The Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers has opened up so many opportunities for students at UCR. Get to know some of the ways SHPE has impacted our members!
Leilani Arvizu
"This past year, I was able to go to SHPE Nationals in Arizona for the first time ever. Before going I saw that a friend of mine from high school had won the STAR Award for Region 2. I’ve known her since my junior year of high school since she was my Avid tutor. I had contacted her periodically throughout college.
At Nationals, I reached out to Alina so I could congratulate her and catch up on life, but since it was so chaotic at the convention, we decided to meet up in our hometown, Santa Monica. Once back, we were able to talk about her lab at USC and her experience at undergrad and grad school and I talked about my goals in engineering and what I wanted to do. We spent a lot of time talking together and it was nice because she really wanted to help me out with finding research and providing me guidance as an engineering student.
Since Nationals, I’ve been able to stay in contact with her and keep our mentorship active. I would keep her updated with any opportunities I stumbled upon at UC Riverside and ask for advice when I needed it. She has provided me opportunities I never thought I would get, like being part of USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s newsletter and having an article about our mentorship. She has helped me gain connections with people from various industries and grad schools that have helped me in the long run.
That same month, I told her about the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience at Keck Graduate Institute and how I was interested in it. I had the courage to ask her to write me a letter of recommendation. I later asked a mutual friend of ours that Alina introduced to me, Lauren Lopez, if she could look over my personal paper. And I submitted my application.
Later in March I got the research position and I have been part of the lab since the beginning of summer, and I’m still currently working with the lab. But I wanted to thank Alina for helping me step out of my comfort zone and teaching me to be ambitious when it comes to opportunities like these. She has helped me a lot as a person and I will continue to grow my relationship with her. "
Crystal Pargas
"I can honestly say that joining SHPE was one of the best decisions I made during my 4 years at UCR. When I first joined, I was only hoping to make some friends, but I benefited from it in ways I could’ve never expected.
When I first heard about RLDC, I was hesitant to go. But a friend (shout out to Reyna Gaytan!!), convinced me to sign up for the conference last minute. I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting much out of the conference. I was only hoping on getting some advice from the workshops and snatching some free stuff from the career fair. However, what I got out of RLDC was a complete shock to me. On the day of the career fair, I walked straight to the Raytheon booth. I knew that if I took my time to go speak to the people representing Raytheon, I would end up getting nervous and overthinking everything. Luckily, that strategy worked for me because I got interviewed on the spot by a hiring manager. A week later, I received a call from Raytheon saying that an internship offer had been extended to me. Not only did I make several memories at RLDC with my friends, but I also got an internship offer.
While interning at Raytheon, I met a lot of professionals that not only trained me and offered me advice on how to be a better engineer, but they were also friends that I could go to for advice. I was working in an adhesives lab that produced adhesives and worked on space hardware. I made many memories and gained engineering experience during my summer at Raytheon. While entering the last few weeks of my internship, my manager extended a job offer to work at Raytheon as a Multi Disciplined Engineer following my college graduation. If it weren’t for SHPE and RLDC, I would’ve never had this amazing opportunity lined up for me.
I’ll forever be grateful for SHPE. I’ve grown so much in the past 2 years since I’ve joined SHPE. I’ll always remember all the laughs I had with my friends, the deep conversations, and just everything!"
Gilberto Peraza-Martinez
"I am Gilberto Peraza-Martinez, the current Secretary for SHPE UCR and an intern at Bionaut Labs. The process to get my internship was very lengthy, because of the pandemic situation but SHPE gave me a better understanding of using my network and how to present myself in the professional world. Learning how to properly present myself and project a confident image was just on the many things that SHPE taught me, they also supported me in my resume adjustments and how to market myself out of my area of expertise."
Jessica Leon
"In 2018, I attended the Professional Development Fair (PDF) that SHPE hosts every year. The event was somewhat small scale so it allowed attendees to really get quality time with the alumni professionals. I used to be pretty shy when it came to networking but the event was structured in a way that allowed me and other attendees to easily start conversations with the professionals. I particularly remember the lunch break being key because it was the casual setting that I got to network with Wilson Rodriguez in. Wilson was representing Bionano Genomics so he gave me insight on what he did for work and I got to tell him a little about myself as well. Before the end of lunch we connected on LinkedIn and then continued on with the rest of the event.
A few months later, Wilson reached out to me on LinkedIn to share an open internship position at Bionano Genomics! He expressed to me that he really wanted to give back to SHPE UCR members and make sure we found out about the position before anyone else. He also mentioned that he believed that a Bioengineer would be perfect for the position. I happened to be a Bioengineering student and a member of SHPE so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The position was for software quality, which is not a super traditional role for a Bioengineer, but I wanted to explore all of my options and keep an open mind. I got to share the position with the rest of SHPE and send my resume and cover letter directly to Wilson who would be the direct supervisor for the intern.
A couple weeks later, I was informed that Bionano wanted to interview me and I actually got to interview with Wilson. It was honestly a great experience because although I didn’t know Wilson all that well, we had at minimum already established some sort of common connection both being a part of SHPE UCR and majoring in Bioengineering. I think it was not only beneficial for me as a student looking to gain experience but also for the company because they had an avenue to look for interns that they would feel confident in hiring based on their knowledge of SHPE as an organization and how it prepares students for the corporate world.
I am so grateful for SHPE and Wilson for helping me land the internship and providing me with so many opportunities. I got to spend that summer in San Diego interning for Bionano Genomics and to learn about software quality and genome mapping. Not only that, but I was able to experience and celebrate some of Bionano’s great milestones. My time at Bionano was spent working to improve the user interface portion of their device, finding bugs and reporting them to the software team. My favorite thing about Bionano was their dedication to ensuring that I obtained an understanding of more than just what was needed to do my job on the software end. I also learned about the chemistry of extracting the DNA to be mapped, about the mechanisms by which their technology functions, about the process of assembling the device, about the impact of genome mapping, and even about general company benefits and best practices.
Overall, if it wasn’t for SHPE, I would not have networked with people like Wilson, landed the position or possibly even found out about it. I think hosting/ attending events like PDF is crucial not only for students but also for professionals. I gained so much knowledge through SHPE and Bionano that I would later draw from to initiate my engineering career post graduation. Special shoutout to Wilson for all of the guidance and always encouraging me to be my best."