The Millennial Engineer:
How to Prepare a Student to be a Scientist, Host a TV Show, Re-Imagine Toys, AND Start a Global Non-Profit
Dr. Mike North will discuss the importance of preparing students to successfully "design in context" — to engage in cross-disciplinary, even cross-national, collaborations to ensure that the technical solutions they propose have optimal impact.
In particular, students must graduate knowing how to:
- Consider the impact of technical solutions in societal, cultural, economic, environmental, and global contexts
- Consider contemporary issues of technical and non-technical nature
- Function on multi-disciplinary teams, with the ability to work across disciplines, time zones, cultures, and geopolitical boundaries
North will highlight projects from his Discovery Channel show, Prototype This, to the work his non-profit organization ReAllocate.org is engaged in through harnessing the expertise of engineers and professionals across the globe to address significant issues faced by those at the base of the economic pyramid.
Biography
Mike North holds bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in science/engineering, notably creating the world's first on/off gecko-mimetic adhesive. He has been published in a half-dozen major scientific journals, including Nature. North masterminded builds on the prime-time Discovery Channel show Prototype This, where he led teams of crack inventors and scientists to create never-before-seen spectacles of engineering.
Currently, North is bringing innovation to the toy industry as Chief Technology Officer at Nukotoys; has a design and rapid prototyping firm, North Design Labs; and is founder/chair of ReAllocate.org, a non-profit that reallocates expertise to address base-of-the-economic-pyramid issues.