Rafael Mendia                                                                                                         

Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, in 1955, Dr. Rafael Mendía received his bachelor degree in Physics from the University Del Valle of Guatemala in 1978; his master in Nuclear and Atomic Physics from the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France, in 1980; and his doctorate with honors in the field of Solid State Physics from the University Joseph Fourier and the Polytechnic National Institute of Grenoble, France, in 1984. For several years he was a senior researcher with the National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Louis Neel Laboratory of Magnetism, the Laue-Langevin Laboratory of High Flux of Neutrons, and the Max Planck Institute of Very High Magnetic Fields, also in Grenoble.

He has initiated and led several research projects in Guatemala, France, and Latin America. He has published and presented articles in magnetism, solid state physics and nuclear physics at national and international events. He developed educational programs in the field of the technology. He also undertook to introduce information society technologies in Meso-America, and was instrumental in promoting the establishment of internet in Guatemala.

From 1989 until 2001 he was the Director of the Electronics Department at the Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala. From 2002 until 2003 he was technology Adviser to the CEO of INTECAP, the life-long learning institute of Guatemala. Then he moved as Technology Adviser to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala. In that function he was the main architect and coordinator behind the creation of the Técnico Superior Universitario Landivar, the polytechnic branch of the University Rafael Landivar.

He has acted as an international assessor for European Commission program, and he has contributed to the design of inter-regional programs between Europe and Latin-America. In that context he was a member of the steering committee of EuroLatIS, a cooperative action between in the field of the Information Society, and a founding member of Apisel, a leading partner of the @LIS program of the European Union in Latin America.

He is currently the Director for Information and Informatics in CONCYT, the National Council for Sciences and Technologies of Guatemala.