The Carnegie Mellon Student Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers joined the CMU community in the fall of 1992. The idea of gathering all the Hispanic engineering and science students at CMU was developed sometime in the fall of 1992 by a small but energetic group of students who saw the enormous potential of the CMU Hispanic community. The first meeting was held in the fall of 1992 in the CMU campus. With Edwin Rodriguez as our first President, we organized several activities along the year, with the most important one being attending the 1993 National Career Conference in Chicago, Illinois. During this conference we were officially recognized as a SHPE Student Chapter.



Our major Chapter achievements are highlighted by our Design Teams' success in recent years. In 1993, in just our first full year as an official student chapter, six of our members designed Scrape Away, a retractable, heatable screen for the inside of a car's windshield, designed to be remotely activated at any time and defrost the windshield, thus eliminating the need to scrape the ice off. This design team made it to the final competition in the 1994 National Career Conference, held in Austin, Texas in February 1994, and obtained second place, without having any previous experience in design competitions. In 1994 we submitted two designs into the competition, having one, Sun Cube, make it to the final competition, held this time during the 1995 National Technical and Career Conference, held in Denver, Colorado in February 1995. This design consisted of a solar powered cooler. Although the team did not place in the top five nationwide, we have traditionally been the only team east of the Mississippi to reach the final round, ever.



In 1995 we submitted two designs into the competition, and both were invited to present at the 1996 NTCC, held in Seattle, Washington in February, 1996. The two teams were the Easy-Jack and the Elevator Occupancy Sensor. The Elevator Occupancy Sensor team obtained second place in the competition. The Easy-Jack team did not place in the top 5 despite a strong presentation and prototype. During this conference, Junior Electrical and Computer Engineering major Jesus Jimenez presented his research paper on "Deposition and Characterization of Magneto Optical Materials", and was also awarded second place in the Student Technical Paper competition.



Another success for SHPE-CMU came in the 1995 Eastern Technical and Career Conference, held in November 1995 in Danvers, Massachusetts. For the second straight year we had a team competing in the Academic Olympiad competition. This year, however, our team obtained third place in our region.



Academic Olympiad made it to the Regional Finals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Erich Velandia placed runner up with his Technical Paper Presentation, "Concentrically Cylindrical SpeakerEnclosure," and "The Wake Machine" Design Team placed fifth in Nationals.



We also attended the Eastern Technical Career Conference in Rochester NY held in November 1997. We earned $1,500 by placing second in the Academic Olympiad Competition. SHPE-CMU sent over fifteen members to their 1998 National Technical Career Conference held in Orlando, Florida. Patty Pomar's Design Team placed in the top 5 in Nationals.



In 1999, SHPE Carnegie Mellon sent 14 members to NTCC in Los Angeles, where the PoolGUARD design team recieved first place, earning the chapter 3000 dollars and earning the design team members a free trip to any NASA facility. The team - consisting of Michelle Frank, Luis Munoz, Aleksandr Bernhard, Nadia Amador, and Julia Rodriguez - developed a pool safety system that would lift drowning victims out of a pool through a system of pulleys and a fiberglass grate.



In 2001, the Carnegie Mellon team placed first at the regional College Bowl at ETCC and dominated the finals at NTCC 2002, achieving first place in their first appearance in the College Bowl finals. The team consisted of Charlie Huckel, Charles Kohl and Darius Dixon. Charles Kohl was also awarded 3rd place in the Technical Paper Competition for his research on Hybrid Wireless Spread Spectrum Communications Techniques.



In 2002, we sent 8 members to ETCC in East Rutherford, NJ, where our academic olympiad team received first place for the 2nd consecutive year. Carnegie Mellon again represented Region IV at NTCC 2003, but this time defending a national championship. This time we came in third place. Congratulations to Charlie Huckel, Jessica Straalsund and Charles Kohl on their accomplishment.



At NTCC 2004 in Chicago, the chapter design team placed 4th in the nation for their "Snow-Away" System. Members of the team include Jarrett Avery, Mario Escalante, Edward Lee, Mac Liang, Adam Torres, and Mary Tung. This system was designed to improve driving safety for cars during inclement weather. In addition, CMU student Charles Kohl was named Student Member of the Year for 2003 by the Greater Philadelphia Chapter.



In 2007, SHPE Carnegie Mellon sent a record breaking 22 members to NTCC in Philadelphia, where the BreathAir design team recieved second place, earning the chapter 2500 dollars. The team - consisting of Luis Bermudez, Shameer Bolanos, Reyes Flete, Steven Ramirez, Mike Salame, and Jorge Villareal - developed a software for Pocket PCs that could interact with a Breathalyzer; the system would allow a flight attendant to determine whether or not it would be safe to give a passenger another alcoholic drink.



Our goals for this year are to increase member involvement, improve alumni relations, and to increase participation in the conferences. We hope that this year will be a success, but we need your help to make that happen. Please help to make this organization the best it can be.