SHPE - Winter 2008 - (Page 22) MEET THE PRESIDENTS REGION V San Antonio, Texas Juan Carlos Sanchez Five years ago, Juan Carlos Sanchez founded a new SHPE professional chapter in San Antonio. As a Hispanic engineer, he feels obligated to promote the profession within Hispanic communities, especially as the number of Hispanics in the United States increases and the number of Hispanic students graduating high school and entering STEM Providing students fields continues to decline. with the academic encouragement “It has been my experience that a lot of they may lack at these kids come from low income homes and home is a priority lack the support to attend college yet alone for Sanchez. pursue careers in these fields,” he said. “One of our goals as a professional chapter is to get more involved with the local high schools and introduce these kids to math, science and engineering.” It was easy for Sanchez to be attracted to the Society. He sees a passion in SHPE members along with a genuine interest in increasing the number of Hispanic students entering STEM fields. At the same time, Sanchez is appreciative of how SHPE has helped refine his communication skills and has allowed him to take on more leadership roles. Beyond providing opportunities for leadership and skill enhancement, Sanchez finds his involvement with the Society most satisfying because it empowers him to give back to the community. A five-year SHPE veteran, Juan Carlos Sanchez is a field engineer with HNTB Corporation. REGION VI Chicago, Illinois Alberto Castillo As a young high school student living on the south side of Chicago, Albert Castillo would have never known about the possibilities of studying engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were not for a Latino recruiter, Eddie Grado, who went out of his way to reach out to him. “In a similar way, it is very satisfying to work with students, and through SHPE, The personal show them that being an engineer is something interest that helped Castillo go from that is within their reach,” said Castillo. Chicago’s South With generous grants from corporate Side to MIT he now sponsors, SHPE-Chicago has made a five-year passes along to commitment to award scholarships that assist local Hispanic local Hispanic students studying STEM and students. other disciplines. This new scholarship program, in addition to other outreach activities, will allow the chapter to promote higher education and STEM careers among more students in the Chicago area. “I take pride in being a representative of the many outstanding Latino engineers and scientists in this country, a part of our population which is largely unrecognized,” Castillo said. “I enjoy meeting other professionals from different industries and telling them about SHPE-Chicago. Personally, it is very rewarding to have individual conversations with young Latino students about careers in engineering and science.” Albert Castillo is owner and principal software architect of Codigo Systems. His 16 years of SHPE membership began at MIT and continued during graduate school at Cornell University. REGION VI Eastern Iowa Edgar Sida REGION VI Twin Cities, Minnesota Karla Juárez For Edgar Sida, establishing contacts and generating partnerships with schools and community leaders is critical to strengthening STEM involvement and growth. “SHPE has made me aware of our responsibility as engineers and as professionals and the importance of giving back to the community that has supported us Through SHPE, Sida through our educational journey,” he said. seeks creative ways “SHPE has multiple avenues of community and to generate academ- professional involvement. Creativity is always a ic and professional part of our goals, allowing us to imagine the opportunities for impossible and giving us the flexibility to genlocal students. erate great opportunities for our community and our membership.” Sida’s involvement began seven years ago at Northern Illinois University, where he helped the student chapter gain a greater presence on campus and eventually served as its secretary and president. Sida has an interesting perspective on the Society which he attributes to his profession. “As an engineer, we are always looking at our inputs and outputs and how those variables affect the end results,” he explained. “SHPE takes young engineers and shows them ways to become leaders and introduces them to corporate America. In a sense you have your inputs (students), your process (SHPE) and your end results which is multiple opportunities for academic and professional growth.” Edgar Sida joined SHPE in 2000 while an industrial engineering undergraduate at Northern Illinois University. He is an industrial engineer with Rockwell Collins. Karla Nadieska Juárez considers organizing and leading the Twin Cities board to be her most outstanding achievement with SHPE. The chapter awards multiple $1,000 scholarships annually. Members also work with community organizations and speak to adult ESOL classes to encourage parents to be more involved in their children’s futures. In addition to particiJuárez wants to pating in panel discussions to motivate college ensure that those coming afterward and high school students, SHPE-TC members have the tools to also attend special events, such as Career Day continually improve. at local high schools, designed to encourage students to attain STEM-related degrees. Long Minnesota winters are nothing like those at University of Miami, where Juárez hooked up with SHPE. However, she finds satisfying the unifying force of SHPE’s purpose. “By focusing on a joint mission, we help each other become better engineers and ensure that those coming afterward have tools to continually improve,” she said. Juarez also appreciates the opportunities the Society has provided through internships, conferences and networking “SHPE has contributed to my personal and professional development by exposing me to a vast network of Latino engineers, through the many conference workshops I have attended and through opportunities to develop and practice my leadership skills with my executive board,” she added. Karla Juárez is a programmer analyst with General Mills. She joined SHPE five years ago as a computer engineering major at the University of Miami. 22 SHPE R Winter 2008
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