“That’s what I’m hoping students get out of the presentation,” Santee said, “to think about ‘how do I take what I’ve learned in the classroom, and tie that into a job that I’m hoping to get in the next few years?’”

Dr. Tim Lindsey, who has over 30 years of experience in the industry, said his interest in sustainability was fostered by growing up in an outdoorsy family with resource-conscious parents, and by his own career experience.

“During my career right out of school, in the 1980s, I had a job doing construction site cleanup,” said Lindsey, “and I recognized that that was about as far away from sustainability as you could get. It was a miserable way to make a living, and I thought ‘gosh, there’s got to be an easier way to do this.’”

That thought eventually led to Lindsey helping Caterpillar incorporate sustainability into the company’s five main goals – along with integrity, excellence, teamwork and commitment – and promoting the enterprise’s sustainability practices and goals to educational institutions like Iowa State, as well as to other businesses in the industrial sector.

“It’s an interesting balance that Caterpillar finds themselves in, of helping development but also being cognizant of it happening in a sustainable manner,” said Merry Rankin.

Lindsey’s speech focused on how the company manages its sustainability projects and goals as a matter of quality, because any waste from a business system can, at least theoretically, be eliminated. Lindsey noted that this approach is meant to improve the physical product produced, the environment, and the quality of life for Caterpillar employees and the communities around its operations.

Lindsey also said that Caterpillar is continually involved in circular economics; preserving as much of the materials, energy, and other resources that come into the enterprise as possible, and one of the successful ways Caterpillar has accomplished this is by re-manufacturing over 6,500 components for machines rather than building entirely new machines constantly.

Merry Rankin said that these ideas were part of why a Caterpillar representative was invited to speak, despite the enterprise sometimes being called unsustainable by the public due to its products’ roles in construction, demolition, and mining. “It really doesn’t matter what your business model is, or how impactful it may appear that the business may be environmentally. You can still give consideration to it being a more sustainable path that you take and looking at the impact on future generations,” said Rankin. “We may have different opportunities and experiences, but we’re all connected around what we want the future to look like. We all want it to be a sustainable one.”

As Rankin describes it, the symposium is meant to be an annual celebration of all the gains and goals in “green” efforts on campus, including everything from riding bikes to working with the city power plant. In future symposiums, Rankin hopes to expand the availability of activities and to invite more speakers that students are want to hear from. She invites anyone with suggestions to contact her office.