As the new president of the Fermilab Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, I take this opportunity to introduce myself and the group’s new officers to the lab community.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers was founded in 1974 for professional engineers to serve as role models in the Hispanic community. In 2017, a group of lab employees started the Fermilab chapter. Our Fermilab SHPE chapter aims to increase representation of Hispanics at the lab and create an inclusive space where we celebrate our roots and share all our wonderful traditions and diverse culture.
Since our chapter’s founding, we have done a great deal to bring Fermilab to the attention of the national SHPE organization. You may have read about how our outgoing chapter president, Aria Soha, helped Fermilab win the bid to host the SHPE Region 6 Leadership Development Conference in 2020 (the event became a virtual town hall meeting). It’s just one example of the chapter’s active participation in the society’s nationwide efforts. On that note, I thank Aria for her tireless work not only in bringing so much visibility to the Fermilab chapter, but also in spearheading fSHPE’s education, outreach and philanthropic activities in the local community.
We have more opportunities to empower the Hispanic community to realize their STEM potential. From Oct. 26-30, SHPE National will host the national convention of SHPE, to be held online. We are also slated to host the regional SHPE conference in 2021.
If you are interested in joining SHPE, please contact me at jteheran@fnal.gov. Our chapter has a select number of free SHPE professional memberships. By being a member of SHPE, you will get access to monthly events and professional development workshops.
With that, I introduce our new fSHPE officers, who will join me in strengthening our already mighty chapter. If you have questions about fSHPE, our goals or our STEM promotion efforts, please feel free to contact any one of us.
Jeny Teheran is a computer security analyst and the president of the Fermilab Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
Julian Badillo, fSHPE secretary
A three-year member of fSHPE, Julian Badillo has worked as an app developer for the Fermilab Office of the Chief Project Officer for nearly five years. He currently serves as the chapter’s secretary. Badillo often volunteers for education-related activities such as Noche de Ciencia, a free event encouraging junior high schoolers to pursue STEM fields in college. For him, SHPE is an effective channel for the laboratory’s outreach and an opportunity to promote STEM within the Latino and Hispanic community. Badillo’s favorite SHPE activity is the “cafecito,” an informal gathering that takes place around a cup of coffee three or four times a year. In fact, he was recruited for the FSHPE chapter at a cafecito. Badillo enjoys meeting people from other lab divisions and departments and, of course, bragging about coffee from his native country, Colombia.
Raul Campos, fSHPE vice president of outreach
Raul Campos is a mechanical engineer in the Accelerator Division currently working on development and project management for systems of the PIP-II accelerator. He is one of the co-founders of the Fermi SHPE professional chapter and was involved in the early conversations with SHPE National to form the chapter. He believes in the importance of Fermi SHPE in inspiring young students to consider a STEM education and career and in continuing the professional development of STEM students and professionals. He has enjoyed representing Fermilab at SHPE national and regional conferences and local schools, spreading the word about the interesting engineering work that is done at Fermilab.
Lorena Lobato Pardavila, fSHPE vice president of professional development
Lorena Lobato Pardavila, originally from Spain, has worked at Fermilab as an application and developer and system analyst since 2018. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in information systems at DePaul University. She moved to Fermilab from Switzerland, where she worked for many years. As a foreign resident, she recognizes the importance of having work family — a group of friends and colleagues who will make you feel welcome. Working in a new country, especially in a new workplace, might be scary, but fSHPE helped her quickly adapt to Fermilab and made her feel at home. As fSHPE’s vice president of professional development, she shows members new opportunities for evolving their professional careers.
Miguelangel Marchán, fSHPE communications
Miguelangel Marchán is currently an electrical engineer working on designing and testing detector electronics. He started at fSHPE as its communications chair, from 2019-2020. The proud child of Mexican immigrants, he was the first in the family to go to college and the first to hold a master’s degree, which he earned from UIC in electrical engineering in 2018. He loves being a part of fSHPE! He enjoys hanging out with the society’s members, volunteering, and interacting with students. In his spare time he enjoys playing Super Smash Bros. and spending time with his family and cats.
Jeny Teheran, fSHPE president