For Rigoberto Lopez, a mechanical engineering student at Texas A&M University, a simple sojourn through cyberspace eventually led him to the surface of Mars.
The trip toward the rocky Martian terrain began in high school when Lopez launched a web search for scholarships. A search for scholarships led Lopez to the homepage for the Hispanic College Fund.
“And then I saw they were teaming up with NASA,” Lopez said of a web page that described the program NASA-MUST (Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology).
The venture involves the Hispanic College Fund, the United Negro College Fund Special Programs and the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, according to the NASA website. Although the Hispanic College Fund administers the NASA-MUST program, NASA funds the $2.15 million program.
The program ultimately led Lopez to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where he used a robot to survey and create digital maps of a simulated version of the Martian landscape.
Lopez said the experience he has gained through NASA-MUST has had a major impact on his life. His family members, particularly his parents who are immigrants from Mexico, were most impressed. His father is a disabled maintenance worker, and his mother is a teacher’s assistant.
“They see me doing all these things; it’s kind of mind-blowing for them,” Lopez said.
To reach diverse groups of students, the Hispanic College Fund partners with several other higher education organizations: the United Negro College Fund, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the Association on Higher Education and Disability and the Institute for Broadening Participation. Annually, the NASA-MUST program serves 115 students from diverse backgrounds. The program is in its sixth year. While the program is open to all students, a special emphasis is placed on those from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields.
Participating students who get at least a 3.0 GPA and pursue a degree in a STEM field are eligible for scholarships that cover half their tuition up to $10,000. They also are placed in 10-week summer internships at one of NASA’s centers. The internships pay $6,000.
