{"id":28776,"date":"2021-11-03T12:05:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=28776"},"modified":"2021-11-03T12:05:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:05:36","slug":"physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Every day is a learning opportunity for Franklin Romero Vega, whether it\u2019s in a fast-food kitchen or pursuing a career in nuclear fusion.<\/p>\n

The physics major\u2019s path to a prestigious internship this fall with the Department of Energy Office of Science is a winding one. But Romero Vega sees each stop on the journey as a life lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of how much I\u2019ve accomplished. I came from working in fast food to working in this internship. I just want to continue working to make the world a better place,\u201d Romero Vega said.<\/p>\n

The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) selects undergraduate students to work directly with National Laboratory scientists and engineers, assisting them on research or technology projects that support DOE. Romero Vega was one of the 148 selected students to participate in the Fall 2021 program.<\/p>\n

Coming from Ecuador at age 15 was a culture shock for Romero Vega, beginning with learning English. The variety of backgrounds and life experiences so different than what he shared with his friends back home also proved challenging. Attending UCF eased the challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCF has provided a good environment to meet people from different backgrounds and help me expand my vision of the world, as well as help me to understand people of this country better,\u201d Romero Vega said<\/p>\n

Romero Vega\u2019s research focuses on nuclear fusion, the development of new energy and limiting the impacts of climate change. According to the United Nations<\/a>, climate change is the \u201cdefining issue of our time.\u201d Carbon dioxide emissions related to energy continue to rise \u2013 reaching 33.1 billion tonnes in 2018, a record high, and have increased by more than 40 percent since 2000. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, scientists suggest using nuclear energy<\/a> because of its low-carbon output and ability to supply the world with clean and reliable energy.<\/p>\n

Romero Vega\u2019s career goal is a job with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)<\/a>, which is set to be the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world.<\/p>\n

Romero Vega expects ITER to provide us data that will be valuable in the development of nuclear fusion reactors. While nuclear energy draws its shares of critics, Romero Vega insists nuclear fusion is \u201cone of the safest energy sources of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This internship represents a step forward for Romero Vega, but he can still see the parallels between where he started and where he\u2019s headed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in a fast food restaurant is very different from an internship, but one thing they do have in common is that they have both made me more responsible and allowed me to communicate with different people and overall learn from different walks of life,\u201d Romero Vega said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day is a learning opportunity for Franklin Romero Vega, whether it\u2019s in a fast-food kitchen or pursuing a career in nuclear fusion. The physics major\u2019s path to a prestigious internship this fall with the Department of Energy Office of Science is a winding one. But Romero Vega sees each stop on the journey as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":28777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,13,5967,14,28],"tags":[2686],"class_list":["post-28776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-notables","category-physics-departments","category-top-news","tag-physics"],"yoast_head":"\nPhysics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every day is a learning opportunity for Franklin Romero Vega, whether it\u2019s in a fast-food kitchen or pursuing a career in nuclear fusion. The physics major\u2019s path to a prestigious internship this fall with the Department of Energy Office of Science is a winding one. But Romero Vega sees each stop on the journey as […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kyle Martin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\"},\"headline\":\"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":454,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"physics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COS News\",\"News\",\"Notables\",\"Physics\",\"Top News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1282,\"caption\":\"A smiling young man with glasses and curly black hair, wearing a black polo shirt, standing outdoors with trees blurred in the background.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\",\"name\":\"Kyle Martin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kyle Martin\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News","og_description":"Every day is a learning opportunity for Franklin Romero Vega, whether it\u2019s in a fast-food kitchen or pursuing a career in nuclear fusion. The physics major\u2019s path to a prestigious internship this fall with the Department of Energy Office of Science is a winding one. But Romero Vega sees each stop on the journey as […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1282,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kyle Martin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kyle Martin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/"},"author":{"name":"Kyle Martin","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4"},"headline":"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship","datePublished":"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/"},"wordCount":454,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg","keywords":["physics"],"articleSection":["COS News","News","Notables","Physics","Top News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/","name":"Physics Student Rises From Humble Origins To Prestigious Internship - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-03T16:05:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-03T16:05:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/physics-student-rises-from-humble-origins-to-prestigious-internship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Franklin-Romero-Vega2-horizontal-scaled.jpg","width":1920,"height":1282,"caption":"A smiling young man with glasses and curly black hair, wearing a black polo shirt, standing outdoors with trees blurred in the background."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4","name":"Kyle Martin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kyle Martin"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28776"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28781,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28776\/revisions\/28781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}