On Campus Building a Better Future BY GENNIFER BIRNBACH DR. JOSH IORIO, A PROFESSOR DEI is key at Virginia Tech’s Myers-Lawson School of Construction average worker may face. His teachings help students navigate issues related to language barri-ers, sexism and racial prejudice. “All kinds of problems can occur at that boundary where you’ve got people whose lives are at risk in terms of safety, and you’ve got people that don't speak a common language mak-ing decisions that impact them,” Iorio says. “So that’s kind of what drew me into construction. I did a postdoc at Columbia in New York and started study-ing conflict in construction, conflicts between engineers and architects, conflict between staff and craft, and so on.” With his expertise and drive, Iorio continues to make the construction community a more welcoming and diverse place. As assistant director of the Myers-Lawson School of Construc-tion, he is responsible for hiring faculty and staff that suit the greater good of the educational community, retaining and recruiting students, and leading its DEI committee. Iorio teaches what he calls the “soft skills” of effective communication, conflict management, leader-ship and emotional intelligence. Strong soft skills are required to build diverse and inclusive com-munities. “What got me into doing work related to DEI is my role recruiting and retaining,” says Iorio. “I often sat down across the table from parents, and parents of women would come in and they’d say, ‘Hey, we’ve got some concerns about the construction industry and how women are treated and, you know, our perception that at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, found fascination in the world of construction by breaking down barriers that the Josh Iorio STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Jennifer Lopez-Perez has had her life figured out since she was an adolescent teen. The only school that she applied to was Virginia Tech, with no safety-net schools as an option, really gambling on her future. She was involved in a multitude of extracur-riculars, including in con-struction before she had even attended high school through the ACE mentorship program for students in architecture, construction and engineering. She had two internships before starting college, and she was accepted into Virginia Tech with flying colors due to her work experience and her drive to succeed. With her main focus and passion being 3D modeling, the school had sold her on its heavy focus in that particular course selection within her major. The program met her expectations, including “the opportunities that are brought, especially in the career fair. “I have more internships and just being able to have a conversation with people in general, drove me into where I kind of know what the posi-tion that I want is going to be,” says Lopez-Perez. In a final, inspirational thought, she advises other women, “Don't be afraid to speak up and reach out to start with your professors or start with people that you know, because eventually everything snowballs and it has a bigger effect. We have a lot of barriers that we have to jump through, but at the end of the day, all of it is going to be worth it because we’re all getting to a better place, and my success can help improve someone else's success.” Jennifer Lopez-Perez 76 Diversity in Action | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 PHOTOS: TOP COURTESY OF DR. JOSH IORIO/VIRGINIA TECH; BOTTOM COURTESY OF JENNIFER LOPEZ-PEREZ