Friday, October 23, 2026 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Washington Sankofa Room – Witherspoon Student Center
Real-world sustainability balances environmental protection, community impact, and economic reality. When researchers, policy advocates, social impact specialists, and business strategists collaborate, the biggest friction point isn’t the data, it’s the dialogue.
Learn how to lead teams across environmental, economic and social sustainability pillars and transform complex theories into real-world execution.
You’ll hear how skills like communication, negotiation, teamwork and ethical reasoning—are truly crucial for success outside of your specialized degree program.
No prior knowledge of sustainability is required to attend.
Skills You Can Expect To Build
Meet Our Interdisciplinary Leaders Panelists
Brad Lewis
Ag Analytics Platform Program Manager; College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University
Brad’s Bio
Brad Lewis brings over two decades of enterprise technology leadership, project management, and interdisciplinary collaboration to his role as Program Manager for the Ag Analytics Platform at North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. With a career spanning high-impact leadership positions at IBM—including an international deployment with the IBM Corporate Service Corps in Kazakhstan—and background in higher education, Bradley specializes in driving technical strategy, cross-sector partnerships, and complex program facilitation.
Throughout his career, Bradley has actively led and supported initiatives across the environmental, social, and economic pillars of sustainability:
Environmental Resilience: Leads the North Carolina Agricultural Flood Resiliency Project through the Ag Analytics Platform at NC State, leveraging data-driven analytics and university research to build climate-resilient farming systems and mitigate natural disaster impacts across the state.
Social Equity & Global Education: Organizes and leads volunteer efforts to acquire, transport, and ship school furniture, fixtures, and educational supplies from the United States to the Dominican Republic, directly supporting a school dedicated to underserved children of Haitian immigrant workers.
Brad holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Cincinnati, a Bachelor of Science from Miami University, and has been a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute since 2002.
Sarah McCollum
Senior Sustainability Analyst; Attindas Hygiene Partners
Sarah’s Bio
I drive all cross-functional sustainability work with different business teams around the globe. Read about these projects in our sustainability report! I communicate market expectations and emerging regulatory changes (internally & externally). Lead all ESG KPI data collection for analysis and interpretation, and complete annual questionnaires such as the CDP or UNGC. I conduct research on how to improve the carbon footprint of our products & supply chain through Life Cycle Analysis or position papers. Every day, I strive to increase the systematic relevance of sustainability, as it also benefits sales, efficiency, finance, operations, regulatory compliance, and product design. (Attindas is a global manufacturer of personal care and absorbent hygiene products)
More panelists will be announced soon!
Registration is open now!
What to expect during the event
| Activity | Activity Description |
|---|---|
| Brief Mix and Mingle | Informal opportunity for participants to grab some coffee and breakfast. |
| Guided Networking | Graduate students and mentors rotate through 5–10 minute mini-sessions giving every student repeated, low-pressure opportunities at introducing themselves, asking good questions, and building rapport. |
| Interdisciplinary Leaders Panel | A moderated discussion delving deeper into strategies for building these essential skills for success. Hear industry professionals share real-world accounts of success and failure when managing complex, interdisciplinary projects. |
Thank You to Our Event Series Sponsor
We are grateful for support from Cisco Systems, Inc. for sponsoring the 2026-27 Interdisciplinary Connections to Careers Event Series. Because of their support, we are able to offer this event at no cost for attendees.
Thank you to our event partners:
