The dean of South Texas College’s math and science programs sees a Rio Grande Valley emerging as a technology-driven region where education and workforce development must work together. 

“We have no other choice than educating our students about what is happening in our region,” said Ali Esmaeili, the STC dean, in a college media office report. “The growth in STEM is going to transform our region, but we haven’t scratched the surface.”

The need for more students trained in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics is apparent across the Valley as local communities attract major industries to the region. Just in recent weeks, the city of McAllen announced that a major global automotive supplier specializing in electrical vehicles is building a 226,000-square-foot facility south of the city and will have a 500-employee workforce.

And just east of Brownsville is SpaceX’s Starbase on Boca Chica Beach. There are already 4,000 jobs on site at Starbase. The mayor of Brownsville, John Cowen, recently stated in a State of The City address that Starbase will employ an additional 4,000 employees in the coming years. It will all add to a growing space industry for Brownsville and the Valley as industrial and technology infrastructure continues to develop in the area. 

“There are expanding opportunities in South Texas in manufacturing, engineering, construction, and logistics for our city and our region,” Cowen said. 

The Importance Of Adaptability

These topics were in mind during an April keynote speech at STC’s Pecan Campus when cardiologist and astronaut Eiman Jahangir addressed hundreds of students at the college.

Jahangir is a Vanderbilt University Medical Center physician who has trained extensively in human spaceflight and traveled to space as a member of Blue Origin’s New Shepard-26 launch in 2024. He told STC students that they live in a region positioned to benefit from a shifting economic landscape. Companies connected to advanced manufacturing, aerospace and technology have a growing presence in South Texas, Jahangir said.

“The future is looking bright because these students are going to have opportunities that their parents didn’t have,” Jahangir said at a STEM Summit on the STC campus. “STEM is playing such a big part of what is happening here in McAllen and across the region.”

STC President Ricardo Solis highlighted the importance of adaptability at the summit event. He urged students to pursue continuous learning through specialized training which will help them learn evolving skillsets involving artificial intelligence and advanced technologies.

“It’s not only about degrees,” Solis told the students. “It’s about the ability to learn and relearn. “STEM pathways are not only expanding but becoming essential across industries. As students, you all are on the right track because these pathways are opening up so many opportunities.”

‘Do The Hard Things’

Those opportunities are plentiful in the Brownsville area as well.

SpaceX headquarters were moved from California to Starbase in 2025. The development at Starbase has been continuous since the late 2010s and includes a spaceport, production facilities and launch test site along Texas Stage Highway 4 on Boca Chica Beach. The space industrial complex has become best known for its launches of the Starship, which at 400 feet tall is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. 

The jobs at Starbase include the type of high-tech careers discussed at the STC summit. Keeping the two-stage rocket fully reusable and ready for ever-increasing launches requires having avionics systems engineers, automation and controls technicians, structural welders and construction project managers.

The need for these jobs will grow soon as Brownsville Mayor Cowen said in his recent speech that SpaceX’s goal is to have 25 launches a year from its Boca Chica site. Training for and having the education to take on the sort of jobs at Starbase presents steep challenges. Jahangir, the physician astronaut, hopes students won’t be deterred in pursuing their ambitions.

“My hope is that students stay encouraged to do the hard things,” Jahangir said. “A lot of these students may have dreams that they think are impossible, but I hope they go and do it anyway, no matter how crazy it may seem.”

South Texas College Communications & Public Relations contributed to this story.