My name is Luis Rodriguez, and I’m an aerospace engineering PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder. I was born and raised in Mexico but moved to the United States to pursue my dream of dedicating my life to space exploration. Besides my research, I love sharing my knowledge with others and demonstrating that science is for everyone.

What inspired you to explore STEM when you were young?

I grew up in a small town where the nights were starry. Every summer night, I used to lie on the roof of my house for an hour before going to sleep. At first, I just admired the beauty of the starry sky, but as I grew older, my admiration turned into doubts, like: why do the stars twinkle? How far away are they? Does the moon actually shine?

What do you enjoy most about what you do in your STEM career?

Every day presents a new challenge and an opportunity to learn something different.

What is a fun, bizarre or insightful STEM fact about your field?

Gravity on Mars is 37% less than on Earth. So, on Mars we could jump 3x higher than on Earth.