Business Development Professional with Veolia Water Technologies a c heidy arriola is a professional or she specializes in fostering longterm relationships with their clients and leading Water Treatment services across america us filtration to analogy. The highlyei valued employee hey the Value Service where for 2019 2020 and part of the sales team of the year for the last three or four years. Elios journey as an r internet has taken him from the far reaches of the quarter puerto rico and nyc to the cuttingedge lunar and Martian Program with a Strong Foundation in mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the university of michigan. Elio played in instrument of rule and groundbreaking missions where he contribute to the success of the perseverance of rover and ingenuity mars helicopter. Hese worked on blue origin lur human landing system. Elio is driven by a deep passion for expression expansion in creating equale. Opportunities r all access to the wonders of space. When he is not pushing the boundaries of Human Knowledge elio generously shares his insights and volunteer work and mentorship. Join elio on his quest to reach the stars and empower others to do the same. Everyone please give a warm welcome to our featured guest. [applause] needs to say you are can i say that . Im surrounded by them too. I want to start first and foremost by saying thank you elio for sharing your story with all of us and thank you all for being here and thank you for including me here tonight. Im honored and humbled and you know that i love you. I was going to start by asking you to share with us what you think what surprised much of the readers but i think i will share what surprised me the most. When i o met you we were both serving on the National Board of directors for the society of professional engineers. I was a professional board member Vice President and elio was the undergraduate student representative. He was the spicy young man that was intense on accomplishing all the goals that he had set out as a student representative and i thought to myself who is this kid with his passion . You go on and he shared a lot of the story with me throughout the years. But i think what has surprised me the most is to listen and read the book. The tenacity andnd the grit that you have that i wasnt fully aware but i had a feeling that i wasnt fully aware of the trajectory that you had to go through to get to where you are. And you have it to keep going. With that youveve inspired me o reconnect with the tenacity and the grit that i think we all have growing up as kids of immigrants or whatever our stories are. To reconnect with the wants and needs, to persevere about the passions that we have. So i want to thank you. Oh my goodness im martys. Crying. Its too early. One of the passages that hit home for me when. Really made itab evident to me that you were about to embark on a very ambitious journey in as a child inx, chapter 6 which is fittingly titled, page 67 and we will get to that page. The chapter 6ug is titled bill o be tougher than expected. So why dont you share that passage with us. This is emotional. First of all im so happy thato you are here and we were chatting earlier. Heidy knows me and i may knows me. Super special to share thisth moment with you and i hope we can do that for sure. Absolutely. Keep writing. This passage is very special because it is one of the most difficult moments in my life to my transition returning cultures and moving to new york city. At the same time it highlights the love the folks around me were ready to give me. With that i will just start. In 2006 we arrived in new york on the cusp of winter. The long blustery night abe way ours. My friend and his wife jenny took this to brooklyn. I slept on an inflatable mattress in the living room downstairs with her cocker spaniel. Id stay up late watching george lopez and the prince of Belair Belair the fresh prince of belair but until i dozed off. Earlierck in the book i describa terrible asthma attack that i had in puerto rico. It wasnt too long before this but at that point when morning cameme i would lug the inflated mattress upstairs but as the days tick by my lips were permanently chapped by theer frosty weather cracking and bleeding like my heart. I connected with my friend on line and at the chats were tinged with knowing there was more they were more than a thousand miles apart. With no winter clothing to keep us warm my uncle gave me a hoodie and soon after my aunt brought me a green lands end jacket that i carried with me for several years. A week ago, a week or so after our arrival he swung by to pick me up and took me to see a santa claus at the mall. Little schoolboys love santa. I realized then that she saw me is that same little kid from seven years before. We have lot of readjusting and recording ahead of us. Often catchinghi myself saying and the store instead of excuse me but i bit my to resist grading people on the street. The hugs of the coins is offered instead of a quick on the cheek threw me off. I missed my island. Although born in ecuador i speak spanish like a puerto rican and i know where to go in the area. Suddenly i was no w longer perceived as simply elio but i was different but as a, i was in immigrants. This is what my mom had always felt. Maybe now was my turn to face the ongoing battle of how others perceive me versus uim. You to fall. What struck meha the most about that passage was the perception you talk about some of the perception of who you are and the perception that others have. Its very telling of not just kids of immigrants. Immigrants have the perception of themselves that they share vewith others for shame or feelg belittled or were there for their feelings are. That applies not just immigrants but to all this. Theyll have a perception of ourselvesan back in play to our strengths or play to our insecurities. Theres another passage along the same lines that id like for you to share on page 80 and 81. Its the story of how many immigrants and children of immigrants. Before i go into that not too many spoilers but you moving to new york was incredibly challenging and theres a story i share often that i was faced with immediate backlash for my grades being too good because i was an immigrant who couldnt believe that an immigrant was so smart and deserving of being accepted into prestigious schools in new york city. My grades were deflated at the time. I always wonder, if my mom without knowing any english if she would have fought for me for my own goals as the district as she did in those grades wouldnt have been changed what my life would have been like. Its one of those things that i can only imagine how many kids are out there that are being held back by their own counselors. And you dont really know. Their parents dont know. Its really important for us to Pay Attention to these things and empower kids themselves and their parents as well to fight for their children. With that being said the next passage page . 80 i think. This is what i wrote back to my mom. Read my book and you can tell that i wrote to my mom quite a bit. This is what this is about. I was kind of a troublemaker. Although she probably didnt have much of a choice mother was fine withby me taking Public Transportation which meantom i s gripped by a freedom i had never felt before. My mom was working two jobs while i was in high school in new york city. She was working two jobs as a home attendant for the elderly and keep in mind before the she had a 30year career teaching in ecuador and in puerto rico before we had to move to new york city. When i arrived homeol early from school shed asked me to start chopping vegetables and prep the kitchen for dinner which i enjoy doing this i love cooking. Comost of all i like planting hr hand when i could. The few times a month on those days when she was overworked and exhausted i didnt have important Extracurricular Activities going on she give me a call and asked me to meet her at one of the offices in the area to help her finish out that days cleaning shift. To that note i have in my friends up into my apartment. I have in front of my bed this massive blackandwhite photo of the iron building which is really cool and was beautiful. To me its a constant reminder of that area where i would go clean offices with my mom. I lost myself here. In the enormous after she made for a sick child what i was doing and headed straight up over put as much as i appreciated her hard work i asked my friends to die my mom. I usually excuse myself by saying see you later i had to help my mom at the office. Deliberately giving them just enough information so as not to incite any questions. Sometimes ive been at work and someone would pipe up and ask about her job and ive answered she works in an office for doctors and never specifying. I wish i could say to the. Contrary but i felt this sense of shame about her jobs mostly because thats how she felt them herself to my sentiment was her affliction of her own frustrations. After all she was a College Graduate who had been a teacher and a principal and now she was cleaning offices and taking care of old people. Took me years to recognize prc swallowed her pride and her shame to give me a better shot at life. Perception or as we call it an enormous cultural burden in the barrier in the hispanic community. It keeps us in line to their preconceived beliefs of strength and fear the unknown anchoring prevents us from finding our own unique voice and using it. Only time experience allowed me to unlearn these beliefs that controlled my narrative staying focused onme michaels rather tn how others perceive me which is beyond my control. In retrospect i wish i would have had the wisdom than to tell mommy there was nothing to be ashamed of. It was young. I tell her that solveve the tim. My inspiration that i am who i am thanks to her and we talked nearly every day and right now shes in new york city. I was hanging out with her last week and yeah redefining my relationship with my mom. But shes incredible. Its very clear in your book that your mom is the rock and your foundation and has been your role. I understand that because you have a brother and you share a lot about your brother but you really were raised as a single child by her mom. You have that very special bond between a child and my mom that i understand, a single moms child. Anchors tend to absent close of that relationship. How is it changed throughout the years . In the book we are together we are going to fight through anything that comes our way. With that comes responsibilities that you took on better clear. How are you with that and your health . Yeah ive been navigating this especially in recent months. Throughout my life shes been present and ive been fortunate enough to be able to support her and financial ways even more now than ever. So their times, since she stopped working shes chill and if anything i can support what she needs. She needs to travel, she holds onto this its going to cost money. I said dont even worry about it. Its no longer a problem. We can fly to the coast however there are some Health Issues that prevent that from happening. Theres a game that i had to play to figure out how to gete o the east coast often or how does my mom travel company by somebody because you cant get on a plane by yourself. Its been a very tough challenge particularly because as im getting all this freedom as i was growing up she have become way more restrictive. Independent, independent and part of it is navigating that while not acting as a parent for me has been something that ive been trying to look at. And to empower her to make decisions on her own and conspiring inspired her with the things that ive been through recently and talking with her more like a son. Which has been interesting. We just past six months in particular. Ive really needed her in emotional ways. Something that i talk about, growing up as close as we were, we didnt really talk aboutim emotions. You have no time for it. We had no time. There were things that had too e done and she admitted to few weeks ago that i taught her how to t express herself and express love to not just me but her family. Itss a a beautiful thing and t only has the relationship with mya mom changed, i think in very positive ways of the relationship to the rest of the family. We have been going through situations. Cancer in the family is tighter than we have actually ever been. Its been difficult to have conversations that led to this book and to clarify some memories at the same time an incredible healing process not just for me its fair enough to say ive seen family members repair their relationships too. Its been very special. Speaking of preparing relationships, you bury eloquently and i say that word again because it was. Talk about your relationship with your father. And in terms of redeveloping and redefining relationships with their parents think their ebbs and flows with parents. We are kids and somehow they become dependent on this especially kids of immigrants. We are translators and all kinds of things forw her parents and that relationship changes and flipflops. Are you the parent or might thee parents . Aside from that relationship with their parents that changes over time and you shared nicely the relationship with your father and c how your mom encourages still have a relationship with him from afar. It allowed you to reach out as you were raised. How is that going now . Its hard. Incredibly difficult. Especially with the book. Some situations that thats what happened the last few weeks in working through this with my dad in particular, throughout my lifet ill highlight, despite te Emotional Abuse because really thats what it is if you read between the lines. She never was available to me in any way or form. She would always push for me to buy phone cards. Buy phone cards for Long Distance calls and stay connected and have conversations even if that was once a month or whatever it was. So as an adult and i talked about this with her recently, she sees how is the adult its been weighing on me. Now its see the injustice and i see the effects. I see what has that ultimately to the suffering between my mom andd i. I cant put itpu aside. It was due to the fact that of my dad being an asphalt. I was protected from that asha a kid but now its like what can i do about it . There are things that im actively w working on. Part of that is also in there being careful not to be a parent with my mom and being there as a son and figuring out what she wants to do with respect to that too. Creating healthy boundaries. That too in asking my dad tough questions. In the book i shared the story of the first time i saw him after not seeing him since i was in kindergarten and i saw him as a sophomore in college. It was because i wasnt sure what he was even going to look like. I had a distinct version of him in mywe head. I kind of held onto it. There were many pictures and is not active on social media so at the time he had just had an accident. He was using a cane. I get my height from him, and that was a bit surreal. I met him in person and it was. It kind of stayed that way for many years until i confronted him again later and 2017 i think. I went down to ecuador for a wedding at that point i confronted him with this story. I want to know more. Why did you do the things that you did andat he cares himself with an arrogance that i cant really explain. Hes very proud. He has eight children of four different women. Stereotypet latino machismo its what it does and hes proud of that. Understanding that sally is and theyll probably never get it sure emotional apology from him. Thats something ticks up to now im way more conscious of how he feels and figuring out what kind of relationship i want to have. So navigating that. Its been empowering. Its made me incredibly grateful for the mail figures in my life. The men that have shown up and have been incredible to me throughout my entire life. Now its part to some of my incredible male friends. They just express love and we look out for each other and ive been protected from the typical masculinity from the something ive come to realize. Something ever than the book was how do you were surrounded throughout different periods in your life youve really gravitated to what we call the board of directors in our life. By happenstance most of the time , its important we look at those people that influence us in the positivity. We dont have that one friend that will meet all of our needs. We have several people that meet our needs in a different way, we like to call it our board of directors and you call it a community, a nurturing community. You shared that very nicely. But with that also comes a lot of growing up. You shared a lot about Mental Health and youve actually been, you g shared openly about the network which is part of the cycle with immigrant kids. The hustle that they go through is unreal. Two or three jobs to support the family. When you share a little bit about that. John pageone 83. He was my Group Supervisor at jpl. He was fantastic. He was an incredible ally for my late teen years there for sure. With that being said this is where it gets real. Its been interesting. If you followed me on social media recently some people thought i was no longer an immigrant because i havent been posting anything and ive been way more conscious about posting. If you weeks ago i spokei sp wih someone and they thought it was no longer doing engineering. Hold on, no, no im glad im giving that perception because they are more aspects to my identity but that being said ive been v very open about the struggles that ive been going through in terms of Mental Health. As immigrants and firstgeneration kids mostst ofs grew up seeing her families who work themselves upon sacrificing everything to keep us close. No vacations no beach getaways oftentimes no free weekends. Sundays were for churchgoing, cleaning cooking and planning for next weeks daily granted the only breaks came the few times a year for special occasions and holidays. Those were usually relegated to an afternoon or a day at most. The overriding message that is that stopping was not an option. Everything we work so hard to create an accomplished crumbling before i spread her parents and her mom sector for surviving to give us a better life and we became a vital part of what would lead our circle ofer poverty. We are meant to reach the finish line and obtain the americanan dream. Until we focus on Mission Success and believe we are invincible until we are not. Because we are not robots, we are not machines, we are humans and humans need to take a breather recalculate pivot find that elusive thing called balance and as humans we need to feel, laugh, have fun, show up for ourselves and others. We took spirits the fullness of our humanity. The years my mentors landed on one piece of common advice, dont be so yourself elio. I found it as if they were saying i couldnt handle my workload. What the heck is this person talking about . Lowdown . Who are they to tell me this . That was a conversation with armin. The message was there but i wasnt listening. I took on way too much for many years and relied on my managers to tell me what to cut back into defined boundaries that should have been established by me. A part of me felt i had to prove myself come through but i deserve to be there. Not just to make my family proud but also to show the rest of the world and was worthy of taking up thatt space. This is still a challenge for me. Sometimes when i look at my achievements i cant believe im in this position. I cant believe its me in a room with these incredible minds. I feel like im nothing compared to them continuing to be an unwelcome companion on my journey is a look that has become a cycle of anxiety. I began to actively recognize and park on dismantling these thoughts so i can be more present in a moment which is often hardd for someone whos learned to constantly anticipate and solve problems for living. I remind myself those Brilliant Minds ive earned my spot in thisst space. I deserve to be here but the question is not how am i have all people here but how do i want to show up . Binding my Center Required but it eventually happens. It began to build more empathy for those records set up to unlearn healthy patterns of behavior that exists in our at large. Mommy taught me to do better and to seek excellence. Seek excellence that her actions taught me to avoidt my emotions and use it as a coping strategy which is the message and firm didnt alter. For while i was angry at her for not doing something about these detrimental habits. By not prioritizing her wellbeing and our provisos i was angry at myself for picking the cycle in my life. The fractures that appeared in a relationship soon became healing. As i was able to empathize with her understanding as humans we are more nuanced than i previously realize but in turnmi began to offer myself the same compassion and empathy that is was extending to my mother. Her mission to mars may pack more punch and get more airtime. The journey to the unexplored spaces within myself has become equally as meaningful. Revealing that on the outside in the space mechanic a technical expert and engineer who drives an outrage innovation but on thv inside just want to be a good loving friend, partner, a son, human. Both inside and out the components carry the samei weight. Mission success often require sacrifice but the moment we feel like we are in Mission Control neglecting the piece is the moment our selfawareness is to kickinai in. With our brain on automatic pilot if it grants us the time tour investigate the issue coursecorrect and finer balance once again. There is such a thing is good enough and way to embrace that our livesmpassion in and cut ourselves some slack because sometimes priorities will be hard to manage. Sometimes sacrifice will be required and sometimes objectives will shift and that is okay. And the last sentence to the next sentence is what it means to be human. Thats what i love is your vulnerability in thise book. We are going to pivot a little bit as we are on air and also on the notion that we are human and we are not machines and we are not robots. How do you think we need to overcome that we are talking about traveling to mars and beyond and you worked on mars rover that went to mars and you are following in the path of exploring outer space. Thats right. Marsh was fun. The shorter trip to the moon is a bit more reasonable for humans that is but im actively working onin that mission with blue orin nowadays and its a different technical problem. I think mars taught me quite a bit because mars is incredibly different and very inhospitable and not meant for us to be there. And i think similar challenges are the moon. We often romanticize what its going to be like to live in space and delete are beautiful planet. I think the reality is the earth is meant for us and we will explore. Dont get me wrong but that being said we had to be methodical and to protect the human lives that will go and venture. E. We cant repeat the mistakes of the past. We dig into the United States spacee program in the Space Programs for the people died to ndget us to the moon. Their stories arent necessarily as popular and that being said we are at a point in history when an economy where we can be more careful. Its going to take time and i know people are rushing to get to the moont and beyond. For those of us who are living in that space, i least like to think that im bringing consciousness into our design and in the human centered design not just for the astronauts thau are going to be going to the moon but also for us on the ground who has the support their objectives and their missions. Its a holistic system that often we neglect on mars. Thats my opinion. But i think we are going to be better and theres a lot of work to be done. Its a Creative Space in their difficult challenges ahead of us but itsexng also breaks sightig because expanding to the stars i hope means we get to in my idealized, universe move heavy industry off the planet and make the earth more pristine. I hope thats whats happening and its an idealized goal. We will see how that goes but its an exciting time for the space industry. We have five minutes left and im going to ask you a twofold question because i think they are both needed. You talked about healing a lot of relationships in the book but what was the most surprisingpr about that process and uncovering your history in going through that and what do you want to leave your readers with . Personally i think the most surprising aspect to the relationships in my family that i really wasnt aware of bouts was my brother. On my moms side. There is stuff that they dont include in the book because its not my story to tell. I almost resented the way we grew up. He lived across the street most of my time importer rico but i cant say i grew up with an older brother. He was raising a family and my two nieces who are seven and eight years younger than i am. He was very busy. He was working and he was supporting his family that didnt necessarily see that. It wasnt obvious to me growing up in the sacrifice is yet make. Ultimately ended up following him to puerto rico and he recently told me, because we have been opening up more and more especially when we are in person, he recently told me his dream was to be an Aerospace Engineer and for reasons he couldnt makeke that happen so e expressed his gratitude that i am pursuing this and in the way hes living through me. That was incredibly special. Thats beautiful. Its not explicitly written here for a variety of reasons but hege knows. I got from the book that it was a relationship of nurturing. Wages shared epitomized this how important it is to have access toto education. So tell me about that. We did talk about this. The big difference between our corresponding journeys, he went to a school in brooklyn and he was in high school in new york city and he had his own story but he went to school in brooklyn that was there was way more Gang Activity going on. He had to not be a part of that any ultimately couldnt pursue the same College Education for a variety of reasons that make College Accessible to him. At the end of the day he didnt have mentors and or friends like i did. Part of that is i in a way to get lucky because the high school i ended up going to. At the time my mom was there to protect me. My mom wasnt in new york at the time. He was off to college so that made a big difference for a variety of reasons. So its evident having nesupportive parents, just one made a huge difference for me. I was surrounded by incredible friends who are incredibly supportive and we were competitive with each other and we looked out for each other and shared resources and pushed each other to do things like the s. A. T. S and to do well. You guys had great. The overachiever thing is real. If you look at my high School Friends, i love to say that im the one of the group. They did become lawyers and gone to get their nba and some have gotten their ph. D. Its a great group to be surrounded by and wece feed offf each other. That makes it true difference that i didnt know at the time that i was in a way attracted to that ambitious circle. I wanted to imitate it and gantt i didnt have much money but i was surrounded by friends who had money. Seeing how they live their lives and how they were pushed by their parents and they pushed each other made a big difference and we had incredible teachers as well but showed us resources and pushed us to do things like research. My brother didnt have any of that. It just shows how impactful relationships canan be. Yeah and also that nudge from people in the community. I think thats really the message you talked about is how important it is for us to lift as we climb because you never know how you might be impacted and how. You will never know it but you can feel it just by taking advice like dont let that counts or tell you two cant go to college. There all of these nuanced little messages that inci Todays Society dont need to be said because there are still immigrants that are coming and their kids that dont have the resources. Even if youre born in this country not everybody goes to college. If you dont have someone to emulate thats gone to college, if you need that nudge. Im going o to end it. With that being said the other part of the question was what do i hope that people get out this book . Ili think its an open invitatin for people to pursue their own dreams and at thee same time space is pretty accessible is what im hoping to show and if anything the Engineering Industries are in a way accessible and in high demand right now. The biggest number that angers me nowadays is that right now the population of the country is 20 hispanic and we are about 7 representation of them. Theres a disparity in by the 20 50s it will be closer to 50 of the population and that number keeps on hopefully shrinks, that gap but theres a lot of work to be done. At the end of the day im seeing the Financial Freedom that im getting an ultimately the wellness that comes with being financial secure in the country. I dont want people to get left behind and its one of those things that i think this country can do better and its worth criticizing and worth pushing her Education System to get better and not delete students behind. With the advent of ai to come we will be quickly in ways we cant fully envision. Ultimately we are going to improve education and in our communities right now im terrified by the concept of ai. We need to change the narrative and empower people to get educated and keep pushing through so we dont get left further behind. So that being said thats what im hoping to share and thats what im hoping the platform is creating. Im personally very hopeful for the future. Im going to end your introduction very nicely. Elio shares i hopece my story together we can create a Better Future for humanity, our planet and its expansive universe in which we play a very small and yet profound and powerful role. Through hardship we persevere. Thank you elio. Thank you. [applause] we are opening it up to questions. What do you guys want to ask . Dont be shy. Dont be shy, please. We will start with jesse. We will come back to this. This is one of the first that ive read who is an engineer i want to go back to school or continue my education in go to space. You explain a lot of the stuff that a lot of kids from junior high on should read just because of the content in taking it from an engineering perspective as an immigrant, i get emotional with regards to that because a lot of us are immigrants in our own way rather we just come from a neighborhood where we resources so thank you for riding that this book and i cant wait for the second one. The question is, sorry. What message do you have for young kids that middle school age when they bring you from puerto rico and take you back to america. Most of us get pulled from bad neighborhoods at that age and so what aboutou those kids . Asas a 13yearold boy. From echoed her to new york, new york to puerto rico puerto rico backrkrk to new york and te changes you had was daunting. The first one, navigating as a child with my therapist. I had hidden for a long time bud while writing this book. I guess i blocked it out at my head and my entire experience when i move to ecuador when i was just four. I was described as the saddest little boy and i do not remember any of that time period. But that was due to the separation from my father and theres a reason t i watched te lion king over and over again. So that was very difficult and i think that move to puerto rico wasnt as bad because it was just going on vacations and if the second grade. I dont think it was too difficult. Leaving puerto rico was one of the most difficult experiences ive been through. I talk about this in the book held just the sight of an airplane would just break me down. To the point where kids would try to bully me for things like wearing the same shirt every day and id just be like what you doing . I was way too mature to time for my age for a variety of reasons but i basically called them out. They would sayay things like why dont you just go backwards i dont want to be here in this room with you. That shut down the bowling pretty quickly. But i wish i would have had more skills to process what i was feeling at the time. I learned how to cope on my own. I wasnt able to talk about those things back then. Again it was one of those things in the family that just did not exist. It was difficult. What would you tell little elio now . Think about this first and foremost i look back and dont get me wrong i admirer my younger self a lot because despite the challenges i just wanted to keep going. I wanted the world to be mine. I cured myself of the lot of arrogance which is what im trying to him learn. Part of it is it protected me and i only had that realization relatively recently. Things like comment summary shoes are the stuff i put where it didnt affect me because i would fall back on while you are and i dont agree with you. Its what i believe and i cured myself with that mentality for a very long time. I dont have to be that way. In the last three years in particular and sometimes my friends call me out which is great. Which still happens. Just think you elio for being so resilient and for keeping your head up and working as hard as you did. Always despite not knowing how to for a very long loving the around you and and accepting learn learn how to receive love. And that has been something i wish i would have been told i wish i would have been told earlier. Because it was difficult. I never heard that. One of the questions are explored recently when was the first time i was asked how you feel . I cannot remember being asked that question as a kid. As an adult those conversations are in my circle are happening often now. But as a kid i did not have that and i wish i did. Nonetheless, i turned out all right. [laughter] just a bit. Next question. I appreciate your saying about exploration to the moon and mars and also human centered. I do feel in Society Money will trump over those decisions often times and people empower will do what they want regardless of what science says it but regardless of what the experts will say its really frustrating to see. I do not know. May be curious to hear your thoughts on that and what will happen what we explore irresponsibly. I amma bankrolled by the richest man on the planet. I struggled with this question a lot. Because youre working out . Working and so sometimes i hope we dont fall in the place where decisions are made because this person wants to do things their way. Havent felt that but it is something i hope as we expand into the solar system we constantly question when there is People Like Us in those the decisionmaking rooms. You are right we can fall back we fallen back in the last thousands of years wealth may end up concentrating in the small group. See how that is panning out. Part of the importance of it varied cultures and mindsets and thoughts so our design as we go into spaces is as equitable as we can possibly make it that is my hope. Actively working on it as im helping design the lunar lander so we will see. Quick question. Any other questions . Few person was most interesting thing about space . The mostow interesting thing about space how infinite it is and ultimately insignificant yet so significant i am a true believer where the universe trying to understand itself we are made of stars. Its so infinite and so beautiful we have the consciousness to look up and just be curious. And at the same time i hope with that at least personally it has helped mee appreciate this plant even more. At the end of the day we are incredibly special. Infinite universe and how unique and beautiful this planet is. We have time for onene more question. Make please . Your professional opinion i dont know if you pondered this but intelligent life form up there in the universe. I hop so. Ikn would love to meet them on a few scene actually there is a documentary comingy out by pix. For he is a representative in this galactic federation. The story of me when i was 11 years old. Yes i have it here at. [laughter] it is a funny one and keep going. I dont know, i hope so for thats the cool thing working on the mars mission we are scientifically trying to figure out if we are alone in the universe. If there is evidence something formed on mars and we figure that out hopefully in the next 10 years we get the samples back then i think the imagination as islimit what can happen in infinite universe i dont know. I am hoping someone visits us one day and they are friendly. And come in peace. [laughter] ndexcimer question back there. I have a question. I have a son wants to pursue engineering. What advice can you give to motivate him on your path . I would motivate him to be on his own path whatever that means for him. As far as engineering i think realistically to be prepared for the hard work that comes with engineering school. He will enjoy his time after words. There is a lotth of sacrifice going to come with the decision to take hisis time and to build his own story and not to get lost in the numbers thats incredibly important to also remember to live a little while they are in college. Itit is one of the biggest most beautiful experiences from obvious of the technical preparation, fantastic. I went to the university of michigan one of the best universities in the world. It was very much work hard, play hard kind of place. You feel it on campus were almost everyone is really focused and concentrated. And whatever their manger is there is also a lotoo of fun. We had a Football Team we went out and pregame concepts before the game we had a great social life despite the winter in my think that balance is something to seek out prewhatever that means for them to go explorative. To build their own story. If i could add to that one of the thing the unsurprising thing was doing engineeringg projects very, veryng young. Note my comment to you give him as much exposure as you can to the various engineering disciplines that there are. Whether it is a science fair for it whether its taken to jpl for a tour. Whatever it is, the more you can expose him the mercury is hes going to be to stay in that field. Once he is leaning there then you support,in support, support its going to be hard. This goes for all of us in the field we tell the students is going to and. These five t years of college fu choose to do is going to end. I thought going to be of this as hard all the time butt. Stick to it the light will come because it does. It does not say that hard forever. Youve got to pay your dues so that you can then have fun. [laughter] the cool thing and most people say you kind of say learning after words too. I doesnt just end when school endsds thats a beautiful part f it. We not only design whatever for some of the most difficult problems of the world get to be creative. We get to change lives and explore space. We get to impact so many people bit in the medical field whatever field you cantc imagine its exciting time at the end of the day is going to keep expanding her hes going to have fun. What jesse said earlier you inspired me too want to learn more. I was not the best at mouth might middle School Friend here we are not the best and she was better than me. But i think had i been exposed to what that really meant how is math really use . We did not have that exposure. The more you can get him to be curious with that funny story i love this passage. This was your teacher. He told stories and cracked jokes whos introducing to a new suit he walked over and stood behind elio and he said this is a gli out which is a play on the name with the spanish word for helium. Hes the lightest man in the world he did not place his big hand on my head and added if we dont hold him down he could float away. He floated away to the stars. [applause] thank you everyone for coming by sikkim are going to go across the street requested we would know where that is . We have this First Signing we will have appetizers. Jim appetizers and maybe some cocktails. Thank you so much for coming. [applause] this yearbook tv marks 25 years of shining a spotlight on leading non fiction authors and their with talk some of the 20000 authors 19 to citizen festivals and 16000 events. Book tv has provided viewers with 92000 hours politics and back for you can watch a book tv every sunday on cspan2 or online apple tv. Org. Book tv 25 years of television for serious readers. Weekends on cspan2 are an intellectual feast. Every saturday American History tv documents americas story and on sundays book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. Funding for cspan2 comes i