A strong showing for NYU Tandon SHPE
SHPE members shine at national convention
More than 40 members of NYU Tandon’s student chapter of SHPE attended the 2019 national convention held in Phoenix, Arizona, where they were honored for Outstanding Chapter Development of the Year.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) organizes an annual convention that attracts more than 9,500 STEM students, professionals, and corporate representatives. This year, more than 40 of those attendees hailed from NYU Tandon’s active and engaged student chapter.
The students not only attended the 2019 national convention, held in Phoenix, Arizona, they were honored there as well, garnering a plaque for Outstanding Chapter Development of the Year.
“We’ve been really focused on personal and professional growth,” said President Adriana Pink, “so it’s very gratifying to get recognition for that on the national stage.”
Chapter members won much more than a plaque in Phoenix, however; the convention also serves as the country’s largest networking and career-focused event for Hispanic engineering professionals, and several Tandon attendees aced on-the-spot interviews and were offered internships and jobs at such organizations as 3M, Toyota, Honeywell, Northrup Grumman, John Deere, Qualcomm, American Express, Ecolab, and the National Security Agency, among others.
Chapter member Tomas Gutierrez, for example, will soon be including an Eaton internship on his CV, thanks to his stellar interview performance. “I’m a sophomore, and I feel very fortunate to have attended the convention this year,” Gutierrez said. “Receiving a great internship offer this early in my academic career is a direct result of being part of SHPE and taking advantage of all the opportunities it offers.” It would, of course, be hard to beat getting an on-the-spot internship offer, but Gutierrez explained that the event presented yet another highlight for him. “In addition to making brand-new connections, I also strengthened old bonds,” he said. “I even bumped into several of my high-school classmates who attend other universities and joined SHPE chapters there.”
“We all had an amazing time, as you can see from the smiles in every photo taken,” Pink summarized. “Everyone crammed in as many workshops, panels, networking events, and presentations as possible, and we’re getting ready to do it all over again when the convention is held in Denver next year.”
She points out that the chapter enjoys strong support from its dedicated co-advisors, Carmen Villafane and Professor Jose Ulerio; Dean Jelena Kovačević; NYU’s Opportunity Programs; and others in the university community. “It’s wonderful to be a part of a school that values the diversity we bring and the contributions we make,” she said. “Lots of people appreciate Hispanic food, music, and culture, but NYU Tandon also honors our engineering abilities and potential.”
