Hi! I'm Sean Michael Ferguson

Current Work

I've stepped fully into the world of grant consulting, grant writing, and fund development. In just the latter half of 2023 I have been the sole or co-author on over $300M in grant and gift requests. This includes federal grants like the EPA Solaro for All, NOAA grant for climate resilience, 

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Prior Activities

I am working with several collaborators at California State University Channel Islands, UC-Irvine, Virginia Tech, NYCU in Taiwan, and NTU in Korea. We have submitted grants and conducted research on:

• studying climate and environmental knowledge production in California (Sandshed Principle Investigator Dr. Kiki Patsch) (Pirate Lab Principle Investigator Dr. Sean Anderson)

• building a resource center for coastal sustainability and environmental justice (Drs Kiki Patsch, Megan Kenny Feister, Jose Castro-Sotomayor, Sean Anderson, Sean Ferguson) (Marc Beyeler and Board of BEACON)

• Describing how artificial intelligence researchers in professional settings build ethical identifies that may/should include environment and ecocultural health (Drs Megan Kenny Feister and Qin Zhu)

• Innovative engineering education that starts from critical pedagogy and interrogates global and cross-cultural skill development (Drs. Sharon "Tsai-Hsuan" Ku, Megan Kenny Feister, Qin Zhu, Jongmin Lee, and Shawn "Yixiang" Sun)

• Creating open source tools for experimental, collaborative, and applied digital infrastructures for ethnographers and those they work with primarily on environmental issues and advantaging more diversity in knowledge making (Platform for Collaborative Ethnography)

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Professional Experiences

From 2014 to 2022 I was an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia's Department of Engineering and Society's Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Program. There I focused on student empowerment and community-engaged learning while taking on leadership roles in the Liberal Education / Engineering and Society Division of the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE). I also research and published on digital citizenship, sustainable technology, bioeconomy and biomaterials, standardization, smart city, engineering education, and global/globalization in Engineering Ed.

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Teaching

In the classroom I integrate contemplative methods, co-teaching with international colleagues, critical pedagogy, and authentic peer to peer and peer to instructor learning.

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When not working in higher education I volunteer with H.O.P.E. Gardens as the Board President and funding advisor.