Do you know your way to San Jose? Hundreds of engineering and science students and professionals do as they made their way to San Jose, California, this weekend for the Mexican American Engineers and Scientists' (MAES) 31st Annual International Symposium and Career Fair. The theme for this year's symposium was "Excellence in Engineering and Science." The symposium industry host was Lockheed Martin and our academic host was San Jose State University (SJSU). As a proud San Jose native, grateful SJSU-SOLES alumnus, and professional techie I volunteered my time for the symposium as part of the presentation committee and the whatever-needed-to-be-done committee. Since I was a volunteer I was not able to attend all the great workshops available this year. I really wanted to attend but unfortunately missed Direction of Software: Overview of Changing Landscape presented by Byron Gutierrez from Sun Microsystems, Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills: Bridging the Gap presented by Edward Muzio sponsored by IBM, and Interviewing for Success presented by Toby Duffell from Parsons Brinkerhoff. I was able to attend the Exercises to Shape your Creative Muscles: Where Creativity and Technology Meet presentation given by Jose A. Cuevas from the Imagineering division at Walt Disney and technical presentations from Genentech and White Sands Missile Range. This year the MAES symposium was jam packed with full of thoughtful presentations and events such as company tours, Tech Museum tours, gala events, salsa classes, San Francisco outings, and perhaps what most students look for intern, co-op, and full time job opportunities!
For me, the presentations and career fair are great but what really captivates me is listening and learning from industry leaders during the keynote speeches at the luncheons and dinners. On Friday, the Scholar's Luncheon keynote speaker was Captain Kathlene Contres, the U.S. Navy's highest ranking female Latina Line Officer on active duty. I don't know what Line Officer means but I know that she will put you in line. I saw her after the luncheon and almost felt oblige to give her twenty. During her keynote speech, as I enjoyed a real good meal, she astounded me with some simple numbers. Some 10% of the armed services are composed of Latinos, but Latinos make up only 1 to 2% of the high ranking commission officer positions. These facts are plain to see, it is simple math after all, but these statistics have a huge negative impact on all our futures, and when I say 'all our futures' I am referring to every single American. This is all about numbers and sometimes numbers make more sense when you attach a dollar sign to them so you do the math.
The Medalla de Oro Gala Banquet is perhaps my favorite event of the whole symposium. It never disappoints. The Medalla de Oro ceremony is filled with inspiration and passion mostly because the Medalla de Oro recipients themselves represent these qualities. This year a very stunned Mark Perez, President of the Bay Area Professional Chapter of MAES and good friend, was presented the Medalla de Oro by his proud parents; a very personal and touching moment in MAES history. To me, the Medalla de Oro Gala Banquet is a celebration of our success and our heritage.
When you enjoy the fruits of success remember your roots. MAES members remember their roots and can be found tending to them in our communities, our schools and class rooms. I believe that it was Esther Gonzales, MAES National President, that said it best during the Medalla de Oro Gala Banquet when she said that "MAES is Familia in Science," that it is the "feeling of familiar" in technology. That familiar feeling of familia is what, in my mind, has lead to the over 30 years of MAES success! As another MAES member said, MAES has given an opportunity to transform our "urban youth into engineers and migrant workers into astronauts."
What I took from this symposium is to challenge peoples thinking styles about what it is to be an engineer that strives for "Excellence in Engineering and Science." I learned that hundreds of thousands of Latino engineers have left their marks in silica and in code but at the same time in a world where one degree is not enough many Latinos don't even have one. And so as we move technology forward, we must not forget to also move our peoples forward!