Inspiring Others by Forging Your Path

At SIU Carbondale, I built a coalition of innovation students to transform our SIU Green Roof into a multidisciplinary research facility for students to explore their own passions through projects and research.

By Nelson Fernandes, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; University Innovation Fellow

Every journey starts with a single step. The destination may appear long and hard. At times, you may encounter challenges, demanding you to grow and open your mind to new ideas. However, your journey may not be a lonely one.

During my time as a Fellow at SIU Carbondale, I have been exposed to a variety of opportunities to challenge myself for growth. One experience is increasing the accessibility of opportunities for our students to learn and develop their own passions through interdisciplinary collaboration.

In Carbondale, Illinois, we are fortunate to have innovative pioneers in our history including one individual who led the installation of our green roof in 2009. This 5000 square foot outdoor research facility is located in the center of campus on our Agriculture Building. The SIU Green Roof is filled with different native plants to Southern Illinois as well as urban horticulture research projects which grow in a six inch soilless medium. During my first visit to the green roof, I was blown away by the intuitive design; however, more by the potential for student engagement which has been on a decline for the past several years. Similar to an unfinished project, my mind began cranking and envisioning the future. How might I explore my passions to create a greater impact on campus and the community?

As an engineering student, I am passionate about increasing sustainability and renewable energy installations. Having an outdoor research space is perfect for experimenting with solar and wind technologies! The opportunity to collaborate with a team to install renewable energy is an interesting process from the initial feasibility study, design phase, and the installation. However, how might we encourage future Salukis to find their passions through the green roof in a wide variety of topics and fields, specifically clean energy?

My primary project is focused on transforming our existing green space into a multidisciplinary innovation hub, specifically for encouraging student engagement in emerging technologies! We recruited a cross-functional team of innovative students from different disciplines and universities collaborating on our renewable energy projects. The projects, such as the temporary wind turbine, will be visible from the sidewalk which will spark curiosity among students to make a connection between the green roof and exploring their passions on-campus. We decided to lead by example through installing our own projects which includes improving the irrigation system through machine learning, small wind turbines, and a photovoltaic system for power generation.

Personally, leading a cross-functional and virtual team of friends and peers was a challenge in the beginning. Specifically building personal connections among those who live hundreds of miles apart and never met physically. The pandemic has trained us to step outside of our comfort zone and make connections digitally over social media and various messaging platforms. However, our team saw exponential growth when my original vision transformed into our team’s shared vision for the SIU Green Roof and clean energy opportunities on-campus. I inspired everyone to join, but we each added our own uniqueness to create something better where we each hold our own ownership. Now, our team is experiencing the effect of our passion driven projects as an inspiration for current and future students to pursue their own passions on-campus. The quote, “greatness attracts greatness,” is true for passion. SIU Carbondale fosters a culture of innovation and sustainability which holds true to date as students, faculty, and staff continue to find ways of forging their paths which results in more innovation, more collaboration, more inspiration for the future generations.