Cruz: The Rio Grande Valley is becoming an engineering powerhouse

Thank you, Veronica, it is great to be back in the Valley, and it is great to be with so many friends at such a happy occasion. 

This is a time where we’ve got a lot to celebrate. We’re celebrating an incredible partnership between UTRGV and Los Alamos National Laboratory. There are eight universities in the entire country in a partnership with Los Alamos, and UTRGV is one of them. That’s a big damn deal.

Los Alamos is about as storied as you can get for a scientific institution. After all, they invented the atom bomb. Dr. Bailey, that kind of makes me feel like, what the hell have I accomplished in life? It sort of puts everything in perspective when you think about changing the world. And they’re charged with the mission of keeping this country safe, keeping us on the cutting edge of technology, and protecting 330 million Americans, our lives, our safety and our security. 

And I gotta tell you this partnership with UTRGV, I think, is natural, but it is also powerful. It is also exciting. It is powerful on a lot of fronts. You think about, what does Texas do? Well, one thing Texas does well is energy. We know a lot about energy. It’s in the blood in the great state of Texas. We are the energy capital of the world. And it makes sense whether you’re talking oil and gas or wind and solar, whether you’re talking nuclear. Energy is the key to prosperity going forward, the key to economic growth. 

Texas also does national security and our military defense. There is no state in the union like the great state of Texas when it comes to stepping forward, volunteering to serve in our military, stepping forward and saying, we will protect the United States, we will protect our national security. 

And then I’ll tell you, Texas, and especially the Rio Grande Valley, does opportunity. Look, I am excited, Dr Bailey. I could not be more excited with everything that is happening here at UTRGV. Thirty-four thousand plus students growing like crazy. The opportunity for young people here in the Valley, it is extraordinary. My three staff members in South Texas, all three are graduates of UTRGV. And two of the three do a great job. I’ll let them fight him over which two.

You look at the Valley, it is amazing what’s happening in the Valley. I could not be more excited by the growth, by the opportunity that is sweeping the Valley. And I’ll tell you one thing, the Rio Grande Valley is becoming an engineering powerhouse. You look at what’s going on right here in the Valley. You’ve got, number one, SpaceX down in Boca Chica, firing rocket ships into the air. You go down and see what they’re doing. They turned what was an empty beach into this incredible factory designing rocket ships with precisions down to the 10th of the millimeter.

You look at the billions of dollars being invested in LNG export terminals here in South Texas, again, driving demand for engineers, driving demand for scientists, driving high paying jobs here in South Texas. 

And then you put on top of that the partnership with Los Alamos. That combination is incredible. And I gotta tell you, you’ve heard several speakers here today talking about the importance of STEM education. STEM education has opened the door for opportunity to so many. And UTRGV is becoming a portal for that opportunity at an incredible level. 

Look, I think, back in my own family. In my own family, my father came from Cuba in 1957. And he came to the UT System. He came to UT Austin. As an 18 year old kid my dad arrived in Austin. Now he couldn’t speak English. He’d been thrown in jail and tortured in Cuba, and when he came to Austin, he had nothing. He washed dishes making 50 cents an hour. But he was a freshman at UT, and he had actually an exquisite incentive. He couldn’t speak English. 

He had an exquisite incentive to learn English because his classes were in English. And if he didn’t learn English, he’d flunk his classes. And if he flunked his classes, they’d revoke his student visa. And if they revoked his student visa, they’d send him back to Cuba. If they sent him back to Cuba, they’d kill him. So, my father was highly motivated to learn English and learn English quickly. 

And I’ll tell you, he did several things. One, he took a lot of math and engineering classes. That he can understand even with language difficulties. But number two, my Dad signed up for Spanish, 101. He signed up for Spanish 101, and he reverse engineered it. So the professor would stand up and say, milk is leche. Okay, leche is milk. Okay. He would write that down and you he’d figure it out. 

But my Dad ended up graduating in 1961 with a degree in math and actually Dr. Moya, you were talking about Hispanic faculty. My father spent a year taking graduate classes, and then as a young teaching assistant in 1962 he was a Cuban immigrant teaching assistant teaching undergrads at UT up in Austin. Until, a year later, he got hired by IBM as a computer programmer and went on to start a career and work towards the American Dream. 

And I’ll say 50 years later, I was incredibly privileged to spend several years also on the faculty at UT Law School. I was an adjunct professor for three years teaching in the law school. 

Let me say, the tradition, the impact this partnership with Los Alamos is going to have. The impact on the faculty, the impact on the graduate students. The impact on the undergraduates. The opportunity that this partnership will open up, it is incredible. It is exciting.

And if that weren’t sufficient, next year, y’all are starting to play football.

I’m here to tell you, Dr Bailey, next year, the first game, I’ll be here cheering you on. 

It is exciting. Everything that is happening at UTRGV. God bless you, God bless Texas.

Editor’s Note: The above commentary was provided by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at a press conference held at the UT-Rio Grande Valley Edinburg campus to announce a partnership between UTRGV and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

Editor’s Note: The “Veronica” Cruz spoke about was UTRGV Senior Vice President Veronica Gonzales. The “Dr. Bailey” Cruz spoke about was UTRGV President Dr. Guy Bailey. And the Dr. Moyra Cruz spoke about was Dr. Hiram Moya, UTRGV associate professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

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