OUTSTANDING JUNIOR: Benjamin Diaz Villa

For Benjamin Diaz Villa, the decision to study engineering was a no-brainer. Born in Colombia, Diaz Villa moved to the United States with his family as a child. Not yet fluent in English, he was immediately drawn to math and science since both are universal languages.

As a teenager, Diaz Villa attended the Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions, which is a Houston Independent School District total magnet school. His studies there affirmed his interests in engineering, and Diaz Villa joined the UH mechanical engineering department in 2017 as a freshman.

Since that time, Diaz Villa has interned at Technip FMC, worked as a research assistant in Dr. Ralph Metcalfe’s computational fluid dynamics lab, and received numerous scholarships and awards, including an award for being an Outstanding Honors First-Year Student in 2018.

As for what comes next, Diaz Villa already has that figured out. He is making plans to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering after he graduates.

Diaz Villa attributes his success to the support of his family, along with being well-rounded. He remarked that being involved in activities outside of his academics actually helped him with budgeting his time.

“If you only have your classes and nothing else, you’ll find that you are wasting so much of your free time on pointless things like playing on your phone or watching TV. But if you are involved in things outside of school, be it your church, a service project, or sports, you will feel more inclined to allocate your resources better and dedicate a certain amount of time for your studies,” he said. But Diaz Villa cautions not to overdo it, remarking that work-life balance is very important.

In his spare time, Diaz Villa is very active in his church and participates in the musical ensemble, named M4Es (Music for Engineers) at the college. The group gives a public performance on campus at the end of each semester.

Diaz Villa also credits the support he has received from his professors. “The professors here are very open about what they do, their research, their industry connections. It makes being a student here a great experience.”