Alexander Zapata
Alex Zapata is from Midlothian, Virginia, and is a junior in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering with a GPA of 3.60. He says the best thing about being a Virginia Tech engineer is that the quality of the resources and opportunities available for engineering students are amazing. He says it feels like there are countless organizations and design teams that you can be a part of, all of which are a great way to explore different fields and find out what you like and don't like. He initially wanted to focus his mechanical engineering degree in Aerospace applications and joined a related design team. Eventually, he landed more biomedical applications of Mechanical Engineering and he’s in love with the work he does for the Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics department at Virginia Tech.
Since he has been at Virginia Tech, Alex has worked under the Biomedical Engineering department and has had summer internships with medical device companies. He would like to pursue a career in the biomedical technology industry. He thinks it's a great field to use engineering as a means of helping people. Alex is currently a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). SHPE provides its members with resources to help them succeed as engineers in the professional world. Alex says that he has learned many things from his time with them and has met some of his closest friends from SHPE.
Alex says his role model is his father. He is an electrical engineer, and when Alex was younger his father would occasionally bring him to his work where he got to see engineering drawings of power generators and electrical systems. Alex says his father is one of the biggest nerds he knows and he loves being an engineer. Those experiences inspired him to pursue a career in Mechanical Engineering. Alex also shared that when it comes to music, he is pretty open to his taste. That he leans towards songs with more jazz influences and musical complexity, but if he were to pick, it would be a type of alternative RnB and Hip Hop. His favorite film is La La Land because of its beautiful story, the way color is used throughout the film, and because the music is “10/10”.