Alumna of the Year 2014 - Regina Kevius, L-99

The Alumni of the Year Award for 2014 is being awarded to surveyor and politician Regina Kevius for the way she inspires engineering graduates to choose an alternative career in politics and the public sector. Regina Kevius has successfully combined her specific engineering expertise with a citizenship role. Today she is a commissioner on the city urban planning and sports board in Stockholm and thereby inspires graduates to take part in the work of creating a better society.

Surveyor who turned to politics

Municipal commissioner Regina Kevius’s political career began early. After school she would attend to her duties in the Swedish Moderate Youth League’s board room and on municipal boards. She studied Land Surveying at KTH and joined KTH’s student union delegation for Surveyors. At the age of 23, Regina Kevius graduated with a master’s degree in engineering and since then has worked as technical consultant, construction project manager and planning officer. In the meantime her political commitments also grew.

“We need many more engineering graduates in politics. All community planning requires technical solutions, so why are technology and science oftern conspicuously absent from the social debate? That’s an interesting question.”

In Regina Kevius’s view there is no shortage of attractive workplaces in the public sector and KTH should be encouraging students to make a contribution to society. This includes everything from creating better health care to solving traffic knots or ground water issues.

How do you unite people in support of a decision so that everyone is happy?

The challenge, she says, is to find technical solutions that help to improve society and ensure that those solutions are more democratic and benefit more people.

Is it possible to combine technological expertise with a citizenship role and, if so, how?

The Alumni of the Year award is based on nominations from alumni and the general public. The Alumni Advisory Board selects the Alumni of the Year from among the nominees.