Fourth-year chemical engineering student Jessy Gonzalez always had an interest in knowing how things are built. As a kid, he was fond of figuring out how the machines around him worked.

“I did work in the fields a lot and I did work in gardening. If a machine was broken, let’s say a lawn mower, I always had a passion for breaking it down and seeing that it was built like a small go-kart” he recalled. 

It wasn’t until Gonzalez got to UC Santa Barbara, however, that he realized he could pursue a field of study that aligned with this early interest. “I didn’t know about engineering when I was coming out of high school. I actually came into UCSB as a pre-bio major and then I realized that there was engineering and that aligned with the goals that I had: you learn problem-solving and then you get to build stuff out of thin air.”

After transferring into the College of Engineering, Gonzalez discovered a group on campus called Los Ingenieros (LI). According to their website, “The goal of Los Ingenieros is to serve its members, primarily in the Latino community, in the advancement of their math, science, and engineering education.” Gonzalez recalled joining LI and loving it before he eventually decided to pursue leadership within the organization. This year, he is the co-chair alongside fourth-year physics student Julissa Cesareo. 

According to Gonzalez, LI currently has over 100 registered members. Founded in 1978 by eight Latino engineering students, LI has only continued to grow over the last 45 years. In the late 1980s, LI moved their meetings from El Centro, a community center on campus largely dedicated to supporting Latino/a students, to the College of Engineering campus – a move that their website describes as having “cement[ed] LI’s presence in the University.”   

As an affiliate of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), LI received the SHPE National Small Chapter of the Year award from 2017-2018 and the SHPE National Medium Chapter of the Year award from 2019-2020. In addition, LI won the UC Santa Barbara Student Organization of the Year award in 2010-2011, 2008-2009, 2001-2002 and 1998-1999. LI also has notable alumni such as José M. Hernandez, the first Mexican-American astronaut for NASA and a current Regent of the University of California. 

When asked what this legacy means to him, Gonzalez said, “It means a lot to me. I want to provide [those opportunities] to more individuals who come to UCSB and help them realize that there’s a lot more than just taking classes here.”

Another significant change that Gonzalez has witnessed during his time in LI is the initiative to include students beyond just engineering or even the STEM subjects. According to Gonzalez, a recent survey taken within the organization revealed that roughly 50% of members are students in the College of Engineering, while 30% are pursuing other STEM fields and 20% are in the arts or humanities. 

“For a long time it was just curtailed towards people in the College of Engineering but recently, ever since COVID, we started opening our doors to everyone…I saw [the organization] become more lively. This whole idea of interdisciplinar[ity] really has benefited our organization. You can’t get anywhere unless you have diverse minds,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez shared how his experience as a low-income, first-generation student motivated him to help other students who may come from a similar background. 

“Most of the individuals I have talked to in LI didn’t know how the [job] market is or what level we need to be at,” he said. “It gets pretty difficult because, as soon as you go for an internship or some type of job opportunity, you’re already ten steps behind where you need to be, and trying to catch up is really difficult.” 

He also explained how, even when underrepresented students do land these opportunities, they often experience marginalization within the workplace.

“It’s the fact that there’s not a lot of individuals who look like us in the field that makes it harder to connect. Even if we do get internships, I notice a lot of our members leave after a few months because they just can’t connect to their mentor, they can’t connect to the people in the lab, it’s just not a good work environment for them. So that’s something we’re trying to work on as well.”

Gonzalez expressed how his Latino heritage and the values instilled in him in childhood have helped him immensely as he strives for a career in engineering. 

“It’s stereotypical that you work hard…Growing up there was always this notion from my parents that, if you want to succeed, you gotta work hard and you gotta sacrifice a lot of things because nothing is going to be given to you,” Gonzalez recalled. “I remember spending almost 40 hours a week in lab just trying to figure certain experiments out while trying to balance school, trying to balance a job … Growing up knowing how to time-manage, what to sacrifice, how to prioritize stuff, how to delegate. That all really impacted me and has led me to do well here at UCSB, I think.”

LI is dedicated to preparing its members for their transition into the professional realm or graduate school through various development initiatives.

“On the professional side, we understand that a lot of our members are first-generation, underrepresented students in S.T.E.M. and so we want to provide a lot of opportunities for them to grow their careers and be more competitive in the job market,” Gonzalez explained. 

Members of LI receive training such as resume and curriculum vitae building, learning how to deliver an elevator pitch and, through the help of the organization’s sponsors, industry tours. Last spring, LI members visited companies such as Boeing, Illumina and Raytheon. 

Additionally, a key aspect of LI’s mission is to get more students to step beyond the classroom and gain hands-on experience through research. 

“We help our members get into research scholarship programs through the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships here, we have a lot of members who are Maximizing Access to Research Careers Scholars and Beckman Scholars,” Gonzalez said. “Not only that, we also help our individuals get into REUs, Research Experience for Undergraduates.”

LI also provides opportunities for members to attend conferences, such as the SHPE National Convention, which will be held in Anaheim from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. They also engage in community outreach by working with local middle and high schools, allowing members to work on their teaching and science communication skills. 

Additionally, Gonzalez’s value of family has persisted in his time here at UCSB. He explains how a close-knit community like LI has been crucial in his personal and academic success. 

“It’s not uncommon in the Latino culture to have a strong value of family and so when I found another family here [in] Los Ingenieros, that really helped a lot,” Gonzalez explained. “We help each other, we aren’t cutthroat with each other, whatever we are going through we communicate with each other, we use that to build support, to help each other in study groups … Nothing that you go through should be just on you, there are people out there who are probably experiencing the same thing and can help you.”

LI fosters this sense of family through a variety of community-building activities. They hold bowling nights, camping trips and beach days with other SHPE chapters throughout the school year. Their annual welcome back barbecue was held on Sept. 28 at Goleta Beach Park. 

Gonzalez extends an invite for students who may be interested in Los Ingenieros: “Just come out on Thursdays at 7 p.m. biweekly, generally in the Engineering Science Building. If you want to join or you just want to hang out with us, you are always welcome too,” Gonzalez said. “We welcome anyone if you are willing to grow with us.” 

A version of this article appeared on p.14 of the Oct. 10, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.