Summer 2011 - University of Massachusetts Lowell

A L U M N I L I F E
u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 2008
PURSUING THE
AMERICAN DREAM
When Leonel Enrique Nava ’08, ’10 and
his family fled Venezuela in 2003, they
faced a future fraught with uncertainty.
Born and raised in Maracaibo, Nava worked
in the Venezuelan petroleum industry for
13 years as a mechanical engineer. But his
political and labor activities earned him
the ire of officials in the administration of
President Hugo Chavez. Fearing for their
safety, Nava and his family came to the
United States where he applied for political
asylum. The U.S. government eventually
granted his request, and the Navas have
been living in the country ever since.
“Being in a different country with a
different culture and a different language,
I knew it was not going to be easy to get
back on track,” he says. “I also knew from
experience the detrimental environmental
impact of petroleum extraction so I wanted
to do something different. That was when
I decided to study nuclear engineering.”
He enrolled at UMass Lowell and, in
May 2008, he received his bachelor’s
degree in mechanical engineering, with a
focus on energy. Two years later, he obtained
his master’s degree in energy engineering,
with a concentration in nuclear energy.
And in 2010, he took his oath as a
new American citizen at a naturalization
ceremony in Worcester.
Today, Nava is being trained in Chattanooga
by the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) as a nuclear fuel-core design engineer
for its Pressurized Water Reactors
(PWR) Nuclear Power Plants. The TVA
ranks among the top 10 utilities in the
nation for achievement in economic
development.
Leonel Enrique Nava ’08, ’10 poses
with his son, Juan Fernando, at the
2008 commencement ceremony.
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