HOUSTON - 04 October 11
Hispanic Heritage Month: USRP Celebrates Diversity
By: Heather L. Ogletree
Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 and are reminded of the history, culture, and contributions of their fellow Americans with Hispanic ancestry.
“Many Backgrounds, Many Stories…One American Spirit” is the theme for this year’s celebration, and it is a theme that definitely resonates with NASA’s Undergraduate Student Research Project (USRP). USRP is a national internship program that fully embraces diversity, whether it is gender, race, and age or backgrounds, institutions, and STEM majors. With regard to Hispanic Heritage Month, the program has placed 110 interns of Hispanic heritage since 2008. As part of their USRP internship, students complete a 10 to 15 week mentored project at 1 of 12 NASA centers, which allows them to not only gain real world experience, but also to contribute to the NASA mission.
In the spirit of Nation Hispanic Heritage Month, USRP would like to highlight a few students that are currently at NASA centers getting the experience of a lifetime working on NASA projects within their field of study.
By clicking on the profiles below, you can reveal the “stories” of six USRP interns and find out what inspired them to seek an internship with NASA, what they have liked best about their internship thus far, and what they feel is the educational value of interning through USRP.
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USRP INTERN:
UNIVERSITY: MAJOR: CLASS YEAR: NASA CENTER: |
Daniel F. Acevedo
University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mechanical Engineering Junior Glenn |
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UNIVERSITY: MAJOR: CLASS YEAR: NASA CENTER: |
Serena Elizabeth Carbajal
University ofCalifornia Davis Mechanical Engineering Senior Goddard |
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USRP INTERN:
UNIVERSITY: MAJOR: CLASS YEAR: NASA CENTER:
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Anthony Ray Cotto
University of Central Florida Aerospace Engineering Junior Goddard |
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USRP INTERN:
UNIVERSITY: MAJOR: CLASS YEAR: NASA CENTER:
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Denisse Hernandez
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus Environmental Sciences Senior Goddard |
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USRP INTERN:
UNIVERSITY: MAJOR: CLASS YEAR: NASA CENTER:
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Lisa Lowery
University of New Mexico-Main Campus Chemical Engineering Senior JSC |
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USRP INTERN:
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Laritza Dee Rivera Perez
University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Computer, Electrical Electronic Engineering Junior JPL |