In the fall of 2015, Juan Andrés Rujana moved from Caracas, Venezuela, to Duluth to study mechanical engineering at the U of M. His country was in turmoil, and Rujana’s parents felt he’d have more opportunities if he studied in the United States. He chose UMD’s honors program because of the strength of the mechanical engineering program and the scholarship he received.
Rujana (B.S. ’20) understood he was fortunate to be an international student in a country that wasn’t suffering from a socioeconomic and political crisis. But that doesn’t mean his transition to Minnesota was easy. “It was an insane culture shock,” says Rujana, who is now 24.
Rujana started to have doubts about pursuing a future in engineering. After doing some research, he discovered a new product design program at the U of M’s College of Design in St. Paul that sparked his interest. He’d been intrigued by the idea of product design before he started his engineering studies, but had been intimidated by the sketching, model-making, and other artistic components of the career. But the idea that this program was brand new lessened his anxiety.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to become an engineer was to create cool products,” he says. “So being able to do that [along with] the fun part—which in my opinion is design and figuring out how [design] works in relation to understanding people—I thought that would just be amazing.” He transferred in 2017 and was admitted into his major the following year.
