| luz.vargas@austin.utexas.edu |
Luz Vargas coordinates industry engagement programs and supports operations for the Office of Associate Dean of Research, with an emphasis on the Industry and Research Relations Office, for the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.
Her previous experience includes patient service specialist in the Neurology Department at Texas Tech Health Science Center and coordinating, organizing, and leading programs, activities, and events at the Ronald McDonald House of Charities.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in International Business with a Spanish minor from the University of Memphis. In Volterra, Italy, she learned from small business leaders and artisan entrepreneurs during her study abroad program. Her love for art and her native Andean culture inspired her to launch Birú Pacha, a micro-collective of Peruvian artisan jewelers and craft makers.
Fluent in Spanish and Quechua, the native Andean language of Peru, she recently contributed to the Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology (HUMANS) project as a Quechua language reviewer for a MIT project that compiled messages about the meaning of the space in many native languages and launched on the Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station.
As a board member of an archeological investigation project in rural Huancavelica, Peru, she also helps organize studies to preserve pre-hispanic cultural sites
