University Of Delaware: A Gentleman And A Scholar

Press release from the University of Delaware:

August 13, 2021

Eduardo Nombera-Bueno can vividly recall flying with his family, in 2006, from their home city of Lima, Peru, to the United States. Although he was only five at the time, he still remembers feeling a sense of nervous excitement — he could not fully understand the circumstances, he said, but he knew something big was happening.

That something big was a job transfer for Nombera-Bueno’s father, resulting in a move to Miami — a relatively easy transition for a Spanish-speaking child entering a majority-Hispanic kindergarten class. But, three years later, the family moved again, this time to a mostly white town in northern New Jersey. Nombera-Bueno, now eight, was repeatedly made to feel like an outsider.

For this and all opportunities afforded to him at UD, Nombera-Bueno spends a lot of time giving back to the University community. He conducts tours of the College of Engineering, serves on a diversity, equity and inclusion board for his major and frequently mentors incoming Blue Hens — often from underrepresented groups.

“There is a cliche: Immigrants have to work twice as hard to get a quarter of the way there,” he said. “It’s not always the case, but it can be true. So it is rewarding to see members of these minority groups succeed — that brings me a lot of happiness.” It also, he added, benefits the field as a whole by ensuring a variety of problem-solving perspectives at the laboratory table.

As for the future, Nombera-Bueno would like to earn his doctorate before a career, possibly in academia, where he can continue paying forward the encouragement he has received from mentors during his time as an undergraduate.

But no matter where the path leads for ‘someone like him,’ he said, one thing is certain: “I still have a lot left to accomplish in my life. I have a very long way to go.”

This press release was produced by the University of Delaware. The views expressed here are the author’s own.