Tyler Hall, COE ’17, Named Udall Scholar
Tyler Hall COE’17 has been named a recipient of the 2016 Udall Scholarship, making him the first Northeastern student to receive the honor. This federally endowed scholarship of $7,000 recognizes college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to American Indian nations or to the environment. Only 60 scholarships are awarded nationwide each year.
Hall, a mechanical engineering major from Boxford, MA, has demonstrated exceptional leadership on environmental issues across the academic, extracurricular, and experiential aspects of his Northeastern education. A respected leader in the environmental movement on campus, Hall became the first undergraduate to present to the university’s prestigious Myra Kraft Open Classroom Series, which focused on the topic of climate change that year. Hall approached the Series’ faculty directors, Governor Michael Dukakis and Professor Barry Bluestone, to propose a talk that would give voice to the student perspective on this pressing issue.
Hall has completed co-ops focused on energy conservation within the built environment and the engineering of novel wind technology, and he is currently on co-op at Tesla Motors, a leading innovator in the field of zero emissions electric vehicles. A University Scholar and member of the Honors Program, Hall is a researcher in Northeastern’s Sustainability and Data Sciences Lab, a pathbreaking interdisciplinary research center that pursues computational and data-enabled solutions for a sustainable and secure environment. For three years, Hall has been involved with Engineers Without Borders-USA, an organization he believes is emblematic of the positive impact that thoughtfully applied engineering can have on communities and the environment. Hall also worked on a student team that researched the location, size, age, and type of trees along a key environmental corridor adjacent to the Neponset River greenway.
The Udall Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on American Indian self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. As an Udall Scholar, Tyler will travel to the Udall Foundation headquarters in Tucson, AZ, for a four-day conference this August where the 2016 Udall Scholars will work together on a case study, learn new ways to collaborate, and build community with each other, Udall Alumni, and professionals working on environmental and tribal issues.