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Meet Meron Tadesse
Nepal 2024 – Shine On Scholarship
University of Texas at Austin
PhD in Chemical Engineering
Graduation Year: 2026
“I am and will continue to be interested in the GREEN program due to the program’s dedication to provide hand-on education on sustainability. TGP allows for an experience that will allow one to be immersed in a different culture whilst co-designing solution to the problem at hand.”
About Meron
My name is Meron Y. Tadesse and I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was raised in a multi-generation household with my grandparents, parents, uncle, aunts and cousins. With that experience, you either end up loving having people around all the time or you end up desperately wanting some personal time. I ended up being a people person and I love to travel and solve problems with the community.
When I turned 18, I decided to pursue my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute located in Worcester, MA, USA. Here, I had the opportunity to do off-campus projects across the globe. In March 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to Namibia to work with two non-profit organizations that focused on sustainability education.
During my 2-months stay in Namibia, my team and I worked on creating an online interactive educational module that aimed at teaching sustainability to underprivileged rural-side Namibian school learners. My greatest challenge was making sure the learners were enjoying the module while still gaining the education from the lessons. The modules were comparable to textbooks initially, but after careful research into strategic education styles, my group and I were able to teach lesson with culturally appropriate games, puzzles, and comics and create an effective online educational module.
This was a great experience and helped me realize that it is extremely important to recognize and appreciate cultural difference even in STEM. While my time in Namibia in some ways helped me fulfill my aspiration to be socially responsible, I learned more and got the chance to use my chemical engineering background when I traveled to Ghana to work on another project for two months in January 2020.
In Ghana, my team and I were tasked with creating a water filter to prevent mercury poisoning of the contaminated water supply from gold mining. Gold mining is one of the most prevalent sources of income in the eastern region of Ghana, but it comes with many social and environmental drawbacks. While on-site, I observed that the small-scale gold miners, some of whom were underage, did not have access to personal protection equipment. The process uses very rugged methods and creates a great deal of mercury pollution released into the environment during the process. I designed a triple-layer water filter that can be made at home with easily understandable instructions.
The greatest challenge presented for this project was finding methods to create our filter with only local resources and co-designing the filter with the people to ensure its suitability and longevity. The project experienced setbacks due to lack of resources because a lot of the times resources are designed with the western world in mind thereby setting limitations on developing nations using the technology. However, I had to navigate through the setbacks for the sake of the miners and their families. After more research and a lot of creative thinking, my team and I, along with locals from the village and nearby high school, were able to come up with a solution.
Finally, we could test our prototypes and pass it on to the environmental foundation established under the King of the Okyeman Kingdom in Ghana. While ensuring the filter’s longevity, I learned a lesson that is key to technology deployment in any setting: societal (and geographical) context is needed for long-term benefits. Because we developed the filters with the people rather than for them (and their resources), the filters’ use and benefits may be more in line with their needs in the long term. I was even able to use the knowledge I gained about titration during my freshman year in college. It goes to say that even the simplest actions/ techniques have value when applied appropriately.
Fast forward 4 years, I am currently a chemical engineering 4th year Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. Although I am passionate about being involved with communities from different culture, it simply is difficult to find 4 months out of my already busy year-round schedule. Nonetheless, I was longing for involvement in communities from different culture.
The GREEN program was the perfect solution to my tight schedule and community involvement. I am and will continue to be interested in the GREEN program due to the program’s dedication to provide hand-on education on sustainability. TGP allows for an experience that will allow one to be immersed in a different culture whilst co-designing solution to the problem at hand.
Meron’s Scholarship and Enrollment Experience
[When I found out I received a scholarship], I was back home in Ethiopia for a family wedding and had limited internet connection. I remember waking up to an email from TGP but couldn’t open it fully due to the connection issues. The suspense was unbearable because I had been notified about being shortlisted for the scholarship beforehand. Eventually, when I managed to see that I had been awarded the scholarship, I bolted out of bed with sheer happiness. I immediately began sharing the good news with my loved ones. It was an incredible moment of joy and excitement, made even more special by the shared celebration with my family.
The enrollment process was relatively straightforward, but I did face a few challenges along the way. As an international Ethiopian student in the US, I discovered that Ethiopia was one of only 12 countries whose citizens couldn’t apply for a Nepal tourist visa online or upon arrival. This meant I had to coordinate closely with TGP to secure the visa well in advance of our travel dates. Additionally, I encountered some conflicts with my PhD work schedule, which almost led me to switch my program from May 2024 to December 2024. Fortunately, Briar worked closely with me to ensure everything went smoothly, allowing me to stay on track with my original plan.
Expectations Vs Reality
Before traveling to Nepal, I was skeptical about how I could connect with the other TGP participants in just 10 days. But I kept an open mind and chose to do minimal research beyond the essentials like weather and packing. I wanted to experience Nepal without any preconceived notions.
When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The Nepali people were among the friendliest I’ve ever met. By the third day, all of us—participants and locals alike—had let our guards down. We were soon greeting each other by first names, feeling a genuine sense of connection. There was something about working together on the solar panel project that really brought us together.
By the end, we were all friends, each of us contributing our unique skills—some excelled in math, others in artistic design. It was purely magical. Saying goodbye was the hardest part because we had formed such strong bonds in such a short time.
The Importance of Global Experiences
It is always a two-way street experience between the underrepresented student and the community. In the US (which ironically is also a global experience for me as an international student), I am often in the campus setting surrounded by engineers and scientist. In Nepal, it was amazing to be surround by people whose mindset where not necessarily STEM focused.
I learned a lot from our TGP mentors. For instance—Sujan’s absolute calmness, Shanti’s passion and ability to juggle business and fitness, Sanjay’s passion for giving back to the community and so much more. On the other hand, the underrepresented student also brings a unique experience for the local people.
From the moment, I was stamped in at the customs border in Nepal to my layover in Qatar on the way back, as a black-woman, I was always faced with pure curiosity from the people I met. I loved sharing my culture with them and learning theirs. In Ethiopia, we have a saying, “kesash yetekesashin lib biyak noro firbet aykomim neber”. It loosely translates as if the accuser knew the heart of the accused, they would be standing in court pointing fingers at each other. I believe global experiences like TGP allow for these micro interactions that allow the world to be a better place!
One of the TGP rules for the program is no posting photos until the program is over! I took it one step further and simply didn’t take any pictures on my phone during the trip. I had friends in the program that were passionate about photography that were capturing the moments. I knew I would have some pictures at the end. As a result, I was mostly away from my phone.
I felt so much peace and serenity while staying in the moment. I came home knowing that I gave back to a community I cared about and made the most of the opportunity. Additionally, while in the village, I believe it took our team about 3 days to install the solar panels. I was so surprise to see how much change we can make in the world if we came together more often. Therefore, my biggest takeaway was from the Nepal trip is to always schedule time to be in the moment and do not underestimate the change that comes from coming together as a group!!
Capstone Project
Dr. Sagar was a wonderful lecturer at KUSOM. He often had this ability to guide the students to clearly imagine ethical dilemma in life. No amount of colorful words will do me justice as I try to share my amazing experience here. One of my favorite learning moments were when we were discussing who and what really defines what development in the context of the global north and global south. Is it really GDP measurement? We then discussed the origin of gross national happiness scale in Bhutan and the irony in which Bhutan was not even in the top 10 happiest countries this past years release.
When we first started the capstone project, we created a group with the people we wanted to work with. However, we soon wanted to work on two separate project. Although, we could have divided into two groups, we knew it would be more beneficial to work together to learn from each other. The two seemingly contrasting ideas were namely—Youth outreach center and maximizing agriculture potential in Kenya. I have always wanted to design a youth outreach center that was financially self-sustained and my friend, who was a farmer from Kenya, wanted to design a self-sustained way to empower farmers in her local village.
To address this seemingly opposing topics, we decided to combine them and work on designing a solar-powered agro irrigation system along with a central youth outreach center! This was done by allowing the solar-panels to be place on the roof of a youth outreach center. This way local students can use this solar powered center for studying and working outside of the box projects and the farmers can benefit an grid electricity free water pumping to improve their irrigation systems.
Meron’s advice for new GREENies:
I have always promised myself to not self-reject. When I started applying for the Nepal trip, I had no idea how I could financially pursue this opportunity. Additionally, as a PhD student, I was wary about finding the appropriate time to travel abroad and pursue a project that does not align with my school work directly. However, in due time, everything unraveled on its own. This isn’t the first time I have encountered such barrier to my goals. Nonetheless, it always ends up figuring itself out. In the small cases where it didn’t work out, at least I tried ? So my advice is, go pursue that opportunity by fire by force!
To Those That Made My Scholarship Possible…
I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who made my scholarship possible. Your generosity and belief in my potential have given me the opportunity to pursue my dreams and travel to Nepal. This support means more to me than words can convey, not only easing the financial burden but also inspiring me to push harder and aim higher. Thank you for believing in me. I was committed to making the most of the opportunity and hope to one day pay it forward. Your kindness and support have truly made a difference in my life, and I am forever grateful.