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Alumna Works on Earth so
Others Can Work in the Heavens
Daniela Monterrubio, a project engineer for MEI
Technologies, helps sustain life on the International
Space Station — ensuring that water is
safe to drink and providing astronauts opportunities
to exercise to counteract the loss of muscle
density that occurs in microgravity. “Water is one
of the limiting factors in sustaining life in outer
space because it’s so heavy to bring into space,”
explains Monterrubio, biomedical engineering
2006, who works at the Johnson Space Center.
“Once it’s in space, it needs to be recycled. …
Obviously, there’s a lot of concern about whether
water is safe.” She works with a total organic
carbon analyzer, which checks samples of recycled
water for quality.
Monterrubio also supports experiments on a
harness that will make it easier for astronauts to
use a treadmill while in space. “I love that I can
directly see how engineering is applied to solve
problems in the human body,” she says. “I can
see how this harness, if it works well, is going to
keep crew members from losing muscle tone.
Then they can stay in space longer.”
Monterubbio, 24, is no stranger to serving
others. Before joining MEI Technologies, a subcontractor
for NASA, she volunteered for two
CUA Engineering Dean
16 | cuaengineer
years at Amigos de Jesús, an orphanage for boys
in northwest Honduras, where she taught math
and science. She credits the volunteer experience
with helping her secure her job. “Working
with the International Space Station, an awareness
for cultural sensitivities and the ability to
work with people of different backgrounds are
essential.” Since becoming a project engineer,
she has been involved with a chapter of Engineers
without Borders. “As engineers, we’re
called to use our talents in ways that benefit
society,” she says.
A native of Houston and the eldest of six children,
Monterrubio attended CUA at the urging of
her father, a former chemical engineer who is
now a full-time deacon. It wasn’t much of a
stretch: Her father’s nine brothers are engineers,
and Monterrubio’s brother, Omar, is a CUA graduate
engineering student. In fact CUA’s “family
environment” was a draw for Monterrubio as
were opportunities to work closely with faculty
members. “Since Catholic’s engineering school
is small,” she says, “it did a great job of having
us work in multidisciplinary teams. And that to
me has been very useful in the workplace.”
Her advice to new students: Focus on learning
Recognized for Achievements in Robotics
Dean Nguyen at the award ceremony.
Daniela Monterrubio, B.B.E. 2006, with orphan in
northwest Honduras.
rather than studying. “Make sure that you’re not
working for a grade but for knowledge, an understanding
of a concept and how you’re going to
apply it.” CUA instilled in her a love of lifelong
learning, Monterrubio says. Earlier this year, she
volunteered as a test subject for astronauts in
training. “I’ve had astronauts practice giving
eco-cardiograms on me, and they’ve practiced
drawing blood on me,” she says, laughing. With
seriousness, she adds: “I get to learn about the
new experiments they’re preparing to do on the
space station.”
On Feb. 19, the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural
Societies named Charles C. Nguyen, dean of CUA’s School of Engineering,
the recipient of its 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Said Ruplu Bhattacharya, president of the D.C. council, “Each year, DC-
CEAS recognizes outstanding engineers and architects who have distinguished
themselves among their peers. The Lifetime Achievement Award is
our highest honor, and is bestowed to those who have made deep, meaningful
contributions throughout their lifetimes.”
Nguyen’s area of research is robotics. The award recognizes him for
“outstanding contribution to the field of engineering, to academia, and to the
profession in the areas of medical robotics, space robotics, linear time-varying
systems, decentralized control, intelligent systems, robotics, fuzzy-logic
control and robot vision.”
Chairman of CUA’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science from September 1997 to June 2001, he was named dean of the
school in 2001. He is the first Vietnamese American dean at a major university
in the United States.
In addition to his research, Nguyen has published more than 100 technical
and scientific papers in the area of control and robotics, co-edited three
books and guest-edited 10 special issues in major journals. He was the
chairman of the Robotics Committee of the Fifth International Symposium
on Robotics and Manufacturing (ISRAM ’94) and program vice-chair of the
IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1997 (ICRA ’97).
He is the recipient of many awards and honors from around the globe.
He received his award at the DCCEAS Awards Banquet in Silver Spring, Md.,
on Feb. 28, 2009.