From the 2014 The Outstanding Thomasian ALumni Awards
In his high-school yearbook, Engr. Benjamin P. Saldua said he wanted to be an engineer. Now, he is the Principal Structural Engineer of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
From humble beginnings, Engr. Saldua did not allow financial constraints to stop him from living his dream, and after obtaining his license as Civil Engineer in 1970, he joined the Erectors Company and helped build the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex along Roxas Boulevard.
Driven by his dreams, Engr. Saldua migrated to the United States in the early 1980s after being hired by NASA. Since 1981, he has been with NASA, where he has now established himself as the authority in terms of constructing satellite and deep space dishes, which are responsible for ensuring that data from space missions are transmitted seamlessly back to the station.
In gratitude to his alma mater, Engr. Saldua has been actively involved in Thomasian alumni associations in America. His participation has gone beyond attending social gatherings, though, as he is a regular and generous contributor to the various groups’ scholarship and endowment funds. He himself has sponsored several scholars who studied in UST.
His feats did not go unnoticed–the UST Faculty of Engineering and the UST Education High School recognized him with the highest distinction that they award their alumni: the Centennial Award for Engineering Research by the Faculty of Engineering in 2007 and the Totus Tuus Award for Engineering Practice by the Education High School in 2009.
