Скачать или смотреть Sean Reilly ’16 finds purpose in fighting California wildfire crisis

Finding your purpose rarely happens all at once. For Sean Reilly ’16, it was an introspective process of trying new things to determine what he liked and, more importantly, what he didn’t.

While Sean didn’t know all the paths he could take when he got to Santa Clara, fortunately, his mentors and professors did. As an undergraduate, he was invited by an Environmental studies professor to work on research projects that explored career possibilities and showcased his talents for post-graduate applications.

“I had heard of the Fulbright and Rhodes Scholarships, but I assumed those were things other people got to do,” Reilly says. “It wasn’t until my professors encouraged me to chase after these goals that it became something that felt possible.”

In these prestigious programs, Sean realized how much Santa Clara prepared him to solve complex problems. Through a humanistic and holistic approach to education, he learned to ask questions and listen, which helped him develop solutions with a lasting impact.

Today, Sean is tackling the wildfire crisis in California head-on, using advanced technologies such as lidar and satellite imagery to better predict fire behavior and find solutions that don’t just work on a computer screen, but for the people who live in at-risk communities.

“Understanding the needs of the homeowners, the land managers—the people who are living on the front lines—is something I care about deeply,” Sean says. “I want them to feel like they have some agency in terms of protecting their community and homes.”

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