Natalia Urbas '23
Nuclear engineer and STEM mentor
Our 2023 winner is Natalia Urbas, who provided this brief bio:
I
am a senior studying Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell
University. At Cornell, I am involved in Navy ROTC, cooperative housing
and am working on a thesis in
computational Materials Science. Next year, I will commission as an
officer in the US Navy. I will be working as an engineer at Naval
Reactors, the department responsible for the research and regulation
surrounding the Navy's nuclear energy program. I am passionate about
inclusion for women of color in the sciences, and I hope to use my
experience to support young girls interested in STEM. In my free time, I
enjoy rock climbing, wrestling and cooking.
Natalia’s application for our JFK Award was especially inspiring and
timely, as she represents a new generation of women who are taking bold
steps to enter – and change – careers that only a few years ago might
not have drawn them in. In selecting her for the award, the JFK Award
review panel concluded that, in this moment, there could be no greater
service to the country than to acknowledge the passion that Natalia
evinced in her application for service through the military and the work
she began, even as a child, to bolster young women of color. The
committee was impressed with her superior academic record in a tough
major and her selection for the Navy’s highly prestigious reactors
program.
Natalia’s faculty references cite her “clear vision for the program” and
willingness “to put in the hard work necessary to realize it and make
sure that it outlasts her graduation. These are precisely the qualities
that will make her an exemplary public servant.” Her ROTC advisor noted
that “Natalia has a clear passion for creating opportunities for other
STEM-focused women of color. The US Navy will be a great place for her
to pursue this passion.”
In an interview with the SUN, Natalia credited Cornell’s diversity and
support of students’ passions with her own commitment to nurturing
learning and growth in others.
Indeed, Natalia let no time pass after assuming her position in
Washington before becoming a mentor in The Dream Project, a
Virginia-based program working to empower students whose immigration
status poses barriers to higher education, by working with them to
succeed in college through scholarships, mentoring, family engagement
and advocacy.
