Why did you choose to study at Illinois?

During my senior year of high school, I was able to tour three of the five schools I applied to. The first was Rutgers. It was a good school, close to where I lived, and had the major I wanted to study: aerospace engineering.

Then, I made the trip to Illinois, the first time I visited the state. I arrived in Chicago and toured Illinois Institute of Technology; it had wonderful infrastructure, and a very good aerospace program as well. But I did not feel excited about either of these two universities.

Then, I got to Champaign. My first stop on my way to campus, was a café called Avionics – Flying Machine Coffee; a funny coincidence, I thought, considering the major I had applied for. There, I met Bartosz “Bart” Wielgos, who was a junior in aerospace engineering at the time, and unbeknownst to me, he was the co-founder of the student organization where I would devote most of my time outside of classes while attending U of I. We had a conversation for one hour, where we spoke about the major, the department, and what he did in his spare time, and behind it all I could see his contagious love, drive, and excitement for what he did.

 I went on my way to Talbot, as Bart had suggested, and when I set foot on campus, I was struck by a feeling which is hard to describe. I felt a surge of emotion, and excitement, almost as if I was getting struck by all of the feelings of the next four years all at once; I felt embraced, not only by the university’s principles, but by its buildings, its layout, its opportunities, and by its people. That is why I chose U of I.

Why aerospace engineering?

Back in Colombia, my uncle Fernando was a mechanic, and his shop was located in the garage and only entrance of our house. Every day on my way in or out of the house, I would walk past him and other workers tearing cars apart and putting them back together. I was always curious about what they were doing, and they would answer my every “what is that?”, “what does it do?”, “how does it work?”, “why does it do it?”.

Whenever I could, I would help them by bringing tools, spare parts, handling paperwork or anything that got me close enough to doing what they did. At the same time, I was a big sci-fi child and felt a great appeal to the physical sciences, particularly those pertaining to space: physics, astronomy, astrophysics, math, etc. Every story I watched, read, or played would contribute to my inner world where humanity was a space-faring civilization discovering new worlds and establishing ties with alien species at the edge of the cosmos.

As time went by, my fascination for working with machinery and space began to merge. Fast forward, I remember anxiously watching the live stream of the landing of the Perseverance rover on February 18^th, 2021, and the successful landing of SN15 on May 5^th, 2021, after every other prototype before it exploded. Both events got me euphoric for the future of mankind among the stars. Beyond this point, the choice could not be clearer for me: aerospace engineering it is. 

Shout out to someone who helped you most?

I have been very fortunate to receive a lot of support from friends, university staff, and professors throughout the last few years. Among them, I would like to shout out Dr. Bretl, who was willing to devote some of his time to help me and guide me in my professional development and my search for ethical meaning within the aerospace industry.

I would also like to thank Dean Ivan for supporting me and for teaching me that it is okay to fail if it means that you get a new chance to get up and try again.

I would also like to make special mentions of Dr. Gunasekera, Dery Martinez, Dhruva Chowlur, Colin Reedy, Alex Khuenle, and Pranet Patil who have had such an unmeasurable impact on my college career and on my life.

What helped you gain technical expertise?

I was able to gain technical expertise through my involvement with LRI. As the engine development lead, I dealt with compressible flow and propulsion concepts early on. I learned to design rocket engine injector manifolds, design for manufacturing, about seals, about tolerances, etc.

A year later as the Chief Safety Officer, I learned about Failure Mode Analysis, about component analysis, about pressure vessel design and proofing, about operating procedures development, about fluid systems assembly and design, etc. Additionally, I was able to develop the soft skills to work with and coordinate a large group of people to accomplish a large, multi-semester project.

How did choose a specialty?

For a specialty, I believe I would like to choose thermo-fluid mechanics with a focus on propulsion systems. Compressible Flow AE 312, Rocket Propulsion AE 434 and Numerical Thermo-Fluid Mechanics ME412 have been classes that I felt curious about and enjoyed taking. 

They are all hard classes, but I always looked forward for the next challenge in these subjects more than other classes. I remember speaking with a friend, debating which classes we were going to take the next semester, and I remember saying “I just want to take a class that has gamma in it,” gamma being the specific heat ratio used to characterize a particular fluid.

I have also had hands-on experience designing, assembling, and testing fluid systems through Liquid Rocketry at Illinois, which is a great source of pride for me. My enjoyment for the fluid mechanics coursework and my pride in my work for LRI has pushed me towards making this my specialty.

Where did you find community at Illinois?

I was able to find community early on at Illinois in Liquid Rocketry at Illinois. Back then, LRI was composed of a small group of highly diverse individuals, who despite not yet having an extensive knowledge on the subject, were bound by a common goal. The months of intense work and struggle to develop something of value in the club catalyzed the development of our friendship. Today, we are still close friends, and though we expect to part ways at the end of the semester, I believe that our friendship will live on.

Did you have any internships or study abroad trips?

The summer immediately after my freshman year, I had an internship with the New Jersey Institute of Technology. I was part of a team of interns working on developing prototypes requested by the Department of Defense. The two prototypes requested for that summer were of an arctic reconnaissance robot with flight capabilities and a soft-body vine robot. I was part of the team working on the reconnaissance robot, and I actively participated in the trade study for the selection of ground locomotion and on the development of the robot’s structure. By the end of the internship, we presented a working prototype in a PDR to the DOD stakeholders. 

I also did not hesitate to take the opportunity to study abroad. In spring 2024, I traveled to Valencia, Spain, to study a semester there. The classes were small in size and taught by very enthusiastic professors, which made it very easy to get help. This was the first time I traveled to Spain, and I was fascinated by its architectural and cultural similarities to Colombia and its cultural differences to United States. I hiked, I entered a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, I visited family, and I met many people who still play big role in my life today. I am very thankful I was able to have this experience while advancing my degree.

What extracurricular groups did you participate in?

For most of my time at Illinois, I participated in LRI. What I consider most memorable from LRI is the late nights working with friends designing, building, and testing rocket engine test stands.

Describe a challenge you faced and how your resolved it.

Learning a new language was one of the biggest challenges that I faced when I came to the United States. I was in 8^th grade when I entered school, and I was enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, where classes were taught in Spanish. A few weeks went by, and I did not feel that I was making progress in learning the language. Adding to my frustration, whenever I would go out with my mom and I wanted to order something, she would pull her hands back to her chest, almost in a shrug, and say “you do it.” People would speak to me, and all I would hear was gibberish, nothing made sense to me. 

I don’t like to feel incapable, and I do not like to not do anything about it. I decided to turn as many things as I could into English only. I went home and I grabbed the English version of a book I had been reading, an English dictionary, and an English to Spanish dictionary. I started to only watch movies in English without subtitles. I also tried to speak with as many people as I can, even if I could only understand maybe 50% of what they were saying and I imagined the other 50%. In a couple of months, one of my teachers noticed I was making progress and suggested I was moved from ESL classes to regular classes in English with everyone else. 

For the remainder of the year, I continued making progress. Some parts of conversation still seemed like gibberish to me, but I understood most of it. I improved my writing, my speech, and my understanding of English. By the end of 8^th grade, I was able to generate approximately the same quality work as my peers, and I would not have been able to approximate that level of proficiency if I had not gone out of my comfort zone to adapt to my new environment. To this day, this is one my proudest achievements.

What's something you're particularly proud of?

Fall semester of Sophomore year was my hardest semester at Illinois: I was taking 18 credit hours, I had two part-time jobs, and I was Engine Development Lead and Treasurer for LRI. I did not know much about propulsion, yet I was expected to lead a team to design a regeneratively cooled liquid rocket engine.

At the time, I also used to work as a Registration Assistant at the Spurlock Museum, and I worked as a mentor in ENG111, a class that helped me adjust to university life in freshman year. I loved both of these jobs because one exposed me to history, numismatics, and other sets of sciences that I was not familiar with, and the other offered me the opportunity to give back to the class that once helped me.

I am proud that despite taking 18 credit hours, having two part-time jobs, and having two leadership positions in LRI, I was able to complete my classes to proceed to the next semester, I made a positive impact on the freshmen I was mentoring, and I was able to guide my team in designing a propulsion system which we presented in a PDR at the end of the semester. I learned about time management, perseverance, and most importantly, I learned that I am capable of doing more than I ever imagined.

What's next for you?

I am not yet clear on what I will be doing after graduation. However, I am actively looking for job opportunities, and I am sure that I would like to continue advancing my education.

What's on your bucket list for the next five years?

Over the next five years, I would like to have tested a propulsion system of my own design, have a cat, have my own workshop with a 3D printer, a lathe, and a CNC, find a way to give back to Colombia.