College of Engineering News Room

Outstanding Industrial Engineering Grads

During the USF College of Engineering’s end-of-semester ceremony where hundreds of recent Engineering graduates are inducted into the Order of the Engineer, one student in each department is recognized for notable achievements and high academic performance in their major focus.

This semester, the college’s Industrial and Management Systems Engineering department is presenting Vanessa Arroyo with its title of outstanding Senior. She went up against a graduating class full of talented students, including the department’s runner-up for outstanding senior­– her husband Jose Arroyo.

Jose and Vanessa met as students at the University of Turabo in Puerto Rico, which they attended from 2007 – 2010. Both received full-ride student athlete scholarships to play on sports teams at the university. Vanessa swam for the Columbia Swimming Federation, while Jose played soccer for the Puerto Rico National Football Team.

Both were engineers as well, and the two shared some of the same undergraduate classes at the university. After dating for some time, Jose and Vanessa decided to move to Tampa and married soon after. Having grown up in a military family and trained with a Navy SEAL after high school, Jose also decided to enroll in the United States Marine Corps in 2011. After being stationed in North Carolina for four years, Jose came back to Tampa, and both Jose and Vanessa enrolled at USF to finish their engineering degrees. Jose said they enrolled because of USF’s engineering program and because it’s one of few U.S. universities that offers an ROTC program for all four branches of military.

While at USF, Vanessa was one of the founding members of the American Society of Engineering Management – the first student chapter of the international organization of the same name to form at USF in the fall of 2017. Through workshops and professional development events, the club focuses on helping its members learn more about the profession of engineering management, as well as what it takes to work in the industry. Vanessa was the club’s president this semester, and Jose was its vice president.

Both Jose and Vanessa were also awarded Best Capstone Project for their senior capstone course project in Industrial Engineering Management. The award is given to a team of two to three senior engineering students who can produce the best project for their major focus out of their entire graduating class.

The couple chose to tackle the issue of creating affordable housing for the homeless and spent more than 100 hours interviewing homeless Tampa residents, as well as business owners they could partner with to produce their own affordable housing material.

Jose said they mainly surveyed homeless members of downtown Tampa and those they met while volunteering at Trinity Cafe – a nonprofit Tampa restaurant that offers patrons two free meals a day.

“There were many weekends when we just went out with Gatorades and food and sat with the less fortunate,” he said. “It was a great opportunity for us to be able to give back and also sit down and figure out how and why certain individuals got to where they were and what was preventing them from getting back on their feet.”

From their research, Jose and Vanessa developed modular material made of a lightweight, thermal-efficient plastic and cement that pieces together like LEGO bricks. The material forms a 10’x10’ space that includes an enclosed bathroom and a studio-style living area. Jose said they also spoke to Hillsborough County Housing and Community Development officials, which said their structures would be feasible to one day build in the community if they had the funding to supply the material.

After graduating this semester, Jose will travel to Camp Barrett in Quantico, Virginia, where he will train for six months to become an officer in the Marine Corps. While in the Marines, Jose plans to become a naval aviator, which could allow him to someday attain his ultimate career goal and lifelong aspiration of becoming an astronaut.

“It’s one of those ‘out there’ dreams people think is farfetched,” Jose said. “Dreams are just goals that have not been properly planned and executed. …I try to keep that mantra for our kids. Nothing’s out of reach. You just have to organize your thoughts, start a plan and work toward it.”

Meanwhile, Vanessa – and the Arroyos’ sons Aiden and Ashton - will be moving to Oklahoma where she’ll begin a three-year civilian industrial engineering position with the Air Force. Because Jose’s training will relocate him about every six months, he said this would prevent frequent moves as well as school and work changes.

Vanessa also plans to begin pursuing a master’s degree during the second year of her position with the Air Force.