Posted by Evan Henson on 4/2/2024
“My time at NEISD was very important to me and to my career trajectory, and I don’t think I would be where I am without it.”
“Trajectory” is the perfect word for Reagan High School graduate Daniel Pineda. His world now revolves around rockets. He’s an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). His work is hard for most to understand, but for those who do, it’s impressive.
“I manage a laboratory and group of graduate and undergraduate students to develop laser-based and optically-based methods for measurements in extreme environments, like rockets,” said Pineda. “To put it simply, we try to make measurements that couldn’t be made before, and we try to do it in the harshest environments you can imagine, all in the pursuit of more fuel-efficient engines and a reduction in environmental harm.”
After earning his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), he started working at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During his first year, his team broke the collegiate altitude record for a student-built, liquid-propellant rocket. Now, at UTSA, he’s earning half a million-dollar grants for his research.
His out-of-this-world talent was cultivated by North East ISD teachers. Pineda attended Hidden Forest Elementary School and Encino Park Elementary School. He was part of the first sixth-grade class at Tejeda Middle School and graduated top of his class at Reagan in 2008. He can still name his teachers from nearly every class and their impact on him.
Sara Bealor was his kindergarten teacher at Hidden Forest. She found a way to help him channel his curiosity in a constructive way. His Debate coach at Reagan, Heather Hayes, became a role model for him and helped him think about what he could do to influence change in the world he wanted to see. Elaine Freeland and Jan Ross were his English teachers at Reagan, and they taught him how to write and make sure every sentence and every word had a purpose. He credits them and the things he learned in their classrooms with helping him write and win important research grants.
There was Stephen Gibbs, Ivonne Ruiz, William Hoffman, Edmund Tejeda, Lynn Bodet and Linda Pratt. He took several Art classes with Susan Pierce and Jessica Gonzales. They taught him how to be resourceful and the importance of expressing himself. Those lessons stick with him, but so do lessons from Computer Science teacher Wayne Becken and Chemistry teacher Barbara Harrell.
“Mr. Becken was my first introduction to computer science, and I can confidently say that I learned a lot of what I know today about C++ from him. Mrs. Harrell made my first experiences with chemistry really exciting and fun. The mnemonic devices she taught us to remember the patterns of certain reactions or oxidation states, I still use today to remember chemical concepts in my classes and in my research.”
While Becken and Harrell are the teachers who probably most closely align with his current work, Pineda says every one of his teachers helped better prepare him to be the rocket scientist he is today. For him, STEM was only part of the equation to becoming the well-rounded person he is today. So, he would challenge current NEISD students to get creative with their electives even if they know what they want to do when they grow up.
“Despite pursuing a technical degree focused on STEM, the best preparation I received from NEISD was the comprehensive curriculum covered by my arts and humanities classes and electives, which included Art, Spanish, English, History and Debate. Middle school and high school are critical times for identity development, and I would confidently say that my identity and the idea of what I wanted to do with my life were forged in those classes. An important part of being a professor, an educator, a mentor, and leader is the ability to empathize with others and see collaborators and trainees in a way that acknowledges where they come from, and figure out a way to meet people where they are so that they can then be elevated. These are all things I learned and witnessed directly in my teachers at NEISD, and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to be their student.”
Congratulations on all your success, Daniel. We can’t wait to see what your research means for our future. To infinity and beyond #theNEISDway.
Big or small, everyone has a story to tell. Visit neisd.net/tellyourstory to share yours with us #theNEISDway
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