2015 MATC Scholars Program: Grad Students

MATC Author

11/15/2017 Added

5 Plays

Description

What's the why and how to success? - Dr. Maurice Cavitt Voices From the Field - Mr. Quinton Rodgers Journey from Undergraduate to Graduate Student - Ms. Gabriela Perales

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:01.386]How are you guys doing this evening?
[00:00:02.682]Good.
[00:00:04.322]You guys hear me pretty good? I'm not going
[00:00:05.902]to use the microphone.
[00:00:08.849]So the title of my talk is
[00:00:11.666]What's the Why and How to Success?
[00:00:14.137]When I look in the room and I think about all the young
[00:00:17.712]lives we have in here, I was once in this position.
[00:00:20.938]I was in the (mumbles) program, and some great mentors,
[00:00:24.870](mumbles) help me through the process.
[00:00:30.281]So what I really want to do is, I want to take a step back
[00:00:32.351]and look through six or seven of the key rules that kind
[00:00:36.489]of helped me get where I am today,
[00:00:38.937]it's kind of my success story.
[00:00:40.540]Now this is (mumbles) to me, my own individual personal
[00:00:43.725]success, however, to understand that success,
[00:00:46.933]I kind of want to take you through my thought process.
[00:00:50.913]So here's a little bit about me, my educational background.
[00:00:54.304]I went to Prairie View A&M University
[00:00:56.462]for my electrical engineering degree from there.
[00:00:59.372]I ran track, I was a cross-country runner
[00:01:01.344]as well as an 800 collegiate runner.
[00:01:03.755]I attended here, University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:01:06.219]graduated 2010 with a degree
[00:01:08.191]in industrial management systems.
[00:01:11.127]Went on to University of Nebraska, I'm sorry,
[00:01:13.351]University of Texas Arlington, under the direction
[00:01:15.736]of Dr. Eric Jones, to do my Doctorate
[00:01:18.490]in Industrial Engineering and
[00:01:20.156]Industrial Manufacturing Systems
[00:01:22.170]Currently I'm completing my MBA from Washington State
[00:01:25.039]in marketing, and I'll get into why I did that
[00:01:26.983]in a little bit.
[00:01:29.333]Again, these are some of the things that I've accomplished
[00:01:32.374]up until this point, I'm also a NASA Hariet Jenkins
[00:01:34.912]Fellow, so that's why I'm returning to work with NASA.
[00:01:39.090]NASA paid for my doctorate degree, it was a very, very
[00:01:42.012]unique experience and I can answer that as well
[00:01:44.049]if you guys have any questions.
[00:01:45.359]As well as a Alfred P Sloan Minority recipient.
[00:01:48.803]You guys familiar with Alfred P Sloan?
[00:01:50.034](mumbles)
[00:01:56.625]Back in 2008-2009, did some research with Dr. Rowlin and
[00:02:00.322]Dr. Jones and they awarded me with a
[00:02:02.481]Mid-American Transportation Doctoral Student of the Year.
[00:02:07.808]So this is what we do at entry,
[00:02:10.272]this is what we call a mini meet.
[00:02:11.927]It's a snapshot of you, what you do, what makes you,
[00:02:16.120]what makes you good.
[00:02:17.930]I spent some time in Belgium, when I first won (mumbles).
[00:02:21.283]They sent me over to Europe,
[00:02:22.116]I lived over there for six months.
[00:02:23.945]And my story here is geared to how did I cope with that.
[00:02:27.780]So my seven rules are how did I deal
[00:02:30.291]with my time in Europe.
[00:02:32.613]Me by myself, I loaded by myself alone, culture change,
[00:02:36.841]I don't speak Dutch, I don't speak Dutch.
[00:02:40.317]I spoke survival Dutch.
[00:02:42.000](audience laughs)
[00:02:44.178]But you know I had to believe in myself, just kind of
[00:02:48.226]treat it like another area of my personal growth in life.
[00:02:52.300]So again, a couple things about me, I kind of went through
[00:02:56.045]that, so what I enjoy doing when I'm not studying and
[00:02:59.043]working, I love working out, I love reading, non-related
[00:03:03.549]STEM books, me and Dr. Jones have a reading contest
[00:03:06.301]who can read the most non-related engineering book,
[00:03:08.497]and he's currently unbeaten.
[00:03:11.413]I do look up a word for the day, every day.
[00:03:14.366]And the word for today is euphonium,
[00:03:17.498]which means a tuba home.
[00:03:19.002]So I try to use the word of the day every day,
[00:03:22.179]that's my one good thing, for myself.
[00:03:25.003]Do's and don'ts.
[00:03:27.586]Do always challenge the norm,
[00:03:29.341]do always push others and yourself.
[00:03:31.373]You have to do that, you have to be able
[00:03:33.292]to push yourself, you have to be able to push others,
[00:03:35.745]and don't have any regrets, because even in bad situations,
[00:03:38.808]you learn something good.
[00:03:40.401]Let's get started.
[00:03:42.021]So rule number one, trust yourself.
[00:03:45.827]What do I mean by trusting yourself?
[00:03:47.991]A lot of you guys here are at the undergraduate level,
[00:03:51.618]you have dreams and ambitions to pursue your higher
[00:03:54.675]education, some of you may want to be doctors,
[00:03:57.924]some of you may want to be lawyers,
[00:03:59.301]some of you want to be entrepreneurs.
[00:04:00.777]I'm not sure, be we all have dreams, right, and goals.
[00:04:03.720]So the first thing today is trust in yourself.
[00:04:06.681]And the reason this is important is
[00:04:08.345]because this is the foundation of all the other principles
[00:04:10.433]I want to talk about today.
[00:04:13.575]When you believe in your dream,
[00:04:14.835]you have to believe in your dream
[00:04:15.870]or no one else will believe in them except you.
[00:04:17.965]That's key number one, because you have control
[00:04:20.576]of where you want to go in your life.
[00:04:21.906]Only you, you control it.
[00:04:24.300]And a great quote from William Shakespeare is,
[00:04:27.676]"You know what we are, but we do not know what we can be."
[00:04:31.946]So we know where we are today, but if you continue
[00:04:34.352]to progress and do what you want to do as far as learning
[00:04:37.310]and developing yourself, the sky's the limit.
[00:04:40.075]And I learnt that here and it started here for me (mumbles).
[00:04:45.122]So always trust yourself, rule number one, trust yourself.
[00:04:49.745]Rule number two, break some rules.
[00:04:53.963]Dr. Jones and Dr. (mumbles) used to always get on me
[00:04:56.362]about this, I used to always try to keep everything
[00:04:59.631]in a textbook form.
[00:05:02.376]And sometimes you can't do that,
[00:05:03.803]sometimes you have to think outside the book.
[00:05:06.588]Research requires you to think outside the box.
[00:05:10.231]I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jones
[00:05:11.884]and Dr. Perkins on RFID research.
[00:05:15.549]We were trying to put sensors inside the body.
[00:05:17.941]So in vivo applications inside the body.
[00:05:21.002]And I would try to go to books and books
[00:05:23.036]and books and books, and Dr. Jones would always tell me,
[00:05:25.898]the solution they were looking for is not in a book.
[00:05:27.976]That's why we research, we try to be innovative.
[00:05:30.262]So you have to find ways to, you have to break some rules.
[00:05:34.347]I mean, you can't rely on books for all the answers,
[00:05:38.026]some of the answers are not there.
[00:05:41.770]Jimmy Dean also had a quite great quote that I like to,
[00:05:43.929]and by the way, every slide is gonna have a quote,
[00:05:46.171]so you'll see as we go through all my slides.
[00:05:48.777]"I cannot change the direction of the wind,
[00:05:51.497]but I can adjust my sails to reach my final destination."
[00:05:54.642]And what this is really saying is, you're gonna come across
[00:05:58.672]some things in your journey from a personal standpoint,
[00:06:01.463]a growth standpoint that are just gonna be
[00:06:03.739]difficult to overcome.
[00:06:05.349]And that's when you have to really really persevere.
[00:06:08.222]For me, prime example,
[00:06:10.377]I wasn't gonna share this with you guys,
[00:06:12.387]how many of you guys are familiar with the GRE,
[00:06:14.607]the LSAT, the GMAT.
[00:06:20.699]I took that test four times.
[00:06:22.356]And that's my own personal story,
[00:06:24.182]that I want to share with you guys.
[00:06:25.191]I want you to understand that, it's not always the fastest,
[00:06:29.571]the strongest gonna win.
[00:06:31.051]You have to be able to persevere.
[00:06:32.304]So, going back to rule number one which is what?
[00:06:35.120]Trust yourself.
[00:06:37.236]Trust yourself, you have to trust yourself.
[00:06:39.928]If I'm sweating, I'm not nervous, it's hot.
[00:06:42.629](laughs).
[00:06:43.960]I'm not nervous, I'm just hot.
[00:06:46.903]Rule number one trust yourself.
[00:06:49.288]Rule number two, break some rules,
[00:06:51.860]remember those two as we go along.
[00:06:55.154]Rule number three, don't be afraid to fail.
[00:06:58.331]Oh man, this kind of relates to one and two.
[00:07:00.859]You cannot be afraid to fail.
[00:07:02.837]You have to have the courage to act despite fear.
[00:07:06.752]A great example of this for me is when I completed
[00:07:09.007]my dissertation, I had a statistics professor from
[00:07:12.042]Georgia Tech, Dr. (mumbles).
[00:07:15.302]And I wasn't great in statistics, (mumbles) background
[00:07:19.783]was in electrical engineering.
[00:07:21.294]So going from electrical engineering to industrial
[00:07:23.644]engineering was, in my mind,
[00:07:26.486]two completely different areas of engineering science.
[00:07:30.429]So we took the comprehensive exam,
[00:07:33.693]and I barely missed the statistics piece.
[00:07:38.866]Fortunately I didn't have to come back
[00:07:40.141]and re-take the class, she let me continue
[00:07:43.146]with my DOE project that I was working on, and,
[00:07:46.718]she kind of let that subside for (noise).
[00:07:50.408]I say that to say you have to have the courage to act
[00:07:53.575]despite the fear.
[00:07:54.970]Some things is just going to be tough,
[00:07:57.213](mumbles), but there's no way around it.
[00:07:59.613]But you have to be able to find it within yourself,
[00:08:02.295]control the situation, control your emotions,
[00:08:05.065]and have the utmost confidence in what you do
[00:08:06.814]and why you're here, that's very important.
[00:08:09.384]So when you come to an obstacle, you have to understand
[00:08:12.988]why you're doing what you're do, why are you doing it?
[00:08:16.417]Why are you pursuing this bachelor degree?
[00:08:19.373]Why do you want a master's degree?
[00:08:21.401]Why do you want a Ph.D.?
[00:08:23.548]Why, why, why.
[00:08:25.224]You have to be able to answer.
[00:08:27.692]One of the guys I mentor asked me and I put it here.
[00:08:31.286]He asked "what if I fail?"
[00:08:33.275]And I found this quote, it says
[00:08:34.108]"What if I fail? Oh my darling what if you fly?"
[00:08:38.631]You don't know what's going to happen.
[00:08:40.958]You may get through. But you have to be able to get through.
[00:08:44.435]And I challenge you, you know there's been times
[00:08:46.973]where I was present at the University where,
[00:08:48.594]I'm giving you some
[00:08:49.708]of my personal failures because I want you to be able
[00:08:53.136]to view those and your own personal experiences because
[00:08:56.012]it builds humility.
[00:08:57.378]You have to be able to build humility in all this,
[00:09:00.923]and that's sometimes can be difficult.
[00:09:03.841]I had a professor at Prairie View University,
[00:09:06.877]Dr. Matthew Sadiku, I was to graduate in 2009,
[00:09:11.975]and to make a long story short,
[00:09:14.809]I passed the class but barely.
[00:09:16.618]And he pulled me in, and he shared this with me,
[00:09:20.585]the quote at the bottom.
[00:09:21.837]"Perseverance is failing 19 times
[00:09:23.277]and succeeding on the 20th", I never forget it.
[00:09:26.610]I tell you I ran collegiate track.
[00:09:29.521]I was a long cross-country runner, ran 20 miles a day.
[00:09:34.186]All we could do is persevere.
[00:09:35.662]You know how your body goes through different cycles,
[00:09:37.604]you get tired, you gain energy again, you get tired again.
[00:09:40.564]That's what we went through.
[00:09:41.408]So persevere, persevere, persevere you have to be able to.
[00:09:48.493]Rule number four, ignore the naysayers.
[00:09:51.616]How many people have been in situations
[00:09:53.415]where you have a dream or you share your dream
[00:09:57.311]with someone and they tell you "you can't do it".
[00:09:59.111]There's no way you can do it.
[00:10:01.856]So, you have to be able to embrace it,
[00:10:05.815]because it's not for them to see.
[00:10:07.618]If they don't see your dream, that's okay.
[00:10:10.359]It's your dream.
[00:10:12.692]Only person that needs to confirm your dream is you.
[00:10:15.791]Now what you can do in the process
[00:10:17.792]is get the people in your corner.
[00:10:20.139]We have great staffing mentorship, great leaders.
[00:10:23.839]We got some great institutions, lot of great minds here.
[00:10:28.124]The key to all of this is to get someone in your corner
[00:10:31.267]who will support you, who can nourish your thought process,
[00:10:34.594]and help you get to where you want to get to in life.
[00:10:37.244]I wouldn't get to where I am without the help
[00:10:39.483]of everybody in this room,
[00:10:41.256]I'm just going to be completely honest with you.
[00:10:42.821]And my family.
[00:10:45.172]I'm from Dallas, Texas.
[00:10:47.751]I had dreams, aspirations to do great things.
[00:10:53.655]I found the right people, and they helped me get
[00:10:55.912]to where I wanted to get to in life.
[00:10:57.396]The key to this is to never stop learning.
[00:11:01.195]You can never stop learning, and I committed myself
[00:11:03.298]to continuous learning in life, and that's what
[00:11:06.231]I challenge all you guys to do.
[00:11:09.129]Some people say, I got my Bachelor's Degree,
[00:11:11.770]I want to go to work.
[00:11:12.663]That's fine, if that's what you want to do, that's fine.
[00:11:15.869]But don't forget to continue
[00:11:17.432]to grow some aspect of your life.
[00:11:20.644]Because to not grow is to remain the same.
[00:11:26.469]Another quote I have here is
[00:11:27.302]"Don't ever doubt yourself or waste a second of your life.
[00:11:30.096]It's too short and you're too special."
[00:11:32.705]Everyone here in this room is here for a reason.
[00:11:36.043]You guys are part of a very prestigious program,
[00:11:38.995]in my opinion, and I believe that you all was chosen
[00:11:42.227]to come here to learn about research,
[00:11:44.880]to meet great faculty mentors,
[00:11:46.962]and to meet and collab with people like myself
[00:11:49.991]and your speakers, as well as people
[00:11:53.522]from other institutions.
[00:11:54.759]So take advantage of that, that's an opportunity
[00:11:56.488]that you don't want to waste.
[00:12:01.089]Rule number five, embrace hard work.
[00:12:04.705]Embrace hard work.
[00:12:06.946]You have to be willing to work hard
[00:12:08.585]to get where you want to in life.
[00:12:09.812]Whatever it is you want to do, I don't know what you want
[00:12:11.120]to do, I know what I want to do, what do you want to do?
[00:12:14.245]And you have to protect it.
[00:12:17.340]The reason I say that is because my advisor Dr. Jones
[00:12:21.651]he would argue, not now, but we'd argue he'd say,
[00:12:25.609]"Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
[00:12:28.007]Why are you pursing it?
[00:12:28.889]You have a doctorate, why are you going back to school
[00:12:30.570]to get an MBA?"
[00:12:32.526]I told Dr. Jones that I have ambitions of owning my own
[00:12:35.567]engineering consulting firm once I clear my PE license.
[00:12:38.507]He said well you can do that without it.
[00:12:40.379]And it's okay, he is correct, but for me it was a personal
[00:12:45.726]growth for me to see if I can do it,
[00:12:48.418]if I can meet the challenge of going and completing my PHD,
[00:12:53.050]going back to get an MBA,
[00:12:54.464]and what's that doing for me is it's showing me
[00:12:56.256]how I can connect to.
[00:12:58.099]So being a hybrid, between hard engineering sciences,
[00:13:01.913]and marketing, or the selling of a product.
[00:13:04.669]In my line of work, I make rice, I produce rice, currently,
[00:13:10.143]we make it, but I also want to know how to sell it
[00:13:12.860]and maximize my sales.
[00:13:14.488]So I working with a sales team,
[00:13:15.754]marketing team, to see how to do that.
[00:13:18.617]But when I get into these meetings and we talk about
[00:13:19.995]market segmentation, target market analysis,
[00:13:22.513]I have to be able to understand what that means.
[00:13:26.205]Or, if we start talking about statistics or regression,
[00:13:28.533]I can relate to that as well.
[00:13:32.933]So one of the quotes that I have here is when I completed
[00:13:35.084]my doctorate degree, you know, me and Dr. Jones talked about
[00:13:38.523]this and this is what I came up with.
[00:13:39.988]"When adversity called, Faith and Perseverance answered."
[00:13:42.702]So there have been some trying times,
[00:13:44.528]as far as not doing my work.
[00:13:47.577]But it made me a better person at the end of the day.
[00:13:51.508]Ordered myself to continue with learning,
[00:13:53.399]continue with growth,
[00:13:54.713]and I advise you guys to do the same.
[00:13:58.687]The last rule, give something back.
[00:14:02.936]When I say give something back, before I go into detail,
[00:14:06.168]what do you guys think that means?
[00:14:07.616]When I say give something back?
[00:14:08.770]What does that mean?
[00:14:11.174](muffled speaking)
[00:14:13.773]Okay, what else?
[00:14:16.222](muffled speaking)
[00:14:18.353]Okay, what else?
[00:14:19.429]I Would Say Uplift.
[00:14:20.950]Uplift.
[00:14:22.141](muffled speaking)
[00:14:25.424]So there are many different ways to give something back.
[00:14:30.247]You guys are sitting in this room,
[00:14:32.701]I was once in the same seat.
[00:14:34.571]So what am I doing today?
[00:14:35.823]I'm trying to give something back.
[00:14:38.108]Always remember where you started, don't forget
[00:14:41.436]where you're trying to go, never forget where you came from.
[00:14:43.965]That's the most important thing.
[00:14:45.433]So I look at this, remember you were once a person
[00:14:48.241]that needed counseling.
[00:14:49.687]You guys need counsel, I was once a person,
[00:14:52.416]how do I get to graduate school?
[00:14:54.287]What's the process?
[00:14:55.601]You guys heard great speaker at lunch, she went through
[00:14:58.776]the ins and outs of how to get into graduate school,
[00:15:02.515]the networks that you need to develop,
[00:15:04.838]and how to move that needle moving forward.
[00:15:07.476]That's very very important,
[00:15:08.581]I hope you guys took great notes.
[00:15:11.382]So pay it forward in all that you do,
[00:15:13.989]and I guarantee you you will never ever regret
[00:15:17.056]what you've done for yourself as well as others,
[00:15:19.636]and I challenge you to be a better person tomorrow
[00:15:24.192]than you were today.
[00:15:25.464]Thanks for your time.
[00:15:26.615](audience applauding)
[00:15:33.362](audience chatting)
[00:16:04.038]Okay so while they're setting up,
[00:16:05.400]I'll go ahead and introduce our next speaker.
[00:16:08.343]It's Mr. Quinton Rodgers, he's an Assistant Engineer
[00:16:13.161]with the City of Dallas,
[00:16:16.125]and the streets... with the city... (laughs)
[00:16:21.191]He's an Assistant Engineer with the City of Dallas
[00:16:24.809]in the Streets Division in Transportation.
[00:16:28.967](audience chatting).
[00:16:37.782]How's everybody doing?
[00:16:40.699]I feel like I know y'all, I've been hanging out with y'all
[00:16:43.033]since Wednesday.
[00:16:44.328]So it's very rare I get to do a presentation
[00:16:47.121]and get to know everybody for a week before,
[00:16:50.040]so it's kind of like I'm talking to some friends.
[00:16:52.317]What am I gonna give you guys is my perspective, my journey
[00:16:55.308]of how I got to where I am now, and I'm going to give
[00:16:58.025]you guys a couple of important tools that helped me
[00:17:00.697]on my way to learning and also (mumbles).
[00:17:06.274]Voices from the field, and from the field includes
[00:17:08.992](mumbles) my job right now,
[00:17:11.780]I deal signaling (knocking noise)
[00:17:13.606]system out here with the lights (mumbles) so when something
[00:17:17.681]goes wrong I'm (mumbles) going right (mumbling).
[00:17:26.009]So this gonna be a little outline.
[00:17:28.819]I'll go through an introduction of myself, some of you
[00:17:31.277]already know this, then I'll
[00:17:33.453]go a little bit over my journey,
[00:17:35.279]and important tools, and my advice.
[00:17:38.077]This picture right here (mumbles)
[00:17:40.817]this is like my first semester in grad school.
[00:17:42.786]This is like when I was look at me, all the time.
[00:17:46.036]See my toes.
[00:17:47.730](laughter)
[00:17:50.810]This is my bedroom, I believe some of the professors
[00:17:54.122](crowd chatters)
[00:17:54.955]said there's a lot of reading in grad school and writing,
[00:17:57.592]they're not lying.
[00:17:58.803](speaking quietly) able to comprehend what you read
[00:18:02.768]and then put it down so (mumbling) make it work.
[00:18:06.151]There's a lot of comprehension in grad school,
[00:18:08.521]and that was my life for the first semester.
[00:18:10.879]And it's snowing real bad and I wasn't used to it.
[00:18:14.830]So, introduction.
[00:18:16.638]Of course my name is Quinton Marsalis Rodgers
[00:18:19.008]I graduated from Prairie View A&M University
[00:18:21.584]in December 2009 with my Bachelors in
[00:18:26.284]Civil and Environmental Engineering
[00:18:28.175]under the direction of Dr. Judy Anne Perkins.
[00:18:30.876]And I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln here
[00:18:34.901]in the summer of 2013 under the direction of (mumbles).
[00:18:41.430]I'm a MATC scholar, correct me if I'm wrong I believe 2010
[00:18:44.947]was the first time we did the MATC program,
[00:18:47.720]so that makes me an OG because (laughter).
[00:18:53.543]And I was like the first one here so I guess I'm
[00:18:55.212]a success story.
[00:18:57.415]So, I was a MATC scholar, I'll always be one that's not...
[00:19:01.252]So now the City of Dallas Assistant Engineer.
[00:19:04.124]This picture was taken in 2013 which was the previous
[00:19:09.380]MATC scholar conference.
[00:19:11.149]That guy sitting next to me is Maurice,
[00:19:12.733]that's me in the middle, and the other one's
[00:19:14.440]a colleague of mine named Robert Powell,
[00:19:16.448]all Prairie View A&M graduates.
[00:19:19.593]High school (laughing).
[00:19:22.047]That's from College Preparatory school, that's me in 2004.
[00:19:25.468]Had braids, a little slimmer,
[00:19:30.494]but I was really really into math.
[00:19:32.812]And I had some advisors and high school they said
[00:19:36.144]maybe you should go into Engineering.
[00:19:38.277]So, this is where my journey started (mumbles).
[00:19:46.488]So, next part of my journey PVAMU.
[00:19:50.067]You got some pamphlets in here, okay.
[00:19:52.509]I started with the STEM Program.
[00:19:55.216]I find graduated from a high school, I went to Prairie View
[00:19:58.921]A&E, like I didn't have a summer,
[00:20:01.507]I went there for the STEM program.
[00:20:03.133]But I did that because I got scholarship money
[00:20:06.073]and also I was able to take (mumbles)
[00:20:11.173]and once I started in the fall I was already hours ahead.
[00:20:14.535]I did some internships while I was at Prairie View.
[00:20:16.993]I did Harris County Flood Control District,
[00:20:19.969]there's a two next to that because I did one in the summer,
[00:20:23.270]and they liked me so much they brought me back again.
[00:20:25.563]So I did two of those there.
[00:20:28.306]Then I did a partnering internship between Prairie View
[00:20:33.625]and UNL with Dr. Erik Jones in his RFID lab.
[00:20:38.305]RFID stands for radio frequency identification
[00:20:40.694]in case you guys didn't know.
[00:20:42.226]And the work is pretty hard, but I'm grateful for it.
[00:20:47.370]Perkins is with me, he's a nutball.
[00:20:49.272](laughing)
[00:20:52.232]I learned so much here and I'll be able to show you guys
[00:20:54.549]later how much everything you learn might come back around
[00:20:57.624]so you might want to pay attention to it.
[00:20:59.703]I was able to take the information I learned here at UNL
[00:21:02.353]and then take it back to PV and create an RFID lab there
[00:21:06.275]and we set something up and teaching them the (mumbling).
[00:21:11.198]That is the picture on the left is the picture
[00:21:13.480]from my first internship.
[00:21:15.020](mumbles)
[00:21:19.884]So, after PV of course I got a Research Assistantship,
[00:21:24.522]bless you, thank you Lord.
[00:21:26.561](laughter)
[00:21:28.509]So, out of state fees is (mumbling).
[00:21:31.215]So, I got a Research Assistantship.
[00:21:33.347]Things I did during my Assistantship were I did some
[00:21:36.514]analyzing for driver behaviors, you know what they didn't
[00:21:39.236]stop when it's stop, bars things like that.
[00:21:42.330]Some statistical work, everybody probably will take
[00:21:47.442]some research methods where probability and statistics
[00:21:50.816]try to stay with your math 'cause it will come back.
[00:21:53.383]Especially for Engineering.
[00:21:55.048]Then I also was able to be one of this other guys for
[00:21:59.735]a club called Roads, Rails, and Race Cars.
[00:22:01.889]This still going on here today, down at (mumbles).
[00:22:16.411]On the campus trying to find stuff.
[00:22:18.836]And that's my colleague Scott, (mumbling)
[00:22:20.784]building something that I thought was a football.
[00:22:22.748](mumbles)
[00:22:26.648]My journey, my professional career.
[00:22:28.884]Once I graduated from UNL I did a little summer gig
[00:22:32.601]in Houston for a consulting firm
[00:22:35.207]being an Associate Engineer, Civil Engineering firm.
[00:22:39.018]I got to see the different sides of being a consultant.
[00:22:43.841]I, this is my personal story, I like where I'm at now.
[00:22:48.069]Now I work for the government, for the city of Dallas.
[00:22:50.272]It's two different worlds.
[00:22:51.804]I was working for somebody who was trying to get contracts,
[00:22:54.734]now I'm working for somebody who gives out the contracts.
[00:22:57.072](laughter)
[00:22:58.355]So, I like where I'm at now.
[00:22:59.606]I'm so happy this is my first day of work, I know I'm corny.
[00:23:02.660]That's my first day at work picture just happy and grateful.
[00:23:07.481]So, important tools: motivation and dedication.
[00:23:11.859]These two go hand in hand.
[00:23:14.155]If you want to be where you want to be,
[00:23:16.465]you've got to be motivated.
[00:23:17.860]'Cause nobody's going to do it for you.
[00:23:19.900]You don't want (mumbling)
[00:23:25.325]You guys know that they never cancel class.
[00:23:27.722](laughing)
[00:23:47.284]If I was at grad school and I didn't actually work
[00:23:49.995]I was going back home with my parents.
[00:23:52.737](laughing)
[00:23:54.538]So, motivation, dedication.
[00:23:57.394]Have a little story about my next bullet point, initiate.
[00:24:01.513]Where I am today I believe is because of one conversation.
[00:24:05.892]Just one, I initiated it.
[00:24:08.249]I would say here (mumbles) I did my second internship
[00:24:11.239]and I was like, good job it's really easy and I think
[00:24:14.649]I can get it out of high school and I want more (mumbles).
[00:24:20.398]And I said, "Hey, doc what are you doing, what's going on?
[00:24:24.725](mumbles)
[00:24:31.733]I need you to go get smart on this.
[00:24:33.543]That's their reply, go get smart.
[00:24:35.478]So she gave me a packet, RFID.
[00:24:37.898]I read up about it, I said (mumbles).
[00:24:42.247]I got an internship with Dr. Jones and I worked at PV,
[00:24:45.505]I got paid for it and I'm about to do a lot.
[00:24:50.129]Just one conversation.
[00:24:51.516]You guys got to initiate that.
[00:24:52.882]We have all smart minds around.
[00:24:58.004]You got to go out there and get it, they don't know
[00:25:00.109]how good they have it.
[00:25:03.292]The last one is support.
[00:25:04.802]Now, I think on Wednesday one of the doctors asked
[00:25:10.130]who's doing this alone?
[00:25:12.036]Only like one person raised their hand and he said
[00:25:13.434]what do you mean, put your hand down.
[00:25:15.349](laughing)
[00:25:19.206]Needs a support system.
[00:25:21.329]When it's not family, can be friends, (mumbling)
[00:25:28.757]support somewhere.
[00:25:30.201]For me, that support was my family.
[00:25:31.908]That's my beautiful family right there.
[00:25:33.706]My mom, my dad, and my sister, that's my little sister.
[00:25:37.838]There would be, they would be so supportive when I was
[00:25:39.837]in grad school, even if they don't understand what you're
[00:25:41.999]going through, just to have somebody tell you it's going
[00:25:44.480]to be okay, it's going to be okay, (mumbles)
[00:25:51.613]This next slide, warning it's a picture.
[00:25:55.863]But it's like one of the most important things
[00:25:57.518]I think I needed to get to where I'm at today.
[00:26:02.505](laughing)
[00:26:09.482]Mentors, choosing one.
[00:26:11.913]I had to latch on because once you finally have a mentor
[00:26:16.053]you better latch on, don't let go.
[00:26:18.868]Because they are taking probably especially good care
[00:26:21.624]about you, they're going to make sure
[00:26:23.313]that you're taken care of.
[00:26:24.377]So, when I found Dr. Perkins and she said you want to be me,
[00:26:27.566]I never let go.
[00:26:28.726]'Cause I got her (mumbling)
[00:26:31.732]Once you guys find that mentor, they're out there,
[00:26:34.396]latch onto them, talk to them, you know get a relationship.
[00:26:40.509]Okay, the bottom says you will need advice,
[00:26:42.734]you will need direction,
[00:26:44.723]you will need letters of recommendation,
[00:26:46.100]and most importantly you will need an honest critic.
[00:26:49.225]You don't need a yes man, or a yes woman.
[00:26:51.283]Oh it's okay, no Dr. Perkins trying to pull apart
[00:26:54.140]all my stuff.
[00:26:55.609]When I brought it to her, no wrong, fix that, fix that.
[00:26:58.704]So, I feel like she made me tough, she made me (mumbles).
[00:27:02.065]You need an honest critic, you don't need somebody to
[00:27:03.742](speaking quietly).
[00:27:09.216]Nobody's going to hold your hand, nobody's going to
[00:27:10.768](speaking quietly).
[00:27:19.559]My advice to you, now you see this right here (mumbles)
[00:27:30.940]I had to ask questions, no regrets,
[00:27:34.079]no shoulda coulda woulda, and take advantage of everything.
[00:27:39.520]We have all these people around us and they're telling
[00:27:42.141]us about grad school.
[00:27:43.417]They're not here, we're getting a check?
[00:27:45.475]Of course, but they're not here for the check.
[00:27:47.557]They're here to see us do better, so I'm sure if we go
[00:27:50.163]up to them and talk to them they're gonna let us have
[00:27:52.798]everything we need.
[00:27:54.062]Here's what we need to.
[00:27:55.214]We should be passing resumes, we should be getting
[00:27:57.449]business cards, we should be writing emails when we get back
[00:27:59.530]to school.
[00:28:01.132]So that's what we gotta do.
[00:28:02.476]And most importantly, have fun.
[00:28:04.668]Don't look at grad school and like oh my gosh its' so hard.
[00:28:08.139]It's hard but I had so much fun.
[00:28:10.941]I have life-long friends, life-long connections,
[00:28:13.476]I feel like I can come into Nebraska and I'll
[00:28:15.376](speaking quietly)
[00:28:21.097]we have a connection, we have a bond.
[00:28:23.400]Here's one of the phrases I looked at all the time,
[00:28:25.797]I'm not sure if you guys can guess it's from a rapper
[00:28:28.300]that I listen to and it's about playing a game,
[00:28:32.254]"The only difference between a winner and a loser
[00:28:35.263]is a winner plays until he wins."
[00:28:40.230]This grad school stuff, undergrad school.
[00:28:43.147]You got to play the game, if you're serious about it
[00:28:45.779]you want to win the game you got to put your head
[00:28:47.578]right into it.
[00:28:49.620]And if you don't succeed the first time, just keep trying.
[00:28:51.959]It's bound to happen.
[00:28:53.779]So, that's all I got, guys, thank you.
[00:28:56.760](applause)
[00:29:07.729]Mr. Rodgers, I'd like to thank you for presenting.
[00:29:15.197]Okay, our next speaker is Ms. Gabriela Perales
[00:29:21.891]and she's a graduate research assistant
[00:29:24.415]here at the University and
[00:29:33.795]Nebraska Transportation Center?
[00:29:35.242]That's where you're? Yes.
[00:29:36.825]And then her field of study is transportation
[00:29:39.640]with a specialization in geometric design.
[00:29:44.253]Alright, hi guys my name is Gabriela Perales
[00:29:47.126]and I'm basically going to present to you my journey
[00:29:50.121]as an undergrad to where I am right now as a grad student
[00:29:53.567]here at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:29:57.024]So, this is just an outline of basically
[00:29:59.320]what I'm going to talk about,
[00:30:00.313]research I did as an undergrad, internships I did,
[00:30:03.468]and what I'm currently doing as a grad student as well.
[00:30:07.848]So, where I'm from.
[00:30:09.440]Originally I was born in Mexico in Monterrey
[00:30:12.909]which is down here and I moved to McAllen, Texas
[00:30:16.507]where I did all of my basically school.
[00:30:19.229]I did elementary, middle school, high school.
[00:30:21.590]And after I graduated high school I decided to apply for
[00:30:27.355]University of now the Rio Grande Valley but it used to be
[00:30:32.558]the University of Texas Pan American
[00:30:34.525]which is in Edinburgh, Texas.
[00:30:37.960]So, while i was there I started off by doing research
[00:30:42.089]I was already a Junior when I started doing research.
[00:30:45.295]When I first entered school I was, in a way I was not
[00:30:48.397]really taking it serious, I was just like
[00:30:50.072]kind of going through school, whatever.
[00:30:52.918]My basically parents background in education,
[00:30:56.800]they had very low education so I was unfortunate
[00:31:00.277]not to really have somebody to go and talk to and like
[00:31:03.214]about school, so I find that also at the same time
[00:31:06.588]I use that as motivation to get something better
[00:31:09.693]for my own self, so I started doing research with one
[00:31:13.191]of my professors on a structural health monitoring system.
[00:31:17.552]And this was just to reduce failures in bridges.
[00:31:22.412]This is what our lab used to look like there,
[00:31:24.935]so this is a model of a bridge and these sensors here
[00:31:27.759]measure things like temperature and strain,
[00:31:30.471]and are basically showing you a deflections as vehicles
[00:31:32.819]are going across bridges.
[00:31:35.397]An example of this is the Arsenal Bridge which is located
[00:31:39.019]in Illinois connects to Iowa.
[00:31:42.568]So, basically what happens is all of these sensors here
[00:31:46.811]connected to this little house and it shows you any failures
[00:31:50.713]that are possibly going to happen.
[00:31:54.902]After I did that research which was in the year
[00:31:57.439]of 2012-2013 I interned for the
[00:32:01.960]Texas Department of Transportation that summer.
[00:32:04.877]So I was located in Encino, Texas and if any of you
[00:32:08.054]are familiar with South Texas, there is nothing
[00:32:10.766]in that city.
[00:32:12.163](laughing)
[00:32:14.481]So, I was stationed there for just that summer
[00:32:16.914]and I was looking at basically pavement and how
[00:32:19.893]they were laying that pavement in the intersections.
[00:32:23.090]After I came back to school, this was in
[00:32:25.428]2013-2014 school year.
[00:32:29.280]I did research with another professor and basically
[00:32:32.934]on pavement performance, and this is a database by the
[00:32:36.047]Federal Highway Administration that anybody could access.
[00:32:40.186]So, I was looking basically at just pavement performance
[00:32:43.684]close to Edinburg, Texas probably about 20 minutes North
[00:32:47.366]of that area, and basically I was looking at rutting, IRI.
[00:32:53.075]And then I applied for another program
[00:32:57.126]which was a collaboration with this University
[00:33:01.110]so I got to come up here to Nebraska during the summer of
[00:33:06.335]2014 and I was doing research on vehicle violations,
[00:33:13.563]as you can see here.
[00:33:15.036](laughing)
[00:33:19.454]So then I just basically collected data and yeah
[00:33:24.698]watching these the vehicles are going when they're
[00:33:26.800]not supposed to be.
[00:33:27.935]This is when I really enjoyed working here
[00:33:32.261]and I decided I wanted to come to grad school
[00:33:34.912]at this University, I love the program.
[00:33:40.137]After that summer, I still had one more semester to go
[00:33:44.007]so I went back to school and I did more research
[00:33:46.492]and this was basically a collaboration with
[00:33:49.687]Illinois Center for Transportation.
[00:33:51.581]And I just did basically I did statistical analysis
[00:33:54.792]with aggregates and this just an example of what I did.
[00:34:01.608]And that later turned into a publication this year actually.
[00:34:05.988]So, extracurricular activities that I was in when I was
[00:34:09.690]an undergrad, I was in a lot of associations,
[00:34:15.341]I did conferences, basically kind of trying to develop
[00:34:19.014]my social skills, networking, presenting.
[00:34:22.057]I used to hate presenting to the public, absolutely
[00:34:24.332]hated it, I would fear it.
[00:34:26.197]But now I kind of like to put myself in the position
[00:34:28.545]because it's something that you are going to have to do
[00:34:30.997]once you start working, or when you're in grad school
[00:34:33.789]as well.
[00:34:35.688]So, why pursue a Master's?
[00:34:38.005]For starters, intellectual growth.
[00:34:40.433]As an undergrad I only took one transportation course.
[00:34:44.048]Now as a grad student I have broadened my knowledge,
[00:34:47.575]I learned so much more than I had previously learned.
[00:34:52.469]I had also learned how to use different softwares
[00:34:55.320]that unfortunately I didn't get to use as an undergrad.
[00:34:57.956]And some of these softwares are things that companies
[00:34:59.943]look for whenever they want to hire you.
[00:35:03.516]All that leads into job opportunities.
[00:35:06.516]So you know some softwares that jobs correlate
[00:35:09.384]they hire you.
[00:35:11.888]Free education, you can get your research assistantship
[00:35:14.205]that Quinton referred to.
[00:35:17.113]And yeah, out of state tuition is expensive.
[00:35:22.193]Like I said, detailed course work you get to learn more,
[00:35:24.711]and you probably starting a higher starting salary
[00:35:28.321]when you start working.
[00:35:30.298]So these are just some of the achievements
[00:35:31.550]I have gotten so far.
[00:35:33.764]I mentored the next years UTRS students which were
[00:35:38.402]this summer, when I started I was the first generation
[00:35:42.261]to come here, so these students were second generation
[00:35:45.096]and I kind of just showed them the in's and out's
[00:35:46.863]of what they need to do and how to go about their research.
[00:35:51.502]I was fortunate enough to meet Secretary of Transportation
[00:35:54.295]Anthony Foxx, I also presented a conference with IHEEP
[00:36:01.710]and this was in Pittsburgh, I attended a Railway conference
[00:36:04.861]which was in Minneapolis, so another thing about grad school
[00:36:07.655]you travel which is nice.
[00:36:10.096]Go to different states to conferences.
[00:36:12.580]I am currently working on my thesis which has to do with
[00:36:17.411]calculating the maximum friction of vehicles.
[00:36:19.924]And I was awarded student of the year from my old
[00:36:24.291]transportation center back in Edinburgh.
[00:36:29.083]So, this is my contact information if any of you
[00:36:31.421]want to reach me on how to get to grad school,
[00:36:34.440]had you want to apply here, or anything like that,
[00:36:37.730]you're more than welcome to email me, call me, whatever.
[00:36:43.647](applause)

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Tags:
ntc
matc
nebraska transportation center
mid-america transportation center
matc scholars program
scholars program

Comments

0 Comments

2015 MATC Scholars Program: Grad Students

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments