President

Karina Roundtree

Karina Roundtree is from Sedalia, Colorado. She is currently a fourth year Mechanical Engineering student. Karina has been a part of SHPE for the past four years. She has served previously as a Freshman Representative and President. Karina is very excited to serve and hopes to accomplish and learn a lot with the rest of the Executive Board. Her biggest goal is to develop a SHPE Jr. Chapter and reach out to the community via community service. She feels that more participation in the community will increase SHPE's membership in the future and, more importantly, help our younger generation become future leaders. Some of her hobbies include playing sports like soccer, lacrosse or snowboarding and she absolutely loves traveling.

"Always do what you are afraid to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vice President

Dennis Vega

Dennis Vega is a fifth-year student gaining his BS in Computer Engineering and concentrating in the Japanese Language. His work experience includes being a Software Engineering Intern for Otis Elevator and a Technical Verification Assistant for Ensco Avionics, Inc. Dennis has been a part of SHPE for three years, and has already risen to his second position on the Executive Board. SHPE has allowed Dennis to discover new opportunities to improve himself as a professional and as a student. He strongly believes in SHPE's goal: showing the world that Hispanics have a better future than that depicted by stereotypes, and that there are Hispanics who are working hard to earn the life they deserve. As a member, Dennis has actively participated in most of the events that SHPE has hosted and helped work on the Imagine RIT SHPE Project for 2010. Dennis is motivated by his desire to watch SHPE grow, and would like to be a part of that growth as a leader.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

Treasurer

Amanda Rios

Amanda Rios is a fourth year Industrial and Systems Engineer, from New York City. She has been part of SHPE for two years. She hopes to help SHPE continue to develop and create a positive impact in the surrounding community and on campus. SHPE has helped her grow professionally and as a leader, which is why she wants other students to be influenced by SHPE.

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new” - Albert Einstein

Secretary

Camila A. Gómez Serrano

Camila is a Second Year Mechanical Engineering student. Originally, from Colombia, Camila moved to Seattle, WA with her family before attending RIT. She joined SHPE as the Freshman Representative last Spring Quarter and now begins the new academic year as the Secretary of SHPE at RIT. SHPE has already given many opportunities to Camila to grow as an individual and a professional. Looking at SHPE as a path for success, she hopes to enlighten other students about the many doors of success SHPE can offer them and the full potential they can reach through them.

“It isn’t where you come from, it’s where you are going that counts” –Ella Fitzgerald.

“Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well” –Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Everything is difficult before it is easy” –Anonymous.

Publicist

Laura Arciniegas

Laura Arciniegas is a second year Mechanical Engineering student with a minor in Communications. Laura has been involved in SHPE ever since her freshman year. She is very excited about her position and passionate about being in a group where she can reach out to her roots. She wants to develop SHPE’s voice throughout RIT and the community as well. SHPE has given Laura a way to help out in the community and feel significant about assisting others. Laura would like to erase the stereotype that Hispanics cannot be engineers and encourage all children to follow their dreams. She hopes to grow more and continue to lead SHPE in the future. Laura is also involved in SWE, Varsity Tennis, and RIT National Society of Leadership and Success.

Will to win, Desire to succeed, Urge to reach your full potential: the keys that will unlock the door to self-excellence. –confucious

Community Service Chair

Beverly Liriano

My name is Beverly Liriano and I am a non-graduating fourth year Mechanical Engineering student. I currently hold positions in two organizations: Community Service Chair for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Corporate Relations Chair for the National Society of Black Engineers. My concentration is American Sign Language which I love practicing because of my passion for languages. In my spare time, I love playing softball and volleyball. I am currently on co-op for Toyota and trying to learn all that I can. I am very interested in the automotive industry for a career option and am eager to find out what I will specialize in. I have done research and the experience has helped me in knowing what I want to do once I graduate from RIT.

Academic Chair

María Camila Luna C.

María Camila Luna is a third year Industrial Engineering major at RIT, and has been part of the SHPE community since the beginning of her second year. She was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, and came to the US to start her career at the age of 17. Maria Camila is passionate and cares about others. She has worked as a tutor several times and this quarter is working as an SI Leader with the physics department. As the academic chair she hopes to recruit new members and help them succeed academically by organizing study jams and other events that promote chapter development.

Technical Chair

Joseph Gonzalez

Joseph Gonzalez is a fifth-year Applied Networking and Systems Administration major with a double minor in Management Information Systems and Web Development. Joseph has been a part of SHPE since the end of his first year at RIT and has finally joined the board in his last year at RIT. He has a previous coop at Getinge, USA as their Help Desk Call Center Coordinator and now works at a law firm in the city of Rochester as their Systems Administrator. Throughout his years as an undergrad Joseph has learned a lot of different skills and hopes to be able to pass those on to our new incoming membership.

Fears over tomorrow and regrets over yesterday are twin thieves that rob us of the moment

Graduate Representative

Andrés Santizo Matheu

My name is Andrés Santizo and I am the current Graduate Representative for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at RIT. Next winter I will graduate with a dual degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering with an emphasis in Lean and Six Sigma and a Master’s degree in Engineering Management.

I have had the experience of working in many different companies and places throughout my career. I have worked in the food industry (a brewery), the healthcare industry (a pharmaceutical plant), a highly automated industry (a cement plant), and in a custom one-of-a-kind industry (industrial size HVAC manufacturer).

I enjoy doing and watching sports. I was on the Guatemalan national swimming team for 4 years, I’m very passionate about fútbol (soccer), and I love cars! I’m extremely outgoing and curious, so if you see me I’ll probably be talking or asking questions. I can be really serious when necessary, but that’s not most of the time.

“If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.” – J.M. Power.

Freshman Representative

Jon Washington

Jon is from Upper Marlboro, MD. He is currently a first year Mechanical Engineering student. Also a current member of the RIT Formula SAE Racing Team, Jon dreams of one day landing a job with a major automotive company. Jon won the high school soccer National Championship with DeMatha Catholic H.S., but most of his time is spent on the sideline where he is a volunteer youth coach at Future Soccer Club alongside his father. Inspired by one day having a more diverse mix of peoples and cultures not only engineering, but in all of the highest collegiate ranks, Jon wishes to dedicate himself towards helping SHPE’s mission and values reach their goals. He hopes that SHPE will also aid him in growing not only as a professional, but as a good human being as well.

Freshman Representative

Thomas Sosa

Thomas Sosa is new face on campus; as a first-year Computer Engineering student, he continues to develop his professional and academic profile. SHPE has played a major factor in the development of Thomas’ future by allowing him to participate in workshops that will mold him into the professional engineer that he hopes to become someday. As a first generation American college student whose parents are from the Dominican Republic, Thomas is motivated to be successful through SHPE’s focus on helping the Hispanic community. Thomas hopes, as Freshman Representative, to raise awareness of this organization to his fellow freshmen so that they can also benefit from SHPE’s resources. Through his current position, Thomas wishes to continue collaborating with his peers to develop the ever-growing familia that SHPE houses amongst its members.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” -Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Advisor

Rubén Proaño

Rubén Proaño earned his Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008. He also holds M.S. (2001) and B.S. (1998) degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and from Universidad San Francisco de Quito, respectively. Dr. Proaño is also a United World Colleges (UWC) alumnus.

In 2008, Dr. Proaño joined the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at RIT. He uses mathematical optimization to solve problems that have implications for public policy. His current research focuses on the application of Operations Research to healthcare systems, in particular to the supply chain of vaccines. He enjoys teaching and interacting with students and feels fortunate to have the opportunity to teach Optimization and Logistics courses at RIT.

Dr. Proaño believes in the benefits of multicultural education and he is convinced that Operations Research, "The Science of Better" (see http://www.scienceofbetter.org/), has an important role to play in, for example, international development. He is a member of INFORMS, IIE, ASEE and TechNet 21.

As a hobby, Dr. Proano enjoys soccer. He is a fan of Liga de Quito (LDU), one of the finest South American soccer teams.