Philo4Thought Hellenic Professional Mentoring Initiative is pleased to present our August 2015 Young Professional of the Month! The goal of our publications is to provide positive, successful role models who will inspire the next generation of young professionals. Preliminary criteria for YPM candidates is that they are actively engaged in an entrepreneurial initiative or have made a successful career for themselves, thereby serving as strong role models to the next generation of young professionals. Candidates are typically of Hellenic origin and part of a humanitarian (educational, sociological, scientific, etc.) or environmentally-conscious field. Given the gradual expansion of our readership, we currently interview candidates who embrace a specific Hellenic philosophy best described in a word… Philotimo (φιλότιμο). The most important qualifications all our candidates share are the spirit and compassion to persevere, and the heart to share their knowledge and experience with others.

We had the pleasure of meeting this month’s honoree, Ioannis Kougioumtzoglou, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University, through the School of Engineering and Applied Science earlier this year, where his novel work was being featured. He is a fine example of a dedicated young scientist and mentor. We are honored to share his story with you today.

ARTICLE: Creativity & Logic

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks to Ioannis Kougioumtzoglou for sharing his story with us and to Menios Georgopoulos for the creative artwork.