Meet Taylor Owens!

Video Transcript

Micheal Amoah 0:05 Hello, my name is Michael Amoah, and I'm a sophomore studying computer engineering at Miami University. I am a member of Cohort 10 in the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute, today I am talking with Tate Owens, a junior studying computer engineering in Miami University. How you doing today?

Tate Owens 0:23 I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing?

Micheal Amoah 0:25 I'm doing well. So my first question is, why is the Envision 2040 project important?

Tate Owens 0:32 Alright, so the important stems in a few different areas. But primarily, what how we develop this project was we realized after the COVID crisis that we really got caught with our feet flat on the ground, we weren't able to move with the rapid changes in technology and the rapid changes in like, social interactions. So what we realized is we need to like better be able to prepare ourselves to adapt to the changes that are coming in the future. So from like our previous projects, in the past years of embracing change and digital transformation, we kind of took those and we're like, hey, how can we make those work together to ensure that everybody here can be prepared to embrace these changes and technology and social interaction and diversity and inclusion, and like, be able to take a running start at them as they're popping up, and especially in 2040, as like milestone, because that's 20 years in the future. So we have some time to prepare, but we have to prepare now. So that's like where I it's important is just being prepared. So we don't get caught behind again and have to go through this big catch up phase like we did at the beginning of the pandemic.

Micheal Amoah 1:44 Yeah, that's, that's really important. That preparation is really important. So what insights have you gotten from exploring this topic?

Tate Owens 1:53 So after doing a lot of research about what's going to be forecasted for 2040? And what kind of are the key players that are going to be changes that like, we don't have right now that will be completely different in 2040. And we realized that we can kind of look at it through three different lenses. So we have our basic advancements in technology. So what are phones going to be like? How are we going to communicate just general technology. And then on top of that, we have the human factor. So those are the other two lenses. So we have diversity and inclusion. So how can we embrace inclusion and be able to not like, get caught? Like where we are right now? We're like, we're having issues like getting along and being able to work together with people who have different perspectives, as you do? So how can we prepare now to, like, be ready to just be fully inclusive when the workforce is going to be like, there isn't going to be differences, because everybody's going to be different? So that's our second lens. And then our third lens is human interaction. So how are we going to interact when we could be working across different oceans and like, well, because like, we've seen that this year, how like, we're becoming a more worldwide community where like we're working together from, like us, right now you're in New York, and I'm in Oxford, Ohio is like, so how are we going to be able to still have meaningful human interactions? And like, be kind to one another? Well, we're hiding behind screens. We're not interacting in the traditional, like, physical way, of like going out to get a bite to eat together.

Micheal Amoah 0:05 Yeah, that's, that's really interesting. And last thing is, what are you personally going to do to prepare for the future?

Tate Owens 3:36 So personally, I just, I'm looking for perspective. So through these different lenses, I'm creating different perspectives. And I'm seeing how other people can see it just by like researching. So what different futurists thinker is going to look like what different futurists, how they're going to prepare themselves. And a couple weeks, we're going to hear from Jeff Wilcox, and he's going to talk about his perspective on how he can prepare and like what he believes that is important to prepare for in the future. So like, part of gaining perspective is doing research. So I'm going to be doing a lot of research, a lot of reading, and just kind of researching, like, how these are set out to change and how I can better embrace these changes as I'm moving with them. So I can keep moving and not get caught flat footed.

Micheal Amoah 4:24 Right. Thank you, Tate. It was very interesting to hear about Envision 2040. Thank you very much.

Tate Owens 4:30 No problem.