Basic Information

• Name: Ben Downey, he/him (LinkedIn)
• Ambassador Cohort: 2025-2026 (pilot)
• Campus: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Major: Chemical Engineering
• Minors: Environmental Engineering, Sustainability
• Year: Junior
• Fun Fact: Ben is building a retired ambulance into a tiny home.

Table of Contents

Student Ambassador Program Project Information

Project Description

In this project, I collaborated with my institution's library to develop a sustainability database designed to preserve and showcase sustainability initiatives across campus, including senior capstone projects, student organization efforts, and faculty research. As the project progressed, its scope expanded to include the development of a sustainability landing page on the institution's intranet. This platform is intended to serve as a central hub for highlighting sustainability work across campus while providing an accessible starting point for underclassmen to explore sustainability initiatives and become involved in engineering-focused sustainability efforts.

Project Purpose and Influences

I got inspiration to pursue this project after a few years of involvement in other grassroots sustainability initiatives on campus. Through student organizations and project work, I noticed how difficult it was to find resources on sustainability, and how disconnected the individual initiatives were despite Rose-Hulman being a small institution.

Key Assets/Resources

• Dr. Jenny Mueller, a beyond valuable mentor who supports all of my ideas without hesitation.
• Bernadette Ewen, Rose-Hulman’s Media Specialist at Logan Library who agreed to host the database with very little convincing.
• My EOP peer group and mentor Dr. Roneisha Worthy who contributed perspectives that made my project come to life.

Pivotal Moments

• During the initial ideation phase, Dr. Mueller and I discussed potential project ideas to support the other sustainability movements across campus. During that time we landed on the sustainability database.
• Early into the project, with a single email, Bernadette Ewen met with me and agreed to support the project with Logan Library’s resources.
• Accessibility of the database was discussed, and an idea for the sustainability landing page was formed.

Learning and Outcomes

• Throughout this program, I learned that creating meaningful change often starts with simply reaching out to the right people. By working with faculty, library staff, and sustainability leaders, I strengthened my communication, collaboration, and project management skills while gaining a better understanding of how institutional partnerships can bring ideas to life. Although the database is still being populated, the project established a strong foundation for a lasting campus resource and reinforced my passion for making sustainability more accessible to future students.