by I am so proud to share that Houston Foresight students won first, second, and third place of the Individual Graduate Student category of the APF Student Recognition program. Selecting the three entrants for this year was very tough as we had many excellent candidates. It was great to see the APF judges agreed with me that this was an outstanding selection of projects!
I want to thank my colleagues at APF for hosting this wonderful program. It really is something for students (and teachers) to look forward to and winning means a lot. We often talk about the need to get more young people involved in foresight. APF deserves credit for this program as well as the Emerging Fellows program. As a result almost a quarter of the members is either students or emerging fellows (within three years of graduation). That is a pretty amazing stat! While there is always more that could be done, let’s acknowledge the good work that is being done now!!!
So, let’s congratulate our Houston student winners.
1st Prize: Justin Kugler, “The Future of Industrial Activity in Space.”
Justin is a graduate student of Human Space Exploration Sciences at the University of Houston whose project was part of the “World Futures” course and has taken other courses in our program. He is also the business development manager for industrial R&D at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. It is very stimulating to have students from other programs in our classes — we’ve been seeing more and more of that over the last few years and Justin really brought some incredible knowledge and experience to class.
2nd Prize: Adam Cowart, “Alternatives Currencies, The Future of Societal Transactions.”
Adam is a graduate student of Foresight at the University of Houston, a Senior Planning Manager for Loblaw Companies Ltd, and a writer. He already holds an M.B.A. and an M.F.A; his intellectual curiosity drove him to the Foresight program. He is already applying what he’s learning in his current position. He has completed about half of the program and we are grateful that we still have some time left with him.
3rd Prize: Omar Sahi, “The Future of News Media.”
Omar just graduated from the University of Houston in the Spring, after completing his internship with UNESCO. He is also an artist working with new media and sculpture.Omar has developed a keen interest around speculating on how people communicate in the future. Omar was a GA in the program and a regular participant in activities outside of the classroom (as well as inside).
The students presented their papers at our annual “Best of Houston Foresight” session at the World Future Society in San Francisco on July 25th. They were recognized that evening at the APF’s Annual Awards program and received a Certificate of Achievement (and a resounding round of applause). Justin will receive a two-years student membership in APF or the registration fee for an APF meeting. Adam and Omar will receive a one year Student Membership in APF. All will be featured in the next Compass Newsletter, and announced to the full APF membership.
Andy Hines
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