{"id":3733,"date":"2013-11-21T18:05:58","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T18:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=3733"},"modified":"2016-02-16T20:48:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T20:48:12","slug":"augsburg-shifts-students-dream-high-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2013\/11\/21\/augsburg-shifts-students-dream-high-gear\/","title":{"rendered":"Augsburg shifts student\u2019s dream into high gear"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trevor
As Trevor Rodriguez-Sotelo \u201913 crossed the stage at Augsburg\u2019s May\u00a0Commencement, he celebrated a successful undergraduate experience
that accelerated his ability to achieve his dream of becoming\u00a0an automotive engineer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trevor Rodriguez-Sotelo \u201913 was the kid who was fascinated by anything with a steering wheel and motor. From a young age, instead of playing with Matchbox cars or Tonka trucks, he would tinker with real engines in his uncles\u2019 garages.<\/p>\n

Later, when Rodriguez-Sotelo enrolled at Augsburg College, he had a clear vision of his dream: to work as an engineer designing automobile\u2014specifically BMW\u2014engines. He knew entering this highly specialized field was going to be a challenge, but he soon learned that Augsburg faculty and staff were eager to help him achieve his dream.<\/p>\n

During his first semester at the College, Rodriguez-Sotelo took Calculus Workshop, an elective course designed by Rebekah Dupont, the coordinator of an Augsburg program that seeks to increase the number of minority students who complete degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez-Sotelo said Dupont helped prepare him for success in college-level mathematics courses, supporting him inside and outside the classroom. She recognized Rodriguez-Sotelo\u2019s remarkable abilities and suggested that he take them to the next level through undergraduate research on campus, which he went on to conduct with Benjamin Stottrup, associate professor of physics.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrevor came with a dream, and he had to slog through my biophysics lab to get to that dream,\u201d said Stottrup, who for two years advised Rodriguez-Sotelo in the use of scientific instruments to measure resistance to flow in biomaterials.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez-Sotelo said he knew this research wasn\u2019t linked perfectly to his automotive engineering interest, but would give him priceless experience. Part of Rodriguez-Sotelo\u2019s on-campus research was made possible through Augsburg\u2019s McNair Scholars Program, a federal grant-funded graduate school preparatory program to help ready underrepresented students for doctoral study.<\/p>\n

\u201cStottrup stressed writing skills even though we\u2019re in the sciences,\u201d Rodriguez-Sotelo said. \u201cThis helps you become more articulate and allows you to present yourself better\u2014 those skills are applicable in my future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez-Sotelo\u2019s work on campus bolstered his off-campus research applications and opened the door to a prestigious summer automotive engineering position at Oakland University outside of Detroit, Mich.<\/p>\n

In addition to conducting research on and off campus, Rodriguez-Sotelo was a member of the men\u2019s track team, was president of Augsburg Latin American Students and of Augsburg\u2019s Society of Physics Students chapter, mentored first-year STEM students, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the opportunity to do all the academic, cultural and social activities I liked,\u201d he said. \u201cI was able to do everything because of personal and academic support from faculty and staff. I followed their advice, and they put me on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez-Sotelo graduated last May, and in August took a step closer to achieving his goals by beginning a master\u2019s degree program at the renowned Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. He earned a competitive BMW fellowship, which will help fund his graduate studies and allow him to intern at BMW Manufacturing Co. next summer. He credits earning this award to his \u201cwhole body of work\u201d at Augsburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beautiful thing about Augsburg is that faculty and staff pay attention to their students\u2026they care what kind of person I am and where I go after Augsburg,\u201d he said. \u201cSince I was a little kid, I knew this was where I wanted to be, and now I\u2019m here\u2014an automotive engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trevor Rodriguez-Sotelo \u201913 was the kid who was fascinated by anything with a steering wheel and motor. From a young age, instead of playing with Matchbox cars or Tonka trucks, he would tinker with real engines in his uncles\u2019 garages. Later, when Rodriguez-Sotelo enrolled at Augsburg College, he had a clear vision of his dream: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19,65],"class_list":["post-3733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-2013","tag-my-auggie-experience"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3733"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6486,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3733\/revisions\/6486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}