BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3//EN TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0-1611@hmc.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250918T181500 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250918T191500 DTSTAMP:20250917T160857Z URL:https://www.hmc.edu/calendar/events/nelson-series-doing-the-impossible -journeys-across-space-and-time-jose-hernandez/ SUMMARY:Nelson Series: “Doing the Impossible: Journeys Across Space and T ime\,” Jose Hernandez DESCRIPTION:The 2025 Nelson Series explores innovation at the intersection of STEM\, space and human possibility. Astronaut José Hernández\, the su bject of the Amazon Prime movie A Million Miles Away\, will share his jour ney: from being the son of migrant farmworkers to serving as space shuttle mission specialist.\nJosé Hernández\, former NASA Astronaut and Founder \, Tierra Luna Engineering\n5:15 p.m. Community Reception - Galileo Foyer\ n6:15 p.m. Lecture\, "Reaching for Your Own Stars: A Recipe to Succeed in Life\," Galileo Hall\n\nHernández's impactful\, motivational talk will le ave audiences inspired to re-evaluate and upgrade their personal and profe ssional goals. Hernández empowers attendees through his anecdotal stories of hard work and perseverance. He shares a simple recipe that serves as a n effective tool in the empowerment process. Audiences will learn:\n\n Ho w to reach your full potential\n How to dream big when you are willing to work hard for it\n The six-ingredient recipe to success that led him to his goal of becoming an astronaut\n\nBiography\nMigrant farmworker turned NASA astronaut and inspiration for the Amazon Prime film\, A Million Miles Away\, Jose Hernandez is a barrier-breaking engineer and entrepreneur. He rnandez wanted to fly in space ever since he heard that the first Hispanic -American had been chosen to travel into space. He was selected to begin t raining as a mission specialist as part of the 2004 astronaut candidate cl ass.\n\nOne of four children in a migrant farming family\, Hernandez—who didn't learn English until he was 12 years old—spent much of his childh ood traveling between Mexico and southern California\, depending on the se ason\, picking strawberries and cucumbers at farms along the route. After graduating high school in Stockton\, Hernandez enrolled at the University of the Pacific in Stockton\, where he earned a degree in electrical engine ering and was awarded a full scholarship to the graduate program at the Un iversity of California in Santa Barbara\, where he continued his engineeri ng studies. In 1987\, he accepted a full-time job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he had worked as a co-op in college. While at La wrence Livermore\, Hernandez worked on signal and image processing applica tions in radar imaging\, computed tomography\, and acoustic imaging.\n\nLa ter in his career\, Hernandez worked on developing quantitative x-ray film imaging analysis techniques for the x-ray laser program. Hernandez applie d these techniques in the medical physics arena and co-developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. This system has proven use ful for detecting breast cancer at an earlier stage than present film/scre en mammography techniques. Hernandez has won recognition awards for his wo rk on this project. He has also worked in the international arena where he represented Lawrence Livermore and the U.S. Department of Energy on Russi an nuclear non-proliferation issues.\n\nHernández was selected as part of the 19th class of astronauts in 2004. In 2006\, José completed Astronaut Candidate Training and in 2009\, he was a mission specialist on the STS-1 28 mission on board the Space Shuttle\, Discovery. Since leaving NASA\, he served as the Executive Director of Strategic Operations at MEI Technolog ies in Texas. In 2012\, he ran for the US House of Representatives in the 10th California Congressional District. Hernández received the 2016 Natio nal Hispanic Hero Award presented by the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering\, LLC\, José Hernández contin ues his long history in the field of engineering and space.\n\nThe Nelson Series\n\nThe Bruce J. Nelson Distinguished Speaker Series is made possibl e through the generosity of the family of Bruce J. Nelson ’74. Nelson wa s a brilliant technologist and leader\, who developed the remote procedure call protocol and who\, at the time of his death\, was the chief science officer at Cisco Systems. The speaker series addresses global technical is sues and their social\, economic and political challenges—a reflection o f Harvey Mudd College’s vision of STEM for a Better World. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.hmc.edu/calendar/wp-content/uploads/ sites/39/2025/08/HernandezJo.jpg CATEGORIES:General Feed,TCCS Feed: Lecture LOCATION:Galileo Hall\, 240 Platt Blvd.\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\, United S tates X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=240 Platt Blvd.\, Claremont \, CA\, 91711\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Galileo Hall:geo: 0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR