Erick Lizarraga Cruz

Erick's Story

MESA introduced me to the world of engineering and helped me develop a passion for math and science. If it hadn't been for MESA my career would likely be very different. My favorite part of MESA were definitely the competition days, they were a culmination of a year of hard work and determination. I was fortunate that during my time in MESA my team and I won 1st place on a few competitions validating all the hard work and struggles. My favorite competition was the water bottle rocket with the payload recovery.

After participating in MESA in High School, I wanted to pursue a career in engineering, but decided to take a non conventional route. I completed an apprenticeship, where I was went to trade school and worked as a machinist first. After 2- years in trade school I began my journey to pursue my engineering degree by working part time as a machinist and taking classes for my engineering degree. This evolved into an engineering internship at the same company where I was a machinist. Having a background in manufacturing at the start of my career made a huge impact on my future and opened many doors for me, including working for one of largest welding manufacturing companies in the world (Lincoln Electric) and my current role as a welding engineer for Siemens Mobility, making light rail trains for cities and Locomotives for Amtrak.