"Rod" was born in El Paso, Texas and lived most of his life in Texas prior to attending Yale. He has been interested at the intersection of technology and intellectual property law. After obtaining his Electrical Engineering degree at Yale University (May 2006), Rod started law school at Colombia University in New York City. He intends to pursue a specialization in intellectual property law.

Rod conducted a year-long senior project at the Koser Lab, focusing on novel vibration-energy harvesting concepts, as well as the design and testing of integrated circuits for voltage regulation in such devices. He was awarded the Tuteur Memorial Prize at the end of the Spring term in 2006 for his senior project.

The link below provides some fun material that Jose compiled over the years on his engineering experience at Yale.