Technology students Isaac Hernandez, Diana Perez and Quin Smith were invited to represent Palomar College and exhibit their work during a NSF-sponsored conference from Oct. 23-25 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Pictured above: Quin Smith, left, and Diana Perez were chosen to attend the Advanced Technological Education conference. Not pictured is Palomar\u2019s third student delegate, Isaac Hernandez.<\/em><\/p>\n SAN MARCOS, CA \u2015 Three students from Palomar College will attend a national technology summit in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 23-25, as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program to promote educational opportunity for students interested in technology.<\/p>\n The students who will attend from Palomar are Isaac Hernandez and Diana Perez, both from the college\u2019s Drone Technology program, and Quin Smith, who is in his last semester in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program here. All three received scholarships from the NSF and American Association of Community Colleges to cover transportation, lodging and conference fees.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to have our students share their work and their experience\u2014not only with other students from around the country, but also with the faculty and NSF program officers who will be at the conference,\u201d said Wing Cheung, a Geography Professor at Palomar who helped launch the Drone Technology program here.<\/p>\n This is the second year in a row that students from Palomar have been invited to attend the Principal Investigators\u2019 Conference of the NSF\u2019s Advanced Technical Education (ATE) program.<\/p>\n While attending the conference, Hernandez, Perez and Smith will have the opportunity to share their work with other students from around the country while learning about the latest in careers and development from the nation\u2019s foremost innovators. The theme of the conference is \u201cInnovation and Impact.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to help me learn how to break into the field and see what I want to do because we\u2019ll get to see all kinds of applications (for drone technology) we wouldn\u2019t have even thought about,\u201d said Perez. \u201cI feel very honored, for sure. We want to give back and represent Palomar well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to networking with industry professionals and other students with similar career goals,\u201d added Smith.<\/p>\n Cheung said last year\u2019s attendees, Mikayla Garza and Gerardo Perez, have gone on to further success at Palomar and beyond. Garza now assists in the Drone Technology program at Palomar while finishing her associate\u2019s degree, while Gerardo Perez recently completed an internship with a local company that Cheung said was \u201cvery happy\u201d with Perez\u2019s work and has opened more internships to Palomar students as a result.<\/p>\n # # #<\/p>\n Media contacts:<\/p>\n Julie Lanthier Bandy, Public Affairs, jlanthierbandy@palomar.edu, 760-744-1150 x2365
\nTom Pfingsten, Public Affairs, tpfingsten@palomar.edu, 760-744-1150 x2960<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"