By Claire O'Brien
A group at the University of Virginia is trying to attract Hispanic students to the field of engineering.
UVA’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers hosted a leadership conference this weekend, hoping to build a network for future Hispanic engineers.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, Hispanics make up about 13 percent of the U.S. workforce but only around five percent of engineering and science professionals.
“We want to build a pipeline for Hispanic technical talent at a very early age that we can increase the quantity and quality of Hispanic engineers,” said Antonio Perez, the UVA chapter’s vice president.
Perez says he was attracted to engineering not only because math and science came easily but also because it could lead to real change in the world.
“I was also interested in the creativity aspect of it, the application of these principles, these mathematic and scientific principles to solve real world problems,” he said.
Perez says the engineering program is a lot of work, and the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers has provided a support network for him and for others looking for a career in engineering, “We're all there for one another. We call it our family away from home, and that's really what it is.”
Perez says he was lucky to have two supportive parents to look up to and inspire him to pursue his dream, and he hopes to be an example for other students on the same career path. “You have to lead by example because we have to have more positive role models in our community,” he said.
In addition to leadership conferences like this weekend’s, the UVA chapter of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers regularly hosts high school students interested in becoming engineers, bringing them to grounds to get a taste for what college life is like.
