Upper Cumberland Times

In early November, three Tennessee Tech University students who are also members of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the sold out SHPE 2022 National Convention.

Yamila Diaz, a computer science major from Jackson, Tennessee; Antonio Fuentes, an animal science major from Mexico; and Miguel Fuentes, a mechanical engineering major from Mexico, all represented Tech in this event that hosted more than 10,000 attendees and 170 exhibitors. The students were able to attend industry-specific workshops, network with others and interview for job opportunities with companies from all over the United States.

Miguel Fuentes, the president of the Tech chapter of SHPE, also got the opportunity to participate in the Xtreme Engineering Challenge. He was one of more than 400 candidates who applied and one of only 99 who were chosen to compete. The John Deere manufacturing company invited him to be one of the 11 members on their team which would compete against eight other teams.

“During the competition we had one day to develop a plan that enables commercial space trips for the company Stellar,” Miguel Fuentes said. “We had to use their spacecraft and services in order to make this possible.”

At the end of the convention, Fuentes and his team had to present their project to a team of judges. Though their team did not win the scholarship grand prizes this year, Miguel Fuentes said he was thankful for the experience and credits Tech with helping him get to the level where he could be chosen to participate.

“I learned tons during the competition. It was an incredible experience because I worked with students from all around the nation and they help me to grow faster,” Miguel Fuentes said. “The Career Success Center helped me a lot to value my experience and sell myself during a job interview. Also, the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) club and the research labs provided me the tools that most of the companies were looking for such as knowledge of SolidWorks, teamwork and budgeting, among others.”

Tech was also spotlighted during the conference for the recent SHPE sub-regional retreat the university hosted. About 50 members from Tennessee and Alabama met on Tech’s campus for presentations and workshops.

“I felt so grateful to have the support of the university to attend this event,” Miguel Fuentes added.  “We (at SHPE) would like to thank our provost Dr. Lori Bruce, and advisors Dr. Hary Ingle, and Carlos Cure for making this possible by their unconditional support.”

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