Thank you for visiting the MEMPC (Master of Engineering Management Programs Consortium) booth at the SHPE National Convention!

We are delighted to introduce the Hispanic Pioneers in STEM featured on our tote bag! 🙂

Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915)

Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was a Cuban epidemiologist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever, determining that it was transmitted through mosquitoes Aedes aegypti.[1]

Learn more about Carlos Juan Finlay here.

Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 – September 1, 1988)

Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 – September 1, 1988) was an American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for his discovery of resonance states in particle physics using the hydrogen bubble chamber.[1]

Learn more about Luis Alvarez here.

Ynés Enriquetta Julietta Mexía (May 24, 1870 – July 12, 1938)

Ynés Enriquetta Julietta Mexía (May 24, 1870 – July 12, 1938) was a Mexican-American botanist notable for her extensive collection of novel specimens of flora and plants originating from sites in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. She discovered a new genus of Asteraceae, known after her as Mexianthus, and accumulated over 150,000 specimens for botanical study over the course of a career spanning 16 years enduring challenges in the field that included poisonous berries, dangerous terrain, bogs and earthquakes for the sake of her research.[2]

Learn more about Ynés Mexía here.

Jacinto Convit García (11 September 1913 – 12 May 2014)

Jacinto Convit García (11 September 1913 – 12 May 2014) was a Venezuelan physician and scientist, known for developing a vaccine to prevent leprosy and his studies to treat cancer. He played a role in founding Venezuela’s National Institute of Biomedicine and held many leprosy-related positions.

Learn more about Jacinto Convit here.

Helen Rodríguez Trías (July 7, 1929 – December 27, 2001)

Helen Rodríguez Trías (July 7, 1929 – December 27, 2001) was an American pediatrician, educator and women’s rights activist. She was the first Latina president of the American Public Health Association (APHA), a founding member of the Women’s Caucus of the APHA, and a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Learn more about Helen Rodríguez Trías here.

Ellen Ochoa (born May 10, 1958)

Ellen Ochoa (born May 10, 1958) is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center.[1] In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.[2] Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012.[3] She was the first Hispanic director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.

Learn more about Ellen Ochoa here.

Antonia Coello Novello (born August 23, 1944)

Antonia Coello Novello (born August 23, 1944) is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as 14th Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. Novello also served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New York from 1999 to 2006. Novello has received numerous awards including more than fifty honorary degrees, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2000, and has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.[1]

Learn more about Antonia Novello here.

Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz (born April 5, 1950, San José, Costa Rica)

Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz (born April 5, 1950, San José, Costa Rica)[1] is an American mechanical engineer, physicist and former NASA astronaut. He is the sole founder and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company[2] as well as a member of Cummins’ board of directors.[3]

He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, tying the record, as of 2021 for the most spaceflights (a record set by Jerry L. Ross). He was the third Latin American, but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into space.[5] Chang-Díaz is a member of the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Learn more about Franklin Chang-Díaz here.

Celina Ugarte de Peñalba (Bluefields, Nicaragua)
Celina Ugarte de Peñalba of Bluefields, Nicaragua is the first Hispanic woman civil engineer in the United States who also holds a P.E. license. The 1958 graduate of the National University of Nicaragua was the first woman engineer in that country. Her stellar academic achievements brought her to the U.S., where she earned a master’s in civil engineering at the University of Kansas, followed by a Ph.D. in civil engineering, specializing in structural and seismic engineering at the University of Delaware. She taught at UD from 1964–1973 and established a SWE section. In 1968, she became the first woman to register as a certified professional engineer in Delaware.
José Moreno Hernández (born August 7, 1962)

José Moreno Hernández (born August 7, 1962) is a Mexican-American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He currently serves as a Regent of the University of California.

Hernández was assigned to the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-128. He also served as chief of the Materials and Processes branch of Johnson Space Center. Hernández previously developed equipment for full-field digital mammography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

In October 2011, Hernández, at the urging of President Barack Obama, ran for Congress as a Democrat in California’s newly redrawn 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.[3] He won the Democratic nomination, but lost the 2012 general election to freshman incumbent Representative Jeff Denham.

Hernández is the subject of the 2023 biopic A Million Miles Away in which he is portrayed by Michael Peña.[4][5]

Learn more about José Hernández here.