I believe the biggest world issues we will face are communication and values. Communication is the key to our success. I see that we are not communicating well—locally, nationally, and globally. I think that we are losing our values, and the world is becoming too materialistic. But, there is always hope; maybe that is why I am here, to make a difference.

Julio Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico and a graduate from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, is making a difference wherever he goes. A PhD student and member of the Sustainable Futures Institute, Rivera takes sustainability to heart, making certain to give back as much as he has received. He has taken on the task of promoting Michigan Tech in his homeland, and has met with representatives from four universities there in an effort to recruit students and create educational partnerships with Michigan Tech.

Inspiring Puerto Ricans

Giving his best, he is also a member of NOSOTROS, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and has helped organize numerous Hispanic cultural events, including the first live salsa band performance in Houghton. In addition, he is on the ME-EM Graduate Student Advisory Board which addresses issues for Hispanic students at a national level; and as the Graduate Student Council Health Insurance Manager, his service extends far beyond the classroom.

Rivera is part of the Sustainable Futures IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship), a National Science Foundation Project. His long term goal is to become a faculty member and return to Puerto Rico. He explains, “We need to have more Puerto Ricans educated

at the doctorate level. Faculty members have the responsibility to mentor students and interact with them. In order to attract more students to science and engineering, we have to inspire them."

Rivera describes his smaller goals along the way, an ever-expanding list which includes an internship in Australia. Integrating the social, economic, and environmental aspects into his program, he is specifically interested in manufacturing and air quality. He plans on investigating the mechanisms that affect the behavior of nano particles in the air, linking them to the impacts on human health.

Engineering Public Policy

From there, Rivera would like to explore the process for determining better air quality standards, and finally, public policy at a national level. He explains, “I think it is important to increase the number of scientists and engineers in Congress. Since we are facing more complex problems, Congress will be making many technical decisions. We need to have people with engineering backgrounds there so that benefits to society are maximized."

There is some irony in the fact that the largest challenge for Rivera at Michigan Tech has been the English language. In Spanish, he says, “Tienes que estar adentro para saber lo que está pasando." (You have to be inside to know what is happening.) Julio Rivera has immersed himself completely, and his conversations, whether in English or Spanish, are thought-provoking interactions that articulate his zeal for building relationships across the world.