Earning your ears: The value of internships

I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. From a very young age, I was interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. I was good at math, and I had a knack for putting things together. In high school, I held leadership positions on my robotics team, and as a college undergraduate student, I majored in physics. I participated in six summer internships at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on space technology, with my favorite being midinfrared instrument thermal testing for the James Webb Space Telescope. I then earned my master's degree in mechanical engineering. With this rigorous experience in STEM, I decided to pursue traditional engineering roles. © 1988-2012 IEEE.