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.
