Michael Lizotte

I grew up in a blue-collar New England town. High school career counselors tried to talk me out of attending college -- maybe that was their role in a town full of solid jobs in manufacturing. I worked in an electronics factory. During stock inventory season, I made an impression on the factory owner, and he pulled me off the floor to use my math and science skills to figure out if he was getting ripped off by a gold-plating company. Archimedes would have been proud, even though we found our platers were honest. That factory owner could have recruited me with a better-paying job, but instead, he told me that I could only keep my job after high school if I went to college. I also had parents ready to sacrifice for their first kid and a state offering me a tuition-free education. Those career counselors failed because too many believed I had something to offer as a scientist. I've measured stuff from microbes to oceans, and now I'm proud to measure UNC Charlotte's progress to a sustainable campus.