SJSU Outstanding Thesis Award Winner: "I knew in my heart that education was going to change my life"

When Hector Nuno moved from Mexico to the United States in 1991, he was 15 years old and didn't speak a word of English. He grew up in a home where work was the priority and education wasn't part of the equation.

And now, 20 years later, through commitment, perseverance and the dedicated mentorship of researchers from IBM, Hector Nuno is graduating with a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering as one of the top four students in the whole university. During the San Jose State commencement ceremony later this month, President David Kassing will honor him for earning the 2011 Outstanding Thesis Award in recognition of the exceptional quality of his research.

As a sophomore at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, having just arrived to a new country, Hector was unsure of what he wanted to be when he grew up. "Unfortunately, education was not a priority in my house," Hector said. "Even in high school, the teachers had low expectations for Latino students and didn't motivate me to go to college." His decision to attend Evergreen Valley Community College came from encouragement from his friends. "I played soccer and my friends thought I might be able to play in college. I enrolled, and did well, got good grades," he says."The teachers there motivated me."

Hector then transferred to San Jose State University and majored in biochemistry. Realizing that the mathematical concepts were easy, he became interested in engineering. "I was doing better in my math and physics classes than in my science courses," he said. "So I decided to get my Master's degree in chemical engineering."

San Jose State runs a university relations program with IBM Research - Almaden, in which San Jose State advisors and faculty seek out students that would be well suited for research programs. Dr. Melanie McNeil of San Jose State's Engineering Department reached out to Hector and informed him of the opportunity to learn more about the industry and to apply his skills in real-world projects. After meeting with IBM researcher Joseph Sly, and learning of all the different projects he was running at Almaden, Hector agreed to join IBM Research - Almaden through the university program and start working on one of the projects.

"We go through a competitive process of interviewing and reviewing resumes," Joseph said. "We are really looking for passion. This was the case with Hector. He was passionate, but, as in many cases, he didn't yet have the scientific direction."

And during the time that Hector worked at IBM Research, he figured it out. Many times, working seven days a week, and long hours, Hector sacrificed much of his personal life to focus on his research projects and develop his thesis. "Hector showed up on some days with reports, and a lot of times, I was like 'how did you do this'?" Joseph recalls. "Hector would reply, 'I skipped game night, or I took part of my family Sunday out.' He was just that kind of guy."

But the experience wasn't always just about the work. "I have a lot of great memories," Hector said. "I remember all the good times I had with the other SJSU students in the lab, and all the jokes and the laughs." Hector goes on, "I remember Victor Lee (IBM Research mentor) in the lab; it was amazing how he could transform the lab hood into a colorful assembly of chemical reactions. He would use fire, ice and colorful solutions to synthesize star polymers."

"Some of the best memories were working with Joseph. We would go over our weekly results and he would modify the presentations in a way that seemed to be a combination of work and art."

Hector also got a kick out of interactions with the team's manager, Bob Miller. "During weekly group meetings, Bob would catch the smallest mistakes in graphs and images, and nobody could see them but him," he said. "It was funny and most important it was very insightful."

Joseph Sly recalls Hector presenting his work at a national conference. "His whole family came in and sat in the back," he says. "They might not have known all of the scientific terms he was explaining, but he was speaking to a large room full of older men, mostly white, who were all taking notes on his work. It was really neat to see and you could tell they were proud."

When Hector is honored at San Jose State's commencement ceremony on May 28 in front of 25,000 people for his outstanding thesis, he hopes to make an impression on his family, especially the younger children, and for the entire Latino community, each of which inspired him to go to college. "I knew the numbers of Latino students reaching college was very low," he said. "I figured that if I could graduate from college, then Latino students could see in me a role model. That way they could follow my footsteps and believe it is possible to reach their goals."

Hector plans to work in the industry for a few years, and excel into a management level position. Eventually, he would like to teach at a high school and motivate students to pursue higher education. "The experience I had in high school made me think about all the students that are going through the same thing," says Hector. "I'm hoping that I can have the tools to motivate the students and find the means to persuade them to go to college." Hector is currently a mentor and volunteer for the California Community Partners for Youth organization.

"You know, coming to a foreign country as a kid and not speaking a word of English, I was totally lost," Hector said. "However, I knew in my heart that education was going to change my life."

In the video below, Joseph Sly shared some background on the program and some sentiments about Hector, including a message he recalls Hector telling the kids in his family: "You can do it because Hector did it."



Author's note:

The San Jose State University partnership with IBM Research - Almaden has been a very successful program, so far bringing on three students for full-time research positions. Jacquana Diep, Teddie Magbitang and Melia Tjio have all taken jobs with IBM Research - Almaden after completing their internship programs as San Jose State students.

Just last month, another San Jose State student intern at IBM Research - Almaden, Jay Yamanaga, won the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. And on May 4th, he was awarded the Davidson College of Engineering Award for Graduate Student Performance. Each year, only one student is acknowledged by these awards. Jay Yamanaga’s outstanding achievement is an excellent example and successful demonstration of the joint program between San Jose State University and IBM.

For Hector's thesis, “Functionalized Silica Nanostructures for Biosensing Application,” he studied the physical and chemical processes of star polymers in order to create a silica shell encasing that makes further testing of biomedical applications possible.