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Kehinde S. Oshodi "My passion is to make this world a better place -- better in terms of the quality of life and health for all as related to water."
Kehinde Oshodi Kehinde Oshodi is a young woman filled with determination, strength, and faith. She is driven by a deep sense of loyalty and love for her family, and of the world around her. After growing up in Lawrence and attending the Presentation of Mary High School, Kehinde graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University. "My passion is to make this world a better place -- better in terms of the quality of life and health for all as related to water. Water is essential for life. We need to protect its sources and determine effective treatment methods and distribution means, as well as effective waste collection, treatment, and remediation." While at Northeastern, she took her classroom perseverance into the field with Professor Ferdi Hellweger, a 2005 Thoreau Foundation Insitutional Grant recipient. Together they conducted research in Boston and produced a report entitled "Remote Sensing of Water Quality of the Charles River." The report looked at the use of satellite imagery for water quality measurements such as turbidity. "Our results showed that it is not feasible to use satellite imagery alone as an alternative means for obtaining turbidity data." Kehinde dreams of working in developing countries and putting her academic expertise to use to establish operative policies that aid in building drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. With family roots in Nigeria, she hopes to travel back in the near future with her sister, Taiwo, and work with groups such as the Peace Corps and Engineers without Borders/Doctors without Borders. During her undergraduate years at Northeastern, Kehinde also worked as a co-op student/intern at Camp Dresser McKee (CDM). An environmental engineering consulting firm with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, CDM operates offices all over the USA and overseas. She was based in the Dallas office, beginning in her junior year. "The majority of the projects that I assisted on related to improvements along two forks of the Trinity River. The improvements were designed to mitigate flooding and provide recreational enhancements to surrounding areas by realigning the river," she explains. Kehinde's resolve grows stronger as she starts her full-time graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. Her CDM co-workers in Dallas recommended UT Austin to her. She will be focusing on environmental engineering and water resource engineering. "I'm also thinking about earning a teaching certificate as well as an environmental law degree to make a huge impact in water technology and policy." Her enduring interest in environmental studies is a result of "my observation of what is around me. My desire to stick to this field is influenced by my classmates who share similar goals and through organizations such as the Thoreau Foundation." |
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