SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 — When Joey Mukherjee ’95 enrolled in UTSA’s undergraduate computer science program in 1990, he recognized the university’s high-quality education. UTSA, ahead of its time, had identified that computer science was slated to be the next in-demand industry, and its growing program was on the rise.
Immediately following Mukherjee’s graduation from UTSA, he was offered a position at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI®) in San Antonio. He now works primarily in space research doing data analysis. He’s worked on projects such as New Horizons, which flew by Pluto in 2015, and Juno, which passed by Jupiter in 2016, and the upcoming Europa Clipper mission going to Europa, a moon of Jupiter, in October of 2024.
Mukherjee has worked for SwRI for 29 years and serves as an institute computer scientist, SwRI’s senior-most position for computer scientists.
Joey Mukherjee“I’ve been using much of my degree as part of my job on a daily basis,” Mukherjee said. “I write software for the web, desktop and server to help scientists do better space research. In a nutshell, there are many satellites launched into space for doing research into ‘something.’ In some cases, we send satellites to other planets or moons, and in others they orbit Earth looking at something. They all return back data of some sort.”
Mukherjee plays an instrumental role in retrieving and deciphering data for scientists to analyze. Working closely with engineers and space researchers, the UTSA alumnus translates the data into useful information. Additionally, he develops websites to help scientists plan points of exploration for satellites.
Since Mukherjee’s time as an undergraduate at UTSA, his major has become one of UTSA’s most popular degree programs. Preliminary data shows UTSA attracting 3,971 undergraduate students alone to computer science and cybersecurity this fall.
Other top programs prepare students for careers in health and bioscience, financial services, manufacturing and aerospace, and the public sector and government.
As UTSA grows, it’s intentionally building degree programs to help meet Texas’s projected workforce needs.
Preliminary data this fall 2024 also reveals that biology and psychology top UTSA’s most popular undergraduate degree programs. A projected total of 4,416 students are enrolled in these programs this semester.
A strong commitment to its students made UTSA a perfect fit for Yelitza Ramirez ’16, ’19, an alumna who earned a biology degree. In her eyes, this dedication set UTSA apart from other institutions. The university’s proximity to home was also a plus.
Yelitza RamirezRamirez’s academic career at UTSA started in 2013 when she began her pursuit of a B.S. in biology. Upon graduating, she set her sights on her master's in the same field, which she completed at UTSA in 2019.
“UTSA inspired me to become active with the community and engage,” Ramirez said. “The university instilled a sense of duty in me to apply my degree and knowledge to help others in need.”
Students coming to UTSA gain a competitive edge. While at UTSA, Ramirez had the opportunity to highlight her research in poster presentations and publish a first-author manuscript. She has been able to translate the skills she acquired in the laboratory to her career in public health, increasing her capacity to write proposals and present them to her supervisors while they served on the COVID-19 Response Team of San Antonio.
Ramirez now helps coordinate clinical trials at University Health. Her strong foundation in science and her experience in research continues to play a vital role in ensuring all members of her team are well-informed, despite their varying professional expertise.
“I act as the bridge between the research, doctors and patients,” Ramirez said.
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Students, faculty and staff are invited to join UTSA's delegation at the annual César E. Chávez March for Justice in downtown San Antonio. Free transportation will be provided from the Main and Downtown Campuses, and all university community participants will receive a complimentary commemorative t-shirt (while supplies last)
1310 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, TexasJoin UTSA Libraries and Museums to learn more about the publishing discounts available for UTSA researchers.
Virtual Event (Zoom)PubMed is an essential database for anyone conducting biomedical or health-related research. This workshop will teach attendees how to effectively navigate this free resource and locate peer-reviewed articles using advanced search features, MeSH subject headings, and Boolean operators.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Join us for a hands-on workshop about the basics of copyright, both in education and as a researcher. We’ll dispel some common copyright myths, differences between copyright law and other intellectual property law, and teach you how to apply a Fair Use checklist to your scholarly work.
Virtual Event (Zoom)In this workshop, we will explore sentiment analysis, a method for identifying feelings in text, whether the tone is positive, negative, or neutral.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryThe Urban Bird Project at UTSA will discuss urban bird populations, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved.
JPL Assembly Room (4.04.22,) Main CampusLearn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual Event ( Zoom)The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
