Graduate Student Uses His Knowledge in
International Communication to Reduce Global
Poverty
Although he is still a graduate student at St. John’s, Errol Abaid
‘08CPS,’12MPS is already applying his unique skills and
international communications knowledge to finding solutions to 21st
- Century challenges.
Spurred by dire predictions about the looming threat of widespread
global hunger, he not only entered a World Bank competition to
develop technology to further the fulfillment of the U.N. Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) — but is devoting his master’s thesis to
designing software to motivate people to make donations for such
causes.
A second-year student in the Master
of Science Degree Program in International Communication,
Errol, who is deeply committed to the University’s Vincentian
mission, illustrates how a student with curiosity and vision can
use his St. John’s education to make life better for the
disadvantaged.
To enter the competition, Errol used his earlier training in
engineering to teach himself Web programming, computer graphics and
data-mining technology. He never expected to win since he was
competing against software developers — including Google — from 36
countries. But, inspired to continue his work, he has created a
user-friendly, stand-alone, real-time software application designed
to deliver MDG-related data more efficiently.
When he finishes the project this summer, Errol will start
marketing it to such potential users as the U.N., NGOs, educators
and other nonprofit as well as for-profit institutions. “I want to
help build a network dedicated to global development,” he
explained.
“Errol is incredibly talented and driven,” said
Basilio Monteiro, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Director of
the International Communication program, “I am delighted to have
had the privilege of being his mentor since his undergraduate
days,” he added. “The fact that he entered the competition against
such overwhelming odds is a tribute to Errol’s deep concern for the
disenfranchised.”
The
College of Professional Studies graduate student’s journey to
social awareness started when he lived in Peru from the age of 5 to
18. “That was my first exposure to extreme poverty,” he recalled.
He moved to New York City at 19, where he studied audio electronics
and engineering for a year before winning a scholarship to St.
John’s. As an undergraduate, Errol majored in
communication arts and minored in philosophy.
“Theology, economics and ethics classes nourished my calling to
eradicate human rights violations and to improve the quality of
life of the economically deprived.”
Taking a year off after earning his bachelor’s degree, Errol
returned to St. John’s for the master’s program in international
communication. “When I read the description, I knew right away that
the program was made-to-order for someone like me. Where else would
I find a curriculum that combines all my interests, including human
rights, social justice, political science, law and communications
media?”
Looking ahead, Errol hopes to secure a position with the U.N. when
he graduates and is also considering pursuing a doctoral degree,
perhaps in political science. “St. John’s has given me the academic
and ethical background and the tools to enable me to keep traveling
on my chosen path of making a difference,” he said.