Celebrate TNK's Centennial by Supporting TNK Students in the Humanitarian Engineering Program!

This past year marked a momentous occasion for Texnikoi; we celebrated our 100th anniversary! For a century, Texnikoi has been a cornerstone of hundreds of Ohio State alumni's experiences, fostering a legacy of excellence in service, leadership, and participation among engineering students. To celebrate this, we are fundraising for an endowment to directly support TNK undergraduate students that participate in the Humanitarian Engineering (HE) program. The HE program at Ohio State teaches students how to use science and engineering to tackle societal challenges by working closely with communities, focusing on sustainable development and hands-on, culturally informed experiences.

Around a 1/5th of TNK members currently participate in the HE program and our own Co-advisor, Dr. Patrick Sours is the faculty lead for the program. Just this March, several TNK members participated in a service learning trip to Honduras to research and assist water filtration in areas without access to clean water. We've shared several of these photos above, as well as photos from a recent trip to Ghana.

To share more information, we've invited Aaron Treglia, someone many of you already know!

Hello TNK alumni!

My name is Aaron Treglia, and I was a proud TNKer during my time at OSU—where I also had the honor of serving as President of Texnikoi nearly 10 years ago! Texnikoi was a huge part of my college experience, as I’m sure it was for many of you as well.

The core pillars of Texnikoi—service, leadership, and participation—are essential in shaping well-rounded engineers and thinkers, equipping them to tackle the intricate challenges they’ll face in their careers. These pillars are still very much alive today, as Texnikoi continues to thrive as a student organization.

One field that aligns closely with Texnikoi’s mission is Humanitarian Engineering (HE). HE at Ohio State is also a flourishing program, which includes a scholars program, a minor, the HE Innovation Lab, and a plethora of opportunities for students to get involved in addressing complex societal problems. I was fortunate to participate in the HE Scholars Program and complete the HE minor—experiences that led me to engage in a wide range of service projects both locally and internationally. HE offered me perspectives that I believe are rarely found within the standard engineering curriculum.

Given the natural overlap between Texnikoi and HE, it’s no surprise that, like myself, there are students involved in both organizations. The HE endowment aims to provide dedicated funding to support students active in both groups, enabling them to participate more fully in Humanitarian Engineering efforts at Ohio State—whether through service trips, Capstone projects, or research initiatives.

Additionally, the goal is to expand the connection between TNK and HE by encouraging more TNK members to get involved with HE. With that in mind, I invite you to consider donating to the HE endowment for TNK students. Your support will help strengthen and grow the collaboration between TNK and HE!