ERIC AGUILAR

Eric Aguilar is of Costa Rican and Mexican American descent. Even as a child he knew that he wanted to grow up to be a scientist and an inventor. The strong work ethic of his immigrant parents inspired Aguilar to work hard. Aguilar earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University and his MBA from the University of Redlands. Shortly after receiving his BS degree, he joined NASA and now is Assistant Delivery Manager for the Sample Caching System. That title means that in addition to managing an engineering team and supervising budgets, Aguilar works on the design, manufacture and testing of some of the most complex robotic systems designed to work on Mars. This is his favorite part of the job: “…the challenge of pushing the bounds of exploration and technology.” Aguilar advises students not to just work for a paycheck, that “…if you love the work that you do you will excel at the work you do.” Aguilar is a big promoter of collaboration, diversity, and inclusion in the STEM fields, saying, “Projects like the Mars Rovers are not successful because of one person, …but because as a diverse and inclusive group we are able to openly and freely share ideas in order to make the best spacecraft design.”