Fellow:Cara Hardin

Cara Hardin is a University Innovation Fellow Candidate who attends Michigan Technological University (MTU) as an undergraduate studying Mechanical Engineering. She is originally from Franklin, WI, a area around Milwaukee, and currently lives in Houghton, MI to attend MTU. She decided to study Mechanical Engineering after discovering her love for design and wanting to impact the environment from that standpoint.

At MTU, Cara is involved in Greek Life, Enterprise, and is a LeaderShape Institute Graduate. During her spring semester her first year, she decided to take the leap to join Greek Life and is very glad she made that decision. Through Greek Life at MTU, she has been able to get more involved with philanthropy, improve her leadership skills, and get more involved on campus. Through the opportunities that she had discovered through Greek Life, she got involved with the LeaderShape program. In this week long program, she gained stronger skills in setting goals, leadership, and healthy communication. Soon after, she decided to get involved in the Innovative Global Solutions Enterprise at MTU that strives to make low cost engineering solutions to large issues in countries that are need of them using design thinking.

With these different experiences she had gone through, Cara heard about the UIF program and thought it would be a great way to make an impact on her campus. She hopes to impact her campus with the help of her team’s strategic priorities and plans to continue to keep on learning about different aspects of the world as she goes.