With dreams grander than Europa, the fourth moon of Jupiter, our mere solar system is not enough to contain the massive ambition of Laredo College students. With these ambitions in mind, Laredo College always works to support and provide students with as many opportunities as possible.
Through the collaboration between Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Proactive Pathways of Excellence to Engage Minority Students in Aerospace Engineering (PEMS), an LC student was given the opportunity to study and train during the summer at the University of Texas at Austin.
LC Associate of Applied Science in Engineering Technology student Vanessa Tristan has been working with brilliant minds in a two-month summer training opportunity to bolster her understanding of aerospace engineering. This comes in the wake of her receiving her certification in Engineering Technology during the 2024 LC spring graduation.
As a first-generation student within the LC program, she stated that her experience at the college was eye-opening to the path forward for her career. The program emboldened her to strive for major opportunities like this training, as well as strengthening her career background and making her more competitive in the job market.
Laredo College’s Engineering Technology Program offers a wide range of subjects that include engineering design, strength of materials and fluid power. This curriculum has been instrumental in igniting Tristan’s passion for the engineering field. As a result, instructor Dr. Dacun Li recognized this drive and potential in her work and recommended her to apply for PEMS.
Tristan found out about the Summer 2024 Training Opportunity at the University of Texas at Austin for the Jackson School of Geosciences 2024 Research Traineeship Experience through a partnership between the LC Natural Sciences Department and TAMUK. She was then recommended to the organizers by LC Assistant Professor of Engineering Dr. Dacun Li, who believed she would excel in the field.
Over the span of several weeks, she has learned about numerous ways aerospace engineering is used both on Earth and in the stars. This began with an 89-page research paper on Europa before she dived into an extensive look into radars in Antarctica and worked with magnetometers the following two weeks.
Within the first week alone, interest in the field rose to its peak with each new experience after pushing her interest further and further into aerospace.
“Aerospace engineering is difficult and complex, but this experience has motivated me to continue studying it and possibly continue toward a degree in this field,” Tristan said.
She said her research into Jupiter’s moons was a perfect entry point into what she would be experiencing throughout the internship. She then highlighted facts about the moon, such as that Europa has an ice shell outside its exosphere and an ocean beneath it.
This culminated in learning about a probe set to launch in October to Europa. Tristan said the venture will have a six-year travel period before reaching the moon. Its mission will be to learn more about the moon, its environment and its atmosphere. It will also explore the possibility of finding life within the ocean below the ice.
Tristan said she is also working with the experienced UT staff on learning how to code. She began working with the Python coding language, highlighting how this new skill will help her throughout her engineering career.
With a strong gratitude for the opportunity provided by everyone involved and ambitions that are out of this world, Tristan said that there is a chance that her career goals will remain outside of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“If I continue to follow this line of work past graduation, I’d like to help with the study of Mars as there are already plans of making Mars livable,” she said.
For more information regarding the Engineering, Design and Construction Management Technology Department programs, you can call (956) 721-5224, email EDCMT@laredo.edu or stop by in person at the Laredo College Ft. McIntosh Campus Visual & Performing Arts Center in room 128.