In this episode, I sat down with Rafael D. Alvarez, science &  engineering educator and Director of the MESA Program at San Diego City  College. Rafael is the Founder and Director of the Mathematics,  Engineering, and Science Achievement program (that is, the MESA program)  at San Diego City College. Rafael grew up in the community of Encanto  in east San Diego and was a first generation student. He earned his  undergraduate degree in engineering at Harvey Mudd College and his MS  degree in electrical engineering from USC. He worked as a professional  engineer before returning to academia in the 1990s at San Diego City  College. He founded the MESA program in 2000, and recently published the  book “Turning on the Lights: Using Learning Culture to Increase Student  Success,” which is available on his website, turning on the lights dot  com, with hyphens between each word. The MESA program now includes an  alliance of partner institutions in the western US. In recognition of  his achievements in using learning culture to increase student success,  Director Alvarez was awarded the 2012 John & Suanne Roueche ROOOSH  Excellence Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College  and the 2021 Outstanding Engineering Educator Award from the San Diego  County Engineering Council.