Kathryne (Kitty) Lovell, 2023

iCons senior, Kathryne (Kitty) Lovell ‘23, was recently selected as one of ten members of the Class of 2023 to be awarded the 21st Century Leader Award. This prestigious award recognizes graduating seniors at UMass Amherst who have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, academic excellence, and a commitment to making a positive impact on their communities.

When asked why she joined the UMass iCons Program, Kitty said, “I joined iCons because I wanted to find a group of people who are interested in making the world a better place within their field of STEM.” Through her senior thesis work, Kitty is working towards this goal and helping to make the world of STEM education a more inviting and inclusive atmosphere.

Kitty is a Civil & Environmental Engineering student on the Renewable Energy track of iCons who is graduating in May 2023. Collaborating with fellow iCons student, Brady Bell, Kitty is working to build a stronger and more inclusive community in academic engineering settings. She has been holding events for UMass Engineering students to create a final portfolio project.

Their project has included events such as a non-hierarchical hike, a celebration of Hispanic heritage month, and a College of Engineering formal event. The Bell-Lovell research team also conducted a survey to be used as a baseline for future work. Kitty’s project will culminate with a website that contains a list of events, how they were organized, and reflections on why community is needed in engineering and how their research helps build community.

In reference to doing a team-based thesis, Kitty said, “For a project like this, it’s integral to the message and the project that we work together.” The iCons Program encourages students to collaborate and work together and has been a pillar of support for Kitty and Brady throughout their work.

Kitty is also a Crowley-Nowick Scholar. The award recognizes iCons students with a strong sense of community and leadership within the iCons program. Kitty has been working with Ravid Inbar ‘23, another Crowley-Nowick Scholar, to build community within iCons and to fundraise for the annual Crowley-Nowick Scholarship.

When asked about her favorite iCons memories, Kitty described her very first iCons project in ICONS 189H. She said “The results were the opposite of what we were expecting, we talked about how we could have done better and designed the project better and we had a lot of fun.” After working on that project she said, “I finally found a sense of community and friendship here at UMass.”

Kitty values the skills she learned in iCons 2, a class that teaches students how to communicate science to any audience. Kitty said science communication is crucial in engineering because “if people don’t communicate the designs well and aren’t informed of the designs then nothing can actually happen.”

Outside of iCons, Kitty is the president of the UMass student chapter of Engineers without Borders. As president, she has learned to lead groups of students and she has taught others to be leaders. She also spends time getting STEM students involved in service work.

For two years, Kitty was an intern at Northeastern University researching how a floating wetland in the Charles River impacts river ecology. She helped collect and analyze water quality samples with the goal to heal the overall river ecology.

After she graduates, Kitty will work at Woodard and Curran in Northampton, MA as a wastewater engineer, utilizing microbes to clean and recycle wastewater.

Profile posted in 2023.