Assistant Lab Manager
Veterans Curation Program
Phone: (706) 210-5927
Email: ashepherd@newsouthassoc.com
Abel Rios serves as the Assistant Lab Manager at the San Mateo VCP. Abel will graduate with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology in the fall 2022 from the University of Arizona Global Campus. He is a retired Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps. Abel served for 10 years as an ammunition technician (logistics specialist) and deployed to Afghanistan. After his retirement, he worked for a private defense company (Engineering Documentation Systems Inc) that provided research, development, testing, and evaluation of mortar, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missile systems to the Naval Surface Warfare Center. After a year of working in this field he was promoted to a senior program analyst where he supported the Project Manager of Ammunition at Marine Corps Systems Command (authority for all ground weapons and information technology systems within the Marine Corps). He decided to leave military type of employment in pursuit of a career in anthropology. Abel came to the VCP as a technician in May of 2022 and was promoted to assistant manager in July of 2022. He is passionate about helping people and fostering comradery.