Osiriz Durana '22
Mechanical Engineering student Osiriz Durana, a transfer student to UCLA, was awarded a $5000 scholarship from Silicon Valley Power for students in pursuit of a career in the energy industry.
Osiriz’ interest lies in sustainable energy and told us, “While mechanical engineering gives me the flexibility to hone in what I'd want to focus on more when I take my upper division classes, the biggest takeaway I would want to get from graduating is to have an engineer's mindset. Having been influenced by my dad's craftiness and a knack for solving practical problems, I began to appreciate more the iterative, trial-and-error and logical way that an engineer thinks and I believe that it is the number one skill I would want to develop and foster in my everyday and professional life."
“There's a popular saying in STEM that we 'stand on the shoulders of giants' and I've grown to resonate with the intellectual collaboration aspect that the saying echoes. In my case, my engineering and physics professors from Mission were those giants. Without them, I don't think I would have ever been as interested as I am now with all things STEM as I was compared to myself back in high school.”