Spring/Summer 2010
While they were students, twin brothers Jose and Marc Gallardo managed to make their way through a demanding mechanical engineering major with the help of each other—and MESA.
As students at USC, the Gallardos received tutoring and later tutored other students. Jose said the help from MESA inspired him to visit local high schools and speak to students about engineering while he was an undergraduate student.
"Most of them would never have considered engineering as a career. They were exposed to many negative things around them and needed to see something positive that would give them hope and a goal for their future," Jose said.
The brothers both earned mechanical engineering degrees in 1987. Jose went on to get a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1991 and Marc got an MBA in 1993.
Fitting for twins, education wasn't the only life choice with similarities. Both brothers wanted to work in propulsion, so Jose got a job at Rockwell Space Division working on the space shuttle, and Marc started his career at Rockwell Rocketdyne working on boosters used to launch satellites. Jose's involvement with the space shuttle brought him to Rocketdyne for occasional meetings and people there would think he was Marc.
Although Marc is no longer an engineer—he's now a financial analyst in corporate finance for Mattel—he said the technical background he received is helpful with critical thinking in any career.
And more than 20 years later, Jose happened to take a job with Rocketdyne where his brother Marc began his career.
"It's funny because I still see people here who think I am Marc," Jose said.
Jose is now a systems engineer in a solar power program. He uses a new technology that turns solar energy into electricity, by using thousands of mirrors to focus sunlight on a solar tower receiver. The energy is absorbed in molten salt and routed to insulated tanks for storage. It is then run through a heat exchanger that turns water into hot steam and run through a turbine to produce the electricity.
"MESA gave me a support group at USC that helped me graduate with my degree. It enabled me to meet more people like me going though the same struggles as me," he said. "It motivated me to work hard and complete my degree no matter how difficult it was."
The Gallardo twins were the first in their family to go to college and their success influenced their two younger siblings to attend college as well.
"I didn't think about going to college until I was a sophomore in high school. My parents emphasized the importance of education but not necessarily going to college. I believe that I am proof that a good education will open up many opportunities," Marc said.
For Jose, MESA made engineering a plausible possibility as a career not only for him and his brother, but for future generations.
"To me, MESA means More Engineering Successes in America."
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