What she learned inside and outside of the classroom during her freshman year and beyond changed her mindset and launched her on a path to success. One of her mentors, mechanical and materials engineering professor Norman Munroe, taught Viera’s introduction to engineering class.
“I have had the privilege of witnessing her maturity and professionalism. Isabella has visited my classroom annually as a guest speaker to share her experiences and insights with the students,” Munroe says.
“She has acquired hands-on experience as an undergraduate research assistant working on the design of a novel hydraulic prosthetic devices and has demonstrated leadership as the founder of a student organization. Her impactful efforts to serve the needs of others attests to the substantial contribution she can render to others wherever she goes.”
While at FIU, Viera founded Coffee Chats with Isa, a free program that helped more than 150 students reach their goals by assisting them with their resumes and job hunts.
Although Viera possessed robust classroom, organizational and internship experience, she entered Boston Dynamics with no prior robotics background. As a rotational development engineer, she is spending 18 months going through six disciplines at the company. On her third rotation, she traveled to Arizona from the company’s Boston headquarters to install STRETCH’s safety system.
“The box-handling robot is used primarily in warehouses to automate the task of unloading boxes from trailers and shipping containers,” she says. “I’ve been able to see everything from how it is assembled and manufactured to how it acts in the field and functions with the customer. I am learning so much.”
Viera proved herself capable of both jumping right into the workforce and making a difference immediately, says JoJo Winsor, manager of strategic field applications engineering at Boston Dynamics.
“Isabella brings a rare mix of technical ability, an energized curiosity and true emotional intelligence to her work at Boston Dynamics,” she says.
“Her experiences at FIU, through coursework, internships and her own work as a peer mentor, gave her a strong foundation that she has confidently applied in real-world settings, from manufacturing and testing robots, to fielding them, working with cross-functional teams internally to accomplish goals and helping customers extract value from our robots in their lives and operations.”
