UCLA Engineering Students Rewarded for Volunteer Service and Academic Success

Date: October 11, 2004
Contact: Chris Sutton ( chris@ea.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) has honored two UCLA Engineering students with scholarships for their academic accomplishments and volunteer contributions.

Adriana Magana, 23, was named a HENAAC/Northrop Grumman Foundation Scholar and Stuart Moncada, 22, was named a HENAAC/SBC Foundation Scholar. They were two of 25 students recognized at a student leadership dinner held October 9 in Pasadena.

Established in 1989, HENAAC's mission is to identify and honor the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, engineering and technology professionals. More than 180 students nationwide submitted applications, which were considered by a specially appointed selection committee.

Magana, a senior who transferred from Bakersfield Junior College two years ago, is pursuing a double major in computer science and applied mathematics. Despite her heavy workload, Magana has volunteered for the UCLA Alumni Association, the Boys and Girls Club and the Engineering School's Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED).

"It's very demanding, but I think it's a demonstration that I'm serious about what I want to do," said Magana.

She heard about the scholarship through CEED, which sends email announcements about scholarship opportunities to students.

"Earning this scholarship makes my life easier during the year because financially I don't have to worry about working and studying at the same time," said Magana.

This summer, Magana interned at Northrop Grumman, where she gained experience in computer programming. She plans to enter the workforce once she graduates next year, but does not rule out returning to school to earn her Master's degree in software engineering.

Moncada, the first member of his family to attend college, is a senior studying electrical engineering with a computer science option. He also heard about the scholarship opportunity from the counselors at CEED.

This is not the first scholarship Moncada has won. As a freshman, he became an HP Scholar, receiving a computer, printer, calculator and a paid summer internship at Hewlett-Packard. Since then, Moncada has interned with HP in San Diego for the past four summers.

Among his many experiences, Moncada has participated in an HP outreach program that taught members of several Indian tribes how to use technology.

"We traveled to different reservations and offered lessons on how to use printers, scanners, laptops and other equipment," said Moncada. "We showed people how to set up email accounts, send attachments and use a computer in other ways."

Moncada is currently preparing to apply for graduate school. He says that this scholarship and others like it have heavily influenced his decision to continue his studies.

"For me, getting scholarships was one of my top considerations. I already have loans from my undergraduate studies. Without the scholarships, I'd probably go to work right away instead of entering graduate school," said Moncada.

In addition to the student awards dinner, the HENAAC Conference in Pasadena included several workshops, a career fair and a technical summit. A list of all the student scholarship recipients is available on HENAAC's web site at http://www.henaac.org/conference/index.php.