I was born and raised in the City of Detroit, and attended Detroit Public Schools.
When I went to college I had to work to make ends meet. I got a job as a cook in the
dorm, and eventually worked my way up to lead cook. I was cooking breakfast for 1,200
people each morning. One of my fellow classmates was studying engineering, too. He
had a job working for a professor doing research on storm waves and beaches. I had
no idea I could be hired by a professor and get paid money to work on the beach! I
quit my job in the kitchen and went to work for that professor instead. I had been
a competitive swimmer in high school, and the beach was where I really wanted to be.
When I graduated with my degree, I went to work for Ford. I have to thank my first
boss for assigning me to work on rear axle shafts. After about two months, I called
my former professor to see if I could come back to college.
My advice for students just starting out is to spend your first year exploring all
your options. Find out what you really want to do. I had no idea I could turn a mechanical
engineering degree into a job working on the beach. Turns out, I could—and I’m still
doing it today.
Because I grew up in Detroit, I had the opportunity to live, work, and grow in a very
diverse community. While a faculty member at the University of Michigan, I was part
of a great team that started the M-STEM Academies and became its founding director.
The M-STEM mission is ‘to strengthen and diversify the cohort of students who receive
their baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM),
with the ultimate goal of increasing the number and diversity of students who are
well prepared to seek career opportunities or to pursue graduate or professional training
in the STEM disciplines in the new global economy.’ This effort has been a very important
part of my journey. –Guy Meadows, Director, Marine Engineering Laboratory, Robbins Professor of Sustainable Marine
Engineering, and Research Professor, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics #mtuhumans
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
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