Teacher Interview: A Comedic Science Guy

Carlos Encinas,

I decided to do my interview on Carlos because he has been a great mentor and teacher to me. As well as being hilarious he is very charismatic person and has great leadership skills.

I originally wanted to do in-person interview but we both have busy schedules and we did an online interview.

DGM Current - Were are you originally from?

Carlos- “I am from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.”

DGM Current - If you are from some were else, why did you move to AZ?

Carlos- “I came to the US to pursue my Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology. I wanted to be a scientist.”

DGM Current - Were did you go to school?

Carlos- “Undergrad I did in Cd. Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, at the Technological Institute of Sonora. Grad school I did it in Tucson at U of A.”

DGM Current - What type of degree do you have?

Carlos- “I have a Biotechnology Engineering degree, Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and a Master in Business Administration.”

DGM Current - How did you here about DGM?

Carlos- “When we had our first boy, we did a lot of research about the best day care we could find that would help him with his education. We heard about DGM from some friends in the area and they highly recommended the school.”

DGM Current - Why did you decide to work at DGM?

Carlos- “I wanted to make a contribution to our society and what better place to make a difference than in education.”

DGM Current - What are some of your hobbies?

Carlos- “Love to travel, read and listen to music. I also like to swim to stay in shape and spend time with friends and family. “

DGM Current - What are your passions?

Carlos- “I am passionate about the environment. It is what keeps me awake at night thinking about the awful world we are leaving for our children. I am also passionate about human rights and education.”

DGM Current - What classes do you teach?

Carlos- “I teach science (biology, physics, and chemistry), I also teach Design in the IB program which is entrepreneurship, based on the Seed Spot next program. “

DGM Current - What is your favorite thing about DGM?

Carlos- “I love the community. That’s my favorite part of it. “

DGM Current - Do you have other jobs?

Carlos- “I work at ASU as the Director of the Office of Research and Industry Collaborations, I am also the founder of a small consulting firm in Mexico (ArXTech), to help bring life sciences and green technologies from all over the world to the US. In addition, I am part of several start-up companies based on life sciences technologies. AmerStem, to provide products based on plant cell culture and Axolotl Biologix, a Phoenix-based company that provides regenerative medicine solutions to the community.”

DGM Current - Who inspired you to become a teacher?

Carlos- ‘I wanted to make a change in the way children learn and are treated. “

DGM Current - Why did you choose to have your children attend DGM?

Carlos- “I love the school philosophy, which matched my own on education. You first educate the heart and soul and then the mind. “

DGM Current - Do you have other experience teaching?

Carlos- “I taught in the 90’s Organic Chemistry at college level and also Biochemistry to pre-med students. “

DGM Current - How long have you been teaching at DGM?

Carlos- “This is my third year.”

DGM Current - What was your funniest moment teaching?

Carlos- “There are many. I can think of the times I had with the students in Costa Rica and sharing the room with Gabe Cota and Cole Foudy. Once I hid in a closet in our room, and when they came looking for me and could not find me, I jumped out scaring them both. I also love when the students correct me when I make mistakes in class. “

DGM Current - What was your most embarrassing moment at school?

Carlos- “I would say the very first day of school on my first year. I was really nervous.”

DGM Current - You are a scientist has an experiment went totally wrong before?

Carlos- “Many, many, many times.”

I had a great time interviewing Carlos I learned a lot of new things about him. He has great background history and is an amazing teacher. I learned a lot about his background history that I didn't previously know. My first impression of Carlos was that he was a funny guy and hearing his story about him scaring some of his students confirmed my judgement about him.