By Mitzi Cruz Quijano Have you ever felt that you were in the wrong place and if you give your best, there is something beyond for you? My name is Mitzi Cruz Quijano, I was born on August 8, 1996, in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. I grew up into a musician’s family, where I learned that I make my destiny and the best keys to success are knowledge, wisdom, and perseverance. A few years ago, when I was six, I discovered one of my greatest passions: volcanoes. I decided to dedicate myself to earth sciences as part of my professional life. Although I was always curious about the stars and planets, I thought that studying them was only for super geniuses and, for me, it could be something impossible to achieve. Through my university education, I developed an interest to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and satellite images, because they help to go to distant places and sometimes inaccessible regions. Houston, we have a geologist. In 2017, when I was studying the seventh semester of Environmental Geology Engineering at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hidalgo, I got the opportunity to attend the International Air and Space Program (IASP), a STEM program organized by the mexican aerospace company AEXA at the Johnson Space Center, thereby I was able to step on NASA’s headquarters and work for a week on a project about a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. From this moment an even bigger opportunity was being prepared for me, in one of the talks about the tectonics and volcanism of the moon Europa, I was able to listen to a researcher from the Lunar and Planetary Institute who would later be part of my path to planetary geology. Upon my return, I realized that I was fascinated by the geology of Europa and that I had an interest in studying planetary volcanism and planetary sciences. In less than 3 months, another opportunity came to me: I was selected as the only Mexican at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science 2018 in Houston, Texas for 10 weeks to study a specific feature of Europa's surface using images from Voyager and Galileo space missions and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to process the information, during this time, I was working together with two mentors (the director of the institute Louise Prockter and the person who I met at IASP, Dr. Jonathan Kay) on a research titled "Location and the State of Degradation in Europa: Is There an Old Chaos?". I was awarded a scholarship to cover lodging and transportation in Houston, but I still needed more funds to pay my flights and transportation from/to Mexico City's Airport, so I decided to go out to the streets and ask people to support me showing them my acceptance letter, this made me thought that there are even more components to the success key: the limits are ourselves.
I am in process of obtaining my bachelor’s degree as an environmental geologist engineer at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, and I am part of the team of the University's Mineralogy Museum, taking care of the inventory and sorting mineral samples. My goal is to contribute additional knowledge and support the development of planetary geology research in my university, furthermore studying a master's degree to dedicate myself to volcanology and apply the knowledge that I acquired in my stays to improve the field of earth science in Mexico. There's a special saying in geology "The present is the key to the future". I think that in the same way, the present is the key to the future, this applies in my life. Because if you look at what I have tried to learn from my experiences, now my future will be governed by my effort in the present to improve my academic training and to be a better person. Following one of my passions I got one of the best experiences of my life: being at NASA and being closer to touch the stars. ¿te INTERESARÍA tomar un curso online con nosotros?¡Da click en el siguiente botón para más información!
1 Comment
Luz Maceda
29/4/2020 12:45:47
Mitzi, I have no words to express what an impressive career you’ve achieved. You have been able to take advantage of every opportunity that has been presented to you, but also, you have generated new ones to achieve your goals.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
CategoriesBLOGS anterioresArchivos
October 2024
|