StanleyBurgos ’06 of Huntington Park is taking part in Occidental’s challenging 3-2 program with Caltech, a five-year course of study leading to a combined physics/engineering degree. The first in his family to attend college, he’s been aiming high since he was a kid who talked about becoming a rocket scientist.

Ranked second in his high school class, he dreamed of studying physics in college. But despite his mother’s best efforts, Stanley lacked the necessary residence status to qualify for federally funded financial aid. “I was devastated,” says Stanley, a then undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who has lived in the United States since he was 7.

For two years, he studied calculus, physics and chemistry on his own while his case was appealed to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. After much hard work, he finally straightened out his paperwork and sent in his college applications. Stanley chose Occidental over UCLA and UC Berkeley on the advice of his high school calculus teacher, an Oxy alumnus who suggested he would like the intellectual challenge of a small institution. The College’s 10.5:1 student-to-professor ratio was a key factor in his decision.

Stanley has made the most of his experience by collaborating with Associate Professor of Physics Daniel Snowden-Ifft to research dark matter, a substance that dominates the universe but hasn’t been detected. With some of his advanced level courses enrolling as few as eight students, Stanley is on track for reaching the stars. “I’ve been working with post-doctoral researchers as an undergraduate,” Stanley says. “It’s very rewarding. Oxy challenges me both inside and outside the classroom.”