Acatzin Benítez Salgado, a medical student, was one of 100 young people selected worldwide by NASA.
*The scholarship for the undergraduate student consists of extensive training at the NASA Johnson Space Center, located in Houston, Texas, to become a space instructor for Mexico from 2022 to 2023.
Toluca, MX; March 13, 2022. Acatzin Benítez Salgado, a class 8 biomedical engineering student at the UAEMéx School of Medicine, was one of 100 young people selected worldwide by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be a space educator.
Benítez-Salgado, selected for his career and knowledge and interest in space, received extensive training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, located in Houston, Texas, to become a space instructor for Mexico from 2022 to 2023.
During the month of February, the university attended the training developed in the English language which mainly aims to disseminate all space sciences in Mexican children, youth and adults.
“It was a very diverse training. We had activities with Legos for the kids and very interesting topics about what upcoming missions to Mars would look like. I had conversations with NASA engineers and astronauts. I met many people, the directors of the space center and the consulate, as well as the medical part, which is something I had,” he explained. Very important to me because of my profile, health and medical technology applied in space.”
Benitez-Salgado said that to get the scholarship, UAEMéx support was necessary because it would be from this institution that various meetings, activities or conferences would be organized in which he would disseminate the knowledge he learned during his stay at NASA.
It was announced that from March, one of the spaces to be broadcast will be via UniRadio 99.7 FM, UAEMéx Radio, and also through the Benack Group Foundation’s social media platform. .
From the university we will share that knowledge. In fact, it is the university that also allowed me to be there because you should have the academic support of the place you will return to share knowledge with classmates, teachers and the general public. All we will do is through UAEMéx and Benack Group.
Benitez Salgado has invited the university community to participate in calls, workshops, courses or scholarships that are offered around the world, due to his experience, the academic training offered at UAEMéx provides tools to be competitive around the world.
During 2021, the undergraduate was an analog astronaut in conditions similar to Mars as part of a scholarship he received from the Mars and Moon Academy of Astronautics and Scientific Research (MMAARS).