Student spotlight: Victor Soria

Victor Soria is trying to find common ground between United States and European Union regulations for sustainable aviation fuels. For his master's project, he also wants to design a chemical process to convert existing green energy vectors so that they bring greater value to society.

"I never could have done this project outside Carnegie Mellon University," says Soria, a master's student in the Department of Chemical Engineering. "I am so grateful to be taking part in this environment that connects people and makes things happen."

In response to Soria's interest in policy, his advisor, Ana Torres, suggested a co-advisor, Valerie Karplus, from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.

Soria's independent project focuses on how to convert methanol and green hydrogen by-products into sustainable aviation fuels. He initiated a collaboration with Iberdrola, a multinational electric utility company based in Spain and a global leader in renewable energy.

Soria, who is from Madrid, Spain, is studying in the United States on a Fulbright grant sponsored by the Iberdrola Foundation.

"The core of the Fulbright program is that it is a cultural exchange," he says. After earning his bachelor's degree in his hometown, Soria wanted to go abroad to continue his studies.

Through the Fulbright program, Soria is connected with a network of other scholars in Pittsburgh and across the US. He has taken several weekend trips to visit others in the Spanish Fulbright cohort, in places like New York City, San Francisco, Arkansas, and Washington, DC.

This is Soria's first time in an English-speaking country, and he says it can be exhausting to engage in full conversations in English all day, every day. "I feel so limited sometimes by the language," he says. "When I'm in a class, and I raise my hand to ask a question, it's like, 'Do you even know how precisely I could format this in Spanish?' But that gets dissolved a bit every day." Connecting with the Latino community on campus has provided him "a release valve for the pressure."

Soria chose Carnegie Mellon's Department of Chemical Engineering because of the strength of the process systems engineering group, which he describes as unrivaled. He was excited by the opportunity to work with Ignacio Grossmann and Larry Biegler, whom he learned about from an undergraduate professor.

"It's a challenging environment," he says. "I love that word. It's not impossible. But it's challenging."

Soria likes that the structure of the master's program will allow him to focus solely on his independent project during the summer, without balancing classes simultaneously. He also appreciates that the program can be condensed into a year and a half. "We can get involved in the real world faster," he explains. "I stay motivated through these long days and heavy workloads because I can see that the things that I am being taught are actually useful."

As president of the Chemical Engineering Master's Student Association (ChEMSA), Soria plans to bring in more speakers from industry. He and his fellow board members want to help students access industry insights before they start applying for jobs.

Soria would like to stay in the US for another year and a half after completing his master's degree. He says it's in keeping with the spirit of the Fulbright program, to engage with American culture, this time in a different realm: the workplace. Soria also notes that American salaries are lucrative.

Beyond that, Soria is looking forward to returning to Europe, as his Fulbright grant requires. "I have a sense of duty to my country because I received a public education. If I pay my taxes elsewhere, then the cycle cannot be perpetuated," he says. He believes his experiences will uniquely equip him to work as a liaison between the US and Europe.