{"id":70792,"date":"2023-12-12T16:16:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T23:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=70792"},"modified":"2023-12-12T16:16:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T23:16:58","slug":"kennedy-grad-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/kennedy-grad-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"An engineer inspired to help communities in need"},"content":{"rendered":"

When <\/span>Daniel Kennedy <\/span><\/b>began his college career, it was as a mechanical engineering student at ASU. Now, as a graduating senior at NAU and standard bearer for the College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences, Kennedy describes his initial path as being \u201cthe right direction but the wrong time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After struggling to focus on his studies and losing the scholarship he needed to continue, Kennedy left ASU only one semester into his program. Three years later he returned to school, this time to NAU\u2019s environmental engineering program with something he lacked before: inspiration. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI learned I wanted an education that would help communities become more sustainable,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>With a clear understanding of his reason for studying, Kennedy was able to use his time at NAU to focus on developing his skills in modeling and computing work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDaniel is not only interested in this branch of research, but he has a very special ability to create breathtaking models and to facilitate computation tools for data analysis,\u201d said <\/span>Diana Calvo<\/span><\/b>, assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/a>Kennedy\u2019s data analysis and modeling work began as an interest in Microsoft Excel\u2019s advanced capabilities, and expanded to include other data analysis methods including ArcGIS, Python and QIIME2. Kennedy has applied these skills to projects at NAU, including an ongoing analysis of drinking water pathogens in underserved communities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy identifying relationships of known contaminants, the completed model will allow educated predictions to potential unidentified pathogens,\u201d Kennedy said of his work on the project. \u201cThis will extend the analysis of drinking water beyond the standard methods.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He had to overcome significant personal challenges while working on his degree at NAU. His father\u2019s health began to decline rapidly in the fall of 2022, and he died in early 2023. Kennedy considered taking a semester off from school, but ultimately decided to stay, feeling too much was at stake to leave in the middle of his capstone. Although he had trouble sticking to a routine and staying in the right headspace for his studies, Kennedy did ultimately make it through his senior year successfully.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t flawless, but I had support. In the end, I can stand here today grateful of the lessons I learned and the challenges that I have overcome.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During his time at NAU, Kennedy found a supportive community that helped him succeed, even through the difficulties he faced. In the courses for his major, he never felt that he might \u201cdisappear into the classroom,\u201d and outside of his classes, he found himself becoming more outgoing and making friends.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCollege is challenging, but it can also be incredibly rewarding,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps if you do not do it alone.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduation, Kennedy will be returning to NAU as a graduate student in environmental engineering where he will continue his research on drinking water quality.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have learned a lot in the past year, and I expect this coming year to be no different.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/p>\n

Jessica Clark | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-8737 | jessica.clark@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Daniel Kennedy began his college career, it was as a mechanical engineering student at ASU. Now, as a graduating senior at NAU and standard bearer for the College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences, Kennedy describes his initial path as being \u201cthe right direction but the wrong time.\u201d\u00a0 After struggling to focus on his…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":70818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}