Hispanic students are working toward being equally represented in STEM fields. Antonio Medina, Ilse Perez, and Ernesto Hernandez are students who are leaving their mark in the STEM world.
“My aunts and stuff they’re also engineers and so I was kind of lucky to be put in a place where I had those influences around me but I do realize that is not the case for everyone,” said Ilse Perez, Manufacturing Engineer Graduate student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
Hispanics are disproportionately represented in STEM fields. They make up only 8% of the entire STEM workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. Black people make 11% of the STEM workforce.
Although strides toward equity are being made, there is still more work that needs to be done to alleviate the prejudices minorities face.
“He asks me, what field are you working in? and I’m like I’m pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, but his intent was what field as in, where am I picking cotton,” said Antonio Medina, a Mechanical Engineering student at UTRGV.
Medina said that the prejudice he faces only makes him want to work harder. Hispanic students are making a difference in how Hispanics are represented across STEM fields.
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