Ricky Rossello

Ricardo 'Ricky' Antonio Rosselló , Ph.D [pronounced “roh-seh-yóh”] (born March 7, 1979 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Doctor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, political advisor to the Puerto Rican pro-statehood party, and an entrepreneur in bioengineering and technology . He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, as well as Economics.

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Academics

Born in 1979, he is the third son of former governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Rosselló and his wife Maga. He was the first Puerto Rican ever to be selected to the International Mathematical Olympiads.  

As a college student he served as president of the Association of Puerto Rican Students at MIT and was the winner of the Dean’s Office award for outstanding leadership and community service. Additionally, he was the recipient of the office of minority “academic excellence” award and was the youngest deputy leader in the International Mathematical Olympiads in 2000.  

As a college research assistant, we worked on the Human Genome Project and then traveled to his native Puerto Rico to help in the research needed to develop the Tren Urbano project, considered the most ambitious light rail mass transit system ever built in a U.S. jurisdiction.

Research and Innovation

Ricardo has been doing stem cell research in the University of Michigan, aiming to genetically alter these cells to regenerate tissue and targeted delivery. Specifically, he has been genetically altering stem cells to enable higher levels of cell-to-cell communication, and enable tissue homeostasis. Ricardo has presented his research in various international conferences, including the Society for Biomedical Engineering, Orthopedic Research Society, and the Society for Biomaterials, where he was awarded two STAR research awards for outstanding research. His findings suggest a potential strategy to improve cell-cell communication in 3D, implying that both targeted delivery and cell-based strategies can be used as treatments to enhance communication in 3D living tissue, which can have a significant impact in tissue engineering and cancer therapy.

Politics and Technology

As the son of a former governor and also gubernatorial candidate in the 2004 election, Ricardo Rosselló soon turned to politics, getting actively involved as a staff member of his father’s race. During the campaign, he developed Rossello.TV; a live, 24-hour political web channel that showed live feeds of the campaign’s political events all over the island. Rossello.TV had a crew composed of news anchors, reporters, technical staff volunteers, that manned a ‘mobile station’ – a 60 foot long RV equipped with satellite, news set, cameras and Internet servers that fed live and recorded video to the web site. Rossello.TV had consistently high traffic, rating it among the top in the island’s websites.  

Ricardo also published a book that depicted the accomplishments of his father’s administration (1993-2000). All copies of the limited edition print were exhausted in one day. To diffuse the message, he allowed the material to be public domain, and published it on the La Obra de Rossello website for everyone to read.

The young Rosselló also hit the campaign trail as a speaker on behalf of his father, visiting over 30 municipalities all over Puerto Rico. Capping off this intense tour, he was the youngest speaker in the party’s final concentration, where there was an estimated crowd of 200,000 New Progressive Party affiliates.  

Currently

Ricardo is now working with several patents in bioengineering and technology, as well as working as an advisor for the statehood party in Puerto Rico (PNP). He also frequently visits Washington D.C. to lobby in favor of the self determination of the Puerto Rican people.

Publications

• '’Bone Formation Increases with Higher Gap Junction Intercellular Communication

R.A. Rossello, Wang, Z, Kizana E, Krebsbach, P, Kohn DH . Published in 2007.

• La Obra de Rossello – a compilation of the administrative achievements of the Rossello administration. Published on October, 2004.

References