Difference between revisions of "Fellow:Rick Akkerman"

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Rick Akkerman is a University Innovation Fellow of the 2019/2020 cohort of the University of Twente, The Netherlands. Currently he is in his second year of University College ATLAS (Academy of Technology and Liberal Arts & Sciences), focussing on gaining programming skills and business experience. Moreover, he is participating in the Honours program focused on Processes of Change. Eventhough born and raised in the Netherlands, he loves to explore different places and cultures to widen his view on the world. In his free time he loves to talk to people and play chess.
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[[File:Rick.png|thumb]]
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'''School:''' University of Twente
  
Next to his studies he is part of the External Relations committee of the study association S.A. Atlantis. Together with six other committee members he is responsible for maintaining and setting up mutual-benificial collaborations with companies that fit to the members of the association.
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'''Cohort:''' Fall 2019
  
Currently he is working on uniting the students of his university by creating a platform for students to find information on activities and events where they can reach out to and connect with other students.
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'''Contact him about:''' Hosting workshops, student information applications, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and small talk
  
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'''Email:''' r.j.p.akkerman@student.utwente.nl
  
  
== Related Links<br/> ==
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Rick Akkerman is an undergraduate student at the [[School:University of Twente|University of Twente]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands the Netherlands]. Currently he is in his second year of University College ATLAS (Technology, Liberal Arts & Sciences). The program centralizes interdisciplinary, project-based learning and feedback, with the aim of giving students the experience necessary to make innovative technologies practical within a complex society. The self-designed learning concepts allow students to create their own learning path, which in Rick's case means specializing in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Simple to use applications with high impact, such as Hand Talk or Plantix, that bring AI to the consumer in a tangible way, is what inspired Rick to pursue a job within this domain.
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To create such applications, you do not only need to understand your consumer well, you also need to know how to intervene and have a meaningful impact. For this reason, Rick enrolled in the honours program at his university, focused on Processes of Change. Analyzing the concept of change and dynamics on various societal levels, helped him to shape effective change interventions and understand his surroundings better. Next to that, Rick contributed to his study association by maintaining and setting up mutual-beneficial collaborations with companies as External Relations Officer. Connecting students to companies and the other way around, taught him a lot about what students value in an employer and companies value in an employees.
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In his second year Rick became an University Innovation Fellow. Together with two other Fellows, [[Fellow:Thyne Scholte|Thyne Scholte]] and [[Satwik Krishna]], Rick focused on improving the UT Campus App. Originally the app was aimed at welcoming new students to the university by supplying general information such as schedules, university events and navigation. Once students became acquainted with the student life, the app became relatively less and less useful. Creating one centralized application to not only supply information but also connect students, was the go to move to create more value for all students. Currently, the app is in development and planned to go live at the start of next academic year. Moreover, Rick is on the organizing team for the first Twente-4 Hours Global Meetup, which is a 24-hour relay race around the globe filled with workshops hosted by UIF cohorts from every corner of the planet. Rick is overseeing the marketing of the event.
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In the UIF team internally Rick is a real all-rounder, supporting other Fellows and the coordinating team in their projects and plans. Currently, Rick is exploring opportunities for working together with companies or other design thinking driven initiatives to enlarge the UIF network in the Netherlands.
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==Related Links ==
 
<p style="text-align: justify">[https://www.utwente.nl/en/ University of Twente Website]</p><p style="text-align: justify">[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/University_of_Twente University of Twente Wiki]</p>
 
<p style="text-align: justify">[https://www.utwente.nl/en/ University of Twente Website]</p><p style="text-align: justify">[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/University_of_Twente University of Twente Wiki]</p>
 
[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/University_of_Twente_Student_Priorities Student Priorities]
 
[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/University_of_Twente_Student_Priorities Student Priorities]

Revision as of 18:48, 15 June 2020

Rick.png

School: University of Twente

Cohort: Fall 2019

Contact him about: Hosting workshops, student information applications, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and small talk

Email: r.j.p.akkerman@student.utwente.nl


Rick Akkerman is an undergraduate student at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Currently he is in his second year of University College ATLAS (Technology, Liberal Arts & Sciences). The program centralizes interdisciplinary, project-based learning and feedback, with the aim of giving students the experience necessary to make innovative technologies practical within a complex society. The self-designed learning concepts allow students to create their own learning path, which in Rick's case means specializing in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Simple to use applications with high impact, such as Hand Talk or Plantix, that bring AI to the consumer in a tangible way, is what inspired Rick to pursue a job within this domain.

To create such applications, you do not only need to understand your consumer well, you also need to know how to intervene and have a meaningful impact. For this reason, Rick enrolled in the honours program at his university, focused on Processes of Change. Analyzing the concept of change and dynamics on various societal levels, helped him to shape effective change interventions and understand his surroundings better. Next to that, Rick contributed to his study association by maintaining and setting up mutual-beneficial collaborations with companies as External Relations Officer. Connecting students to companies and the other way around, taught him a lot about what students value in an employer and companies value in an employees.

In his second year Rick became an University Innovation Fellow. Together with two other Fellows, Thyne Scholte and Satwik Krishna, Rick focused on improving the UT Campus App. Originally the app was aimed at welcoming new students to the university by supplying general information such as schedules, university events and navigation. Once students became acquainted with the student life, the app became relatively less and less useful. Creating one centralized application to not only supply information but also connect students, was the go to move to create more value for all students. Currently, the app is in development and planned to go live at the start of next academic year. Moreover, Rick is on the organizing team for the first Twente-4 Hours Global Meetup, which is a 24-hour relay race around the globe filled with workshops hosted by UIF cohorts from every corner of the planet. Rick is overseeing the marketing of the event.

In the UIF team internally Rick is a real all-rounder, supporting other Fellows and the coordinating team in their projects and plans. Currently, Rick is exploring opportunities for working together with companies or other design thinking driven initiatives to enlarge the UIF network in the Netherlands.

Related Links

University of Twente Website

University of Twente Wiki

Student Priorities


Related links