Rigoberto Hernandez is an American chemist. Born in Cuba, Hernandez moved around the world before settling in Florida when he was a child. His interest in science was sparked while in high school, when the University of Miami offered a research program. This interest then led Hernandez to attend Princeton University for an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and mathematics. He continued his education at the University of California, Berkeley with a doctorate degree in chemistry. 

Hernandez now works at Johns Hopkins where he studies chemical reactions, transition state theory, and non-equilibrium stochastic dynamics. He is also director of the Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE) program, which if funded by the NSF, NIH, and U.S. Department of Energy. The aim of this program is to increase participation in the chemical sciences, especially for those people who have been traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Other aims are to support research and awareness of issues of diversity in chemistry fields. Hernandez has won many awards for his work in diversity and research in the southeast. Some of these awards include the ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences, the 2015 Diversity Award from the Council for Chemical Research, the 2017 Herty Metal, and the 2016 Transformational Research and Excellence in Education Award.

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