Category: Global and Community Engagement

Keynote Speaker Announced – Dr. Kurt Paterson

The Pavlis Honors College is excited to announce the keynote speaker for this year’s Global and Community Engagement Conference is Dr. Kurt Paterson. Paterson is responsible for organizing the first D80 conference at Michigan Tech back in 2007 while he was an Adjunct Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Headshot of Dr. Kurt Paterson in black and white.
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Kurt Paterson

Kurt Paterson is a first-generation college graduate who grew up in a fairly humble Iowa neighborhood but managed to wander into a life of global engagement. Currently, he is a professor of engineering at James Madison University, where he was Head of Engineering for seven years. He is also serving the U.S. Department of State as Senior Sustainability Advisor and was recently named a Jefferson Science Fellow of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In these capacities, he has championed the development of climate-sensitive operations to parallel the Department’s international climate diplomacy.

Prior to these efforts, Kurt was on Michigan Tech’s environmental engineering faculty and partnered with countless faculty, staff, students, and communities on global engagement programs and projects in more than 40 countries. Inspired by these successes at Tech, Kurt helped launch a nationwide community of practice through the American Society of Engineering Education, the Community Engagement Division.

In January 2023, to take engagement to a new scale, Kurt will become Director of The Polytechnic School at Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering. Kurt currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, two daughters, and Covid rescue puppy, the latter of which also started life in humble circumstances and is good at wandering.

The keynote presentation will be a featured program during the 2022 Global and Community Engagement Conference (formally known as D80 Conference). The Michigan Tech campus hosts this annual conference every fall to give a platform to the voices of those serving communities both domestically and abroad.

This year’s theme is “Re-energizing Our Communities Through Service” and the conference will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 9:00am – 3:00pm in the Memorial Union Ballroom – lunch will be provided. The conference is open to anyone interested in the development, design, and discovery of people and communities! Please register to attend by filling out this form.

In addition, faculty, staff, students, and local organizations are invited to participate in this event as presenters. We want to hear more about the work that you are doing! This is a great opportunity to share your recent studies, projects, or research with the community. Please consider submitting a 30-minute presentation proposal.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Darnishia Morris.

Congratulations to Lydia Savatsky!

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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 Community Service? This video explains two opportunities from global to local on how to get involved.

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.

Community Ambassador Collaborates with KBIC on Shared Governance Document

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.

TECH SCEnE, Research Experience for Undergraduates

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.