A year after graduating, Shari worked at the company Zafran Cabin, dedicated to manufacturing doors and compartments for hand luggage in planes, experience that allowed her to be interested in aircraft.
“I wanted to become an aerospace engineer and apply all the knowledge from my studies, and to do so, I knew I had to start in the United States so I could have a chance in the industry, research, and science,” Shari explained.
She added that she had to improve her English skills and ask professors for recommendation letters to have a place in the ENLACE program in the Materials Science Department of UCSD.
About the process she followed to be part of the scholarship program that allowed her to study a graduate program abroad, she said she first managed the student visa issue, then applied for the Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering program, and later on she got the acceptance letter. The scholarship covered the stay, food expenses, and education fees at UCSD.

Shari remembers talking with her father as a child who encouraged her to join NASA. It was her father too who helped her do some research and informed her that she could begin her professional career in the industry at UABC. Thus, she moved from Veracruz to Baja California to pursue her goal.
That is how she became a UABC student, aiming to get a scholarship to study in said Californian institution.
“It was really challenging and scary but I made it,” said Shari when she remembered the uncertainty of the process, since out of the 30 spaces offered to young people like her, only three of them were woman.
Regarding her participation in the ENLACE program, she explained that she is part of an improvement project for the aircrafts of the US Air Force. “We are currently working on the Hafnium Carbide synthesis to try to modify its morphology,” explains Shari.
“My job is to improve the Air Force aircraft’s material so these supersonic machines are more resistant and do not melt down, then we improve what is called the leading edge.”
To her, the challenge lays in staying in the United States for the next six years to study for the doctorate program. “I have worked so hard for this that there is no chace for giving up, only making it all worthy. And that’s what motivates me, knowing I’ve come this far is my fuel,” she said.

Everything entails a sacrifice and this young student acknowledges that preparing herself for the day ahead is what has helped her fight the shyness that characterized her and the lack of confidence in herself. And with time, she has realized she is capable of facing every current challenge.
Also, Shari comented she would like to help people to ease themselves into the field of research.
To conclude, Shari gave out a message for those interested in aerospace engineering: “If you don’t work hard the score won’t be that high, and you need to have good scores to get scholarships and participate in programs requiring a certain English level and a satisfactory general average score.”
Furthermore, she invite the new cimarron generations to not give up on their dreams no matter how hard and impossible they seem.
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