Sofia Velarde, a senior in the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering

According to Sofia Velarde, a senior in the Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering, she chose Purdue because it was clear the university could support her in whatever she wanted to pursue. When she first toured campus, she was deciding between aerospace and mechanical engineering, and it quickly became apparent that both programs were among the best in the country, each offering incredible opportunities for hands-on learning and innovation.

She was also drawn to the abundance of student organizations and the strong culture of student leadership and collaboration. Velarde knew that if she wanted to build a racecar, rocket, or rover, Purdue would provide the resources and community to make it happen.

Although the San Diego, Calif. native was accepted to several California schools, she felt a pull to step outside her comfort zone and immerse herself in the industrial, engineering-driven environment of the Midwest. Purdue attracts people from all walks of life and unites them through the shared goal of becoming exceptional engineers, she said.

Her first introduction to the broader engineering world came in seventh grade, when she participated in the San Diego County, and later the California State, Science Fair. As a young Latina girl, she had little exposure to people who looked like her in engineering, and she quickly learned that her presence in these spaces would sometimes be questioned.

Although she won first place in both competitions, several judges asked if the middle-school competitor had a brother or if her father had done the project for her. She said those comments revealed a deeper bias: that someone like her couldn’t possibly be capable of such work on her own.

It was her first glimpse into the subtle but persistent barriers that Latina women in STEM face, who, even today, make up only about 2% of the engineering workforce. In high school, she was lucky to attend an all-girls school that helped her rebuild the confidence those early experiences had shaken.

When she arrived at Purdue, a world-renowned engineering school, that uncertainty returned. She was stepping into an environment where few looked like her, and she feared she would once again have to prove that she belonged. Yet Purdue became the place that transformed those doubts into determination. The young engineer found mentors, professors and peers who valued what she brought to the table and who encouraged her to lead fearlessly.

Over the years, she worked her way up through Purdue Lunabotics, a large, historically majority-male organization, eventually becoming President and leading a team of nearly 100 students to success at NASA’s Lunabotics competition.

For the first time, she said, she didn’t feel like an exception. Instead, she felt like a leader whose ideas and voice were respected. She also conducted undergraduate research with NASA’s RETHi Lab, collaborating with PhD students to model lunar habitats, and was honored to be named a Purdue Engineering Fellow – one of only seven students recognized across the entire College of Engineering for academic excellence, leadership and impact.

The mechanical engineering senior says her journey at Purdue has shown her that representation matters. When young engineers see someone who looks like them designing robots, leading teams and conducting research for NASA, it makes their dreams feel real and attainable. She hopes to be the role model she once wished she had and to show that you can carve your place in engineering not by fitting in, but by standing out and lifting others as you climb.

Most recently, she interned at Solar Turbines in San Diego as a Test Engineer, where she helped design and model test instrumentation for Titan 350 gas turbines, collaborated with the Instrumentation Lab to integrate advanced sensors, and conducted validation tests supporting turbine applications for AI data centers and power grids. Before that, she worked as an R&D Intern at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, where she prototyped and tested lunar tire designs for Lockheed Martin’s Lunar Mobility Vehicle, conducting cryogenic chamber testing and 3D printing parts to replicate lunar surface conditions.

She also served as an Undergraduate Researcher at Purdue’s NASA Resilient Extra-Terrestrial Habitat (RETHi) Institute, where she developed and analyzed high-fidelity MATLAB simulations to study lunar habitat distress scenarios such as meteorite impacts and moonquakes.

Beyond her professional experience, the Purdue engineer has been deeply involved in the university’s engineering community through student organizations that emphasize leadership and technical collaboration. She serves as a Mechanical Engineering Ambassador, representing the School of Mechanical Engineering and giving tours to prospective students and families from all over the country. These experiences have been complemented by Purdue’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program, an experiential learning initiative that allowed her to mentor younger students in hands-on robotics development through the Lunabotics curriculum.

Collectively, these opportunities have given her a comprehensive engineering foundation—from design and manufacturing to leadership and outreach—and have solidified her goal of using engineering to advance space exploration and inspire future students to pursue STEM.