The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, a nationally recognized organization designed to empower Hispanic students interested in STEM since its founding in 2002, has begun new inclusive initiatives and reinforced its past programs in new ways.

The organization was founded in 1974 by Rodrigo Garcia, a civil engineer in Los Angeles. He was startled by the lack of Hispanic representation in his field despite the large Hispanic population in California. He gathered a group of his fellow Latinos in varying STEM-related fields and began the nationally recognized organization. SHPE now has a presence across over 280 colleges with more than 13,000 members.

This origin has inspired the values of the Binghamton University chapter with family, service and education at the forefront. For over 20 years, SHPE has cultivated a welcoming community for Hispanics on campus to succeed in their future careers.

“Our Hispanic community over here, just especially in this area, it’s a predominantly white institution, we want to make sure our Hispanic community, especially the ones who are focused in STEM, feel welcome and safe within our areas,” Levi Ramirez, vice president of SHPE and a senior majoring in computer science, said.

Outside of the local community, SHPE also has resources nationwide. This is best displayed through its SHPE National Convention, one of the largest gatherings of STEM students and professionals. This convention will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, with hundreds of educational workshops and opportunities for networking and job opportunities.

Along with these large conventions that bring together all members of the organization, there are smaller team-building events throughout the year.

“Over this summer, we have our President Summit, which is only for the president and vice president,” said Ramirez. “I always had the opportunity to attend. So I took advantage of that, which was in Chicago, Illinois. So within that summit, I met different people from different chapters, different majors as well.”

These summits focus on professional development and the work required to run organizations that participate on the national level. One of the many moving parts includes the programs available to general body members. Ramirez highlighted the programs in SHPE for the general body.

“The amount of opportunities that we have them to our general body members is a lot,” said Ramirez. “For example, I’ll start with our programs, like in the fall semester, we have our ambassador program, which we encourage general body to apply.”

These avenues that Ramirez reflects on led him to his current position and helped with his social and professional development while at the University. SHPE has also introduced new sectors in its organizations as its demographics grow.

SHPEtinas was officially founded in 2019 after nearly a decade of discussion surrounding the lack of female representation within the SHPE “familia.” Former National President Diana Gomez began this initiative by hosting an “Empowering Latina Luncheon” at its national convention. Since this moment, SHPE has harkened back to its mission of supporting

Janelle Mosquera, director of SHPEtinas Binghamton and a junior majoring in environmental science, explained her excitement surrounding the new chapter.

“The initiative of SHPEtinas had been discussed for a few years but it wasn’t until this year that we decided to get it started,” Mosquera wrote. “With the help of the SHPEtinas Committee Board, the Binghamton SHPEtinas chapter has been a huge success. We’ve heard such positive thoughts from members about our events, our mission, and how everyone is excited to see what we come up with in the future. I’m very excited to continue with the chapter and see it grow.”

Ramirez also highlighted SHPE’s upcoming Female Leadership and Mentorship in Engineering and Science panel, set to take place on March 23. It will feature six women in STEM as they speak to their experiences in their respective fields. It has other community-building events on the docket, including its annual soccer tournament against other organizations in the Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and other Latine organizations.

This push for inclusion and representation in all forms has been the hallmark of the organization since its founding. The University’s chapter provides a local space for students to see themselves professionally represented and gives them room to grow through opportunities that might not otherwise be available.

“We’re open to anyone in general,” Ramirez said. “And then we found ourselves too. We want everyone, like our general body members, including [the E-Board], to feel like just getting those skills — leadership skills, professional skills, etc. — basically, helping them shape for post-grad after their Binghamton chapter.”