SOCIENTY OF MEXICAN AMERICAN ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS

MAES

Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists

Origin of the MAES Medalla de Oro and Padrino Scholarship Program

The principals involved in the establishment of the Medalla de Oro and Padrino Scholarship Program were Oscar Cano, Art Cano, Bob Von Hatten and Fabian Rivera. The program’s inception and implementation took place 1983 at TRW where Oscar and Bob both worked. At that time Bob was the MAES National president (1982-1984) and Oscar was his vice-president. But as it happens, serious discussions began earlier in late 1982, when Bob began talking about establishing a National Awards program as one of his goals. Oscar came up with the idea of awarding Gold medals to outstanding and dedicated professionals in recognition for service to our organization. They decided to christen the medal as the MAES “Medalla de Oro”. Oscar collaborated with his brother Art who came up with a beautiful design. Since the program’s inception and implementation in 1983, an average of three medals per year have been awarded at the MAES National Conference for the past 26 years. For the first three years MAES was having a very difficult time in getting acceptable medals produced. Mr. Fabian Rivera, a member of the Long Beach professional chapter and a self-trained but expert jeweler, came to the rescue and for the last 22 years has been producing top quality medals for MAES.

Write-up contributed by Bob Von Hatten - 2004