He is involved in programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion for women and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Under the supervision of professor Cedric Davern,[7] Rodriguez produced visual autoradiographic evidence for bidirectional replication[8] of the E. coli chromosome.

Giannini postdoctoral fellowship to work with professor Herbert W. Boyer in the department of microbiology at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

[4] In Boyer's laboratory, Rodriguez collaborated with postdoctoral fellow, Francisco Bolivar Zapata (Paco), to construct more efficient and better characterized cloning vectors.

[9] Together, they constructed the 4,361 base pair, circular, autonomously replicating, DNA molecule, pBR322, the first general purpose molecular cloning vector approved[10] by the National Institute of Health Guidelines.

[35] As GHS's executive director,[36] and vice president of Humanity Beyond Barriers,[37] he helped organized international health projects[38] in India,[39] Bangladesh,[40] and Rwanda.

[41] In 2012, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) funded Rodriguez to engineer a plant-made human butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), an enzyme used to treat the effects of chemical warfare agents, like sarin gas.

[58] In addition to his duties as center director, Rodriguez maintained a research program to investigate the role of dietary factors capable of promoting epigenetic changes on genes related to cancer risk.

From 1980 to 1994, he provided research experiences for REMs and women from various California State Universities, NIH MBRS[60]/MARC[61] programs, and select HBCUs around the U.S.. From 1990 to 1993, Rodriguez served as Associate Dean in the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies.

He then organized "Professors for the Future,"[62] a mentoring program for diverse, high performing graduate students interested in careers in academia.

From 2005 to 2016 Rodriguez served as a member of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health[63] (BIRCWH) program at the UC Davis Medical Center.

In 2016, he was a member of the UC Davis NIH Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program[64] (PREP) Internal Advisory and Steering Committees.

In 2013, Rodriguez received funding from Intel Corporation to organize the first Girls Who Code summer immersion course on a university campus.