Kevin O'Keeffe will graduate today with a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame and a world of opportunity ahead of him.
And he's not even leaving South Bend.
The 25-year-old — a native of Ireland who came to Notre Dame for the university's Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master's, or ESTEEM, program — is staying in town to help run SlipStream Projects. The young company's niche is in developing better technologies for emergency power, such as a new device to jumpstart heavy-truck engines.
"We're starting to grind the gears on commercializing the technologies and bringing them to market," he said.
It's just the kind of innovative challenge O'Keeffe wanted, and it's just the kind of story local business and government leaders hope will become more common around here.
Officials in the Michiana region and the rest of the Midwest have fretted for years about "brain drain" — the phenomenon of college graduates moving away for jobs in places with hipper neighborhoods, mountain views or at least more sunshine. Thousands of students graduate from local colleges every spring, and each year the commencement season raises the question of how much stronger the region's economy would be if more of those graduates stayed here.
After all, in the modern economy, a community's growth potential is usually determined by the number of educated people who live there.