Dayton Engineer
Engineering student selected as SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholar
University of Dayton School of Engineering student David Albrecht has been named one of two 2023-2024 SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholars by the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition. The coalitions’ goal is to recognize students whose work crosses the intersection of science and human rights.
The AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition is a network of scientific and engineering membership organizations that promotes a role for scientists and engineers in service to human rights.
Albrecht, a junior mechanical engineering student, will be awarded funding to continue a research project focused on creating natural alternatives to plastics for environmental restoration, water quality protection and aquaculture in coastal South Carolina.
The FutureGen Scholars program will allow him to create a web resource that publicizes the full efforts of a NOAA research project to engage communities in coastal South Carolina, particularly those of the Gullah Geechee people.
The website serves as a tool for science communication, a centralized resource to find involvement opportunities within the plastic-alternatives research project and helps address underrepresentation of marginalized groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Albrecht also hopes to protect and promote the traditional knowledge of the Gullah people as it relates to their coastal environment and the use of natural materials.
This year’s scholars were selected based on the creativity and achievability of their project in service of human rights through science and technology.