Terence Williams (Terry) is a Distance Learning student from Oakton, VA. As a mature student, Terry has previously enjoyed a 23-year career with a major, US, industrial corporation working on 3 continents, across various industries. Terry was attracted to the MS Sustainable Engineering program by its flexible approach and course structure, and ease of accessing the classroom through digital media, and with it, he hopes to better understand ideas and opportunities for a more circular economy, and then guide organizations toward sustainable solutions. Outside of the MS program Terry does volunteer work with Taproot (a pro-bono service provider) as an account director and is excited to be part of the team working in Cambodia.
What are you working on while in Cambodia?
I am working on Technical, Vocational Education, and Training (TVET) mobile facilities that are to be designed to stimulate interest in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) based career. Additionally, we are able to work with the team whose primary task is the next evolution of the EOD robot… cool huh?
What drew you to choosing this project and working in Cambodia?
Earlier this year I was invited to go to Ghana and work with the Lifetime Wells for Ghana team (building water platforms and pumps to provide clean water to remote villages in North-West Ghana), and returning from that trip I was invited to look at other Villanova Engineering Service Learning (VESL) projects. The online profile for activities in Cambodia drew my attention, since, as a more mature student…. I remember news articles about the plight of Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime and the turmoil that followed. I felt compelled to “get involved”.
The allocation of my remit, to work on TVET for STEM was accepted as a challenge because this is a domain in which I have, until now, given little thought. Though, in my career, I have participated in organizations and operations that recruits and engages people in these fields from a rich pool of candidates, the notion of trying to stimulate people to considering these fields for a career forces us to examine cultural diversity and suspend assumptions from my past that do not resonate in many of the target communities from which we seek to attract people to vocational careers.
So, the basic premise of designing a tent footprint for a TVET booth has taken on new dimensions. Creating experiments and presenting working models for “cool stuff” is fine (and fun), yet how do you relate that to communities that don’t yet have reliable energy sources, or whose teachers have had little exposure to 21st century technology, or don’t have reliable access (or any access) to computers and the internet, or where one of the biggest challenges to community health is access to reliable sources of clean water.
The stakeholder groups involved represent many different parts society or industry and are all seeking the same outcome (a prosperous, stable, and developed nation) and so we are hoping to cultivate interest in school leavers, and their parents, and community in propelling people into careers that they can enjoy, and that moves Cambodia toward its sustainable and prosperous future.
So, how did they lure me to this location – they simply appealed the more altruistic side of my character which I had actively and successfully suppressed for the previous 20 years. Oh, plus they promised me a trip to Angkor Wat.
What are your plans for after this summer? Going back to school? Have a job?
When we return to the States I intend to complete the requirements to finish my MS Sustainable Engineering, perhaps with a focus on international development. I am fortunate in the fact that I have options for how to complete this course with a specialization that I can choose from a rich pallet. Once completed, I will, inevitably, have to get a job, and hopefully in a domain in which I can help organizations or operations make better decisions about material usage, people development, and environmental/ecological balance.
What trajectory drew you to get into engineering and your current field (robotics, thermofluids, etc)?
I have come to this program after having a career for a number of years that has allowed me to work in 4 continents and in multiple industries (nuclear, infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation). So I come to these projects with a slightly different perspective than many of the students that are currently my colleagues, and peers.
What drew me to engineering originally was that I liked the idea of building stuff, any stuff. I like the idea of leverage, and so as one who practices the art of doing as little as possible, finding solutions that ultimately reduce my energy input is a solid bonus!! I was able to learn, from the school of hard knocks, that the world isn’t as interested in my personal crusade to reduce my energy input, yet it was interested in saving material, energy, and resource in a collective sense, because those inputs equate to money…
Finding the MS Sustainable Engineering course allows me to better understand how to evaluate options for projects or production to include necessary balance or compromise to achieve sustainable solutions.
Albert Einstein once said that “everything can be made simpler, yet not everything can be made simple”. In sustainable engineering it follows a similar perspective in that everything can be made “more” sustainably, if not sustainable.
What are your long term professional goals? How will your experience in Cambodia help reach those goals?
My long term goals at this stage is to finish my MS in Sustainable Engineering and generate a career where I can help people make better informed decisions. I don’t advocate to deny any nation, community, or corporation the right or ability to develop and grow, yet I would hope to guide some of these into building a future that remains available to future generations to enjoy by sourcing more sustainable options.
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