David Tauman ’23, a civil engineering graduate and current M.S. student in Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, is now a staff engineer in the Structural Design Department at Dewberry in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he provides design and construction support services for bridge structures throughout the state.
Before beginning his career, in his first year as a Lehigh undergraduate, Tauman joined the Global Social Impact Fellowship program on the GRO Mushrooms team in 2020. He continued working on the project for three years, finally traveling to Sierra Leone to conduct fieldwork in August 2022 once COVID-era restrictions were lifted.
For Tauman, the highlight of his Impact Fellowship work was the fieldwork in Makeni, Sierra Leone, where the team advanced sustainable responses to food insecurity by using local agricultural waste to grow oyster mushrooms as a consumable agricultural crop.
“We lived in Makeni for three weeks, where our sole purpose waking up each day was to push the needle as far as we could in creating more sources of food for the people of Sierra Leone,” Tauman said. “It was such a pleasure working on a team of like-minded individuals who cared about social impact and wanted nothing less than for this project to succeed.”
During his senior year, Tauman also served as a project advisor for other GSIF teams - Save Tuba, AI Strengthening Healthcare Access and Zero Hunger College - supporting other Creative Inquiry ventures working on global and community-based challenges and sharing his knowledge with the next wave of Lehigh future makers.
“My lengthy tenure within the Creative Inquiry programs was the absolute highlight of my Lehigh career,” he said. “Creative Inquiry showed me my true passion for social impact, and I will be working to replicate that environment and those feelings for the rest of my life.”
As Tauman moved into his professional career, he also looked for ways to continue the community-focused work that had become important to him through GSIF.
At Dewberry, he started an initiative focused on community service projects within his office. His efforts have included local park cleanups, donation drives and partnerships with underserved school systems, creating additional opportunities for colleagues to use their time and resources to support surrounding communities.
“I decided to make an effort outside of work to still have the impact I wanted to have on the world,” Tauman said.
He also credits the GSIF program with teaching a model of engaged learning that continues to influence him, and creating lasting bonds.
“The program also teaches you how to take those lessons and apply them to the real world to accomplish your own personal goals and benefit your community more than any one person could do alone,” Tauman said. “Some of my best friends and best memories stem from my connections to Creative Inquiry, and I am forever grateful for the program Khanjan and Bill were able to create.”
