After graduating high school at the age of 16, I left my native Venezuela and moved to Miami, Florida, with the goal of becoming an electrical engineer. The following year, I started my undergraduate studies at Florida International University (FIU) and was scheduled to graduate as an electrical engineer in December 1998.
Unfortunately, on October 6, 1998, two months shy of graduation, I had a car accident in front of the university. A car ran a red light and hit the car that I was in, flipping us over three times and eventually landing us upside down. I was airlifted to the hospital where I was diagnosed with a spinal cord injury at the C5 - C7 level, which left me paralyzed from the neck down (quadriplegic). I was in the intensive care unit for two weeks connected to machines that helped me breathe. Then, I had a neck fusion surgery and was transferred to the rehabilitation department.
I had no choice but to withdraw from the semester and was unable to graduate in December as planned. Suddenly I could not move, walk, write, drive, eat by myself or play sports. All the things that I had taken for granted were gone. I had to regroup and assimilate what had just happened. I now depended on others for the simplest things, and I no longer had privacy. Daily activities tested my patience, and I realized that the way I chose to react to this unexpected new reality would affect the rest of my life. I could either give up or confront these challenges directly and continue achieving my goals.
I knew I had to keep going and finish what I started. With the unconditional love and support of my family and close friends, I persevered. For the first few days of January 1999, I attended school from the hospital before finally being discharged. I completed my last semester at FIU and attended the graduation ceremony in April.
I immediately continued with my graduate studies, and in 2002 I completed my master's degree in electrical engineering. During graduate school, I was a founding member and manager of FIU's VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits) Laboratory where I helped bring in donations for the study and development of complex integrated circuits. After completing my master's, I continued my graduate studies to obtain a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at FIU. I based my doctoral dissertation on creating an electronic system capable of segmentally calculating the human body composition. This allowed me to not only meet the requirements for graduation, but also provided an opportunity for me to help people with physical disabilities like mine get better assessments of their physical conditions.
Since receiving my Ph.D. in electrical engineering in December 2007, I have taught electrical engineering classes at FIU and Miami Dade College, worked as an electrical engineer and have participated in projects like flight control electronics and autonomous vehicle system.
In April 2020, I was offered a position at L3Harris. I mentioned that I was very interested, but at the same time it was very difficult for me to relocate because I had already modified my house to be more accessible. I have ramps for my wheelchair, a roll-in shower, wider doors, etc. The recruiter called me back a few days later and told me they would offer me a remote position. Now, I have been working at L3Harris over three years.
I am proud to be surrounded by so many intelligent and caring people that have helped me grow, both personally and professionally. It could have been very easy to quit and not achieve my goal of becoming an electrical engineer, but I realized that there are always far worse positions to be in. I share this story to encourage everyone to continue pursuing their dreams. Feeling sorry for yourself will not help you get past your hardships and could hold you back instead. Overcoming challenges is by no means easy, but staying focused on your ultimate goal can turn dreams into reality.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
After graduating high school at the age of 16, I left my native Venezuela and moved to Miami, Florida, with the goal of becoming an electrical engineer. The following year, I started my undergraduate studies at Florida International University (FIU) and was scheduled to graduate as an electrical engineer in December 1998.
