Rebecca Bercich, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a 2025 12 Under 40 Award winner by the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce and the Tribune-Star. She is being honored for her fierce advocacy of sustainability and experiential learning in STEM and her commitment to incorporating elements of creativity, curiosity, and play into teaching college students and in her community engagement efforts.

The 12 Under 40 Award recognizes 12 outstanding young professionals in West Central Indiana for their contributions to their businesses and communities.

“This recognition is an affirmation that the community values the work that I’m doing,” said Bercich. “And for that I’m feeling grateful and inspirited to keep going — to continue finding creative and joyful ways to foster education and empowerment.”

Bercich’s passion for recycling led her to form a partnership with reTHink, Inc., a non-profit organization in Terre Haute with a mission to enhance environmental stewardship through community empowerment. This collaboration led to the establishment of reTHink’s plastic up-cycling workspace; a creative, entrepreneurial, and educational hub where plastic waste such as milk jugs, laundry detergent containers, and shampoo bottles are turned into products that are useful, beautiful, and serve a long-term purpose. This has led to new project opportunities for students interested in environmental sustainability as well as volunteer opportunities for people in our community.

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Bercich and her team received two grants from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to equip reTHink’s plastic up-cycling workspace and offer hands-on workshops. As the workspace’s director, she facilitates educational programming for children and adults to learn about waste reduction, plastic remanufacturing, and the challenges of recycling. In 2023, she authored a successful $5,000 grant application to the United Way of the Wabash Valley Neighborhood Improvement Project for a project that repurposed 400 pounds of plastic waste to install pillars for solar-powered lights and a blessing box in one of reTHink’s community gardens. Bercich has also served as board president of reTHink, Inc. since 2020.

She is the 2025 Eli Lilly and Company Visiting Scientist at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. In this role, she has designed lessons and activities that teach children and their families about different aspects of sustainability, including renewable energy and thoughtful use (and reuse) of natural resources. Bercich also designed and built several interactive models for children to explore and experience solar energy collection, energy storage, and energy conversion.

Within the Rose-Hulman community, Bercich serves as a co-leader of the Advancing by Design Strategic Plan implementation team to reuse/reclaim resources and waste by improving recycling programs on campus and creating landfill diversion targets. She is also a member of the Rose-Hulman Sustainability Teaching Network.

“In her nine years as an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman, Dr. Bercich has represented the Institute with pride in all that she does, both on campus and in the community,” said Robert Coons, president of Rose-Hulman. “Dr. Bercich is an innovative and deeply committed advocate for sustainability and making the world, and our community, a better place.”

Bercich and her fellow honorees will be recognized during a special ceremony at the Chamber’s 112th Annual Meeting on August 21 at the Terre Haute Convention Center.