Four Graduate Students Earn Miguel Velez Scholarships
![Engineering graduate students (clockwise) Jose Alejandro Santamaria Rodriguez, Arturo Meza, Angel Balam Benitez-Mata and Debora Yumi De Oliveira have received Miquel Velez Scholarships. Engineering graduate students (clockwise) Jose Alejandro Santamaria Rodriguez, Arturo Meza, Angel Balam Benitez-Mata and Debora Yumi De Oliveira have received Miquel Velez Scholarships.](/files/miguel-velez-scholarship-2021-22-600x400.jpg)
Feb. 17, 2022 – Four graduate students from the UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering have won the Miguel Velez Scholarship for 2021-2022. They are among the 14 UCI awardees announced by the Graduate Division.
The Miguel Velez Scholarship provides financial support to graduate students who demonstrate outstanding past academic achievement as well as future promise, have financial need and who are citizens and residents of a Latin American country. Preference is given to citizens of Colombia. The scholarship provides resident fees and a stipend of $7,000.
“There were a number of impressive submissions and it gives me great joy to see the outstanding things our scholars are doing on a daily basis,” wrote Gillian Hayes, UCI vice provost and dean of the Graduate Division, in an email announcing the awardees.
This academic year’s engineering recipients are:
Angel Balam Benitez-Mata
![Angel Balam Benitez-Mata](/files/angel-balam-benitez-abbm-250x250.jpg)
Biomedical Engineering
Adviser: Michelle A. Digman
Arturo Meza
![Arturo Meza](/files/mse-meza-miguel-velez-scholarship-250x250.jpg)
Materials Science and Engineering
Adviser: Julie M. Schoenung
Debora Yumi De Oliveira
![Debora Yumi De Oliveira](/files/debora-yumi-de-oliveira-miguel-velez-scholarship_250x250.jpg)
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Adviser: Jasper A. Vrugt
Jose Alejandro Santamaria Rodriguez
![Jose Alejandro Santamaria Rodriguez, Angel Balam Benitez-Mata, Arturo Meza, Debora Yumi De Oliveira and Angel Balam Benitez-Mata](/files/jose-alejandro-santamaria-miguel-velez-scholarship_250x250.jpg)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Adviser: Bihter Padak
– Tonya Becerra