George Boateng ’16 receives MLK Jr. Social Justice Award for Emerging Leadership

Each year during the College’s annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., Dartmouth recognizes members of the community for their significant contributions toward peace, civil rights, education, public health, environmental justice, and social justice.

This year, George Boateng ’16, Thayer ’17, research scientist in the Department of Computer Science and co-founder and president of education nonprofit Nsesa Foundation received the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for Emerging Leadership.

From the award:

Growing up in the small town of Winneba, Ghana, Boateng said, “The path to becoming a scientist or an engineer wasn’t really clear.” At Dartmouth, an “Engineering 21” course inspired him to create the Nsesa Foundation, which, among other initiatives, offers Ghanaian high school students summer programs in science and engineering, based on the “ENGS 21” hands-on learning model.

“I’m really hopeful of what we can create in the next decade,” said Boateng, who is preparing to begin a PhD program at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. “I get to shape a society in which young Africans can grow up believing that they can build the next big innovation or invention—a society in which my two nieces in Ghana, currently aged 2 and 6, can grow up believing not only that they can be scientists and engineers, but the very best that the world has ever seen.”

See all the awardees here.