Pavitra Attanayake writes in Unscripted about the peer mentoring program she created in her department for her Pavlis honors project. More information on the program is available on the website she also created for the peer mentoring program.
Lydia has been awarded the Dean of Students Award for Service for 2020-2021. She graduated in May 2021 from Michigan Tech with a degree in math and honors recognition from the Pavlis Honors College. Lydia’s honors program focused in community service and included a certificate for Peace Corps Prep. Lydia spent three summers working with the Appalachian Service Project in various leadership roles, founded and served as president of Tech Tutors during the pandemic, and has been highly active mentoring K-12 students in the local community throughout her degree program. Congratulations, Lydia!
Interested in global service? Peace Corps Prep is a partnership with the U.S. Peace Corps for Michigan Tech students to prepare themselves for international service. Looking for a way to serve closer to home? GivePulse is a matching platform with numerous community engagement opportunities that you can get involved with. Watch this short video to learn more.
Deanna Seil, who served as a Community Ambassador while at Michigan Tech, collaborated with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to develop a resource on shared governance for her community service work. The final product “Shared Governance and Stewardship: Rights and Responsibilities of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community” is available here.
Bio-inspired, Community-centric Research Experience
TECH SCEnE – Technology, Science, and Community Engagement in Engineering is a unique undergraduate research program. The features of the program are
- The program combines engineering research with direct community involvement and impact.
- Each project will team the students with mentors at Michigan Tech and the Natural Resources Department at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
- Projects include water quality testing for heavy metal contamination, smart adhesives for underwater applications, underwater sensor networks for long-term monitoring, simulating daylight for hatcheries and nanofiber manufacturing for personal protective equipment and filters.
- Hands-on laboratory experience and field visits to the beautiful lake shores of the Keweenaw Bay and Lake Superior.
The projects directly impact the community and apply engineering solutions to address specific needs.
For more information on how to apply, see the website.
Maya Chappell (BS, Environmental Engineering, December 2020) completed the Peace Corps Prep program at Michigan Tech and was awarded a certificate by the U.S. Peace Corps this fall for her accomplishments. Peace Corps Prep is an official partnership between Michigan Tech and the Peace Corps to prepare undergraduate students for Peace Corps service after graduation. Students in the program focus on courses and hands-on experiences to build intercultural sensitivity and technical skills that can be used for Peace Corps service. Maya focused her technical training on water resources, combining a number of courses in civil and environmental engineering with an International Senior Design project partnering with a community in Ghana and an internship at TTM Technologies. Maya further embraced challenges and sought diverse perspectives as an undergraduate by studying abroad and volunteering in Ghana, where she also took a class in the Twi language. She holds leadership positions in several student organizations and was a recipient of the Community Ambassador scholarship for her work building local community service opportunities for students at Tech. Maya will move to Texas to start a job with 3M after graduation and hopes to one day also join the Peace Corps.