Félix Campos ’08 draws on his experience as a first-generation college graduate in his mentorship approach and leadership on the Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) Board.
After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from Rice, he started his career at Siemens Energy and worked his way to a product engineering manager role with ArcelorMittal. He credits a Rice alumni connection, Theo Mallinson '95, for the boost he needed to land his first job.
Now, as the REA’s Chair of the Summer Engineering Experience (SEE) Committee, Campos describes this experience as his motivation for mentoring engineering students. “It is why I serve—someone put in a good word for me and helped me out, and part of what I am doing as a mentor and REA Board member is to pay that forward,” said Campos.
The SEE program helps students secure their first internship in a professional engineering work environment. Campos got involved with the SEE program as a volunteer in 2021 through his business connection with P.V. "Suri" Suryanarayana, Chairman of the Board at Blade Energy Partners who was also on the REA Board. Blade Energy was the SEE’s first host company, welcoming two interns in the inaugural summer program in 2021.
Due to his involvement with the SEE, Campos was encouraged to apply to the REA Board and was selected in 2022. Soon after he joined the Board, he was invited to chair the SEE Committee.
“Felix was the first non-board member to volunteer with the Summer Engineering Experience,” said Jim Pyke, REA Immediate Past President, and one of the founders of the SEE. “His commitment and dedication to the program since then have been unparalleled.”
Under Campos’ leadership, the committee launched a mentorship element of the SEE program that connects engineering alumni to students in the Rice Emerging Scholars Program (RESP). RESP supports high-achieving students from under-resourced high schools—especially low-income and first-generation students—so that they can thrive in their science and engineering field and graduate at the same rate as their peers.
In addition to helping students build communication and networking skills, Campos also guides students in their career exploration and encourages them to consider what kind of culture they want in a workplace.
“The culture of where I work is very important to me,” said Campos. “That’s another reason I enjoy mentoring—I can help students reflect on what things really energize them. If you pursue something you are genuinely interested in, you will more naturally excel.”
As a first-generation college student himself, Campos especially appreciates the opportunity to mentor students with similar backgrounds.
“Felix has an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by the students,” said Ted Adams, president of the REA Board. “He is a natural leader who possesses the temperament, intellectual curiosity, drive, enthusiasm, and work ethic that make him the ideal person for this position.”
Born in Panama, he moved to the U.S. as a young child and did not grow up with a network that could help him navigate the U.S. college and career system.
“There's so much I know now about how one might leverage going to a university like Rice, and [first-generation students] may not get that kind of advice from people in their network,” said Campos. “Having gone through that experience myself, I want to impart some of the knowledge I have now about navigating the system.”
In collaboration with the Center for Engineering Excellence Through Equity, this story is part of a series highlighting alumni, faculty, staff and students from the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing and their efforts to promote equity in engineering.