Madison with Dr. Chris Bradfield. In addition, he earned a BS in applied microbiology with a minor in marketing from Universidad Ana G. Méndez–Carolina Campus.