{"version":1,"subject":{"name":"Colin Raby","url":"https://colinraby.com","bio":"Colin Raby is the founder and CEO of FarmMind, an AI agronomy platform that won the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2026 Ag Innovation Challenge and now supports farmers across more than a million acres. Before founding FarmMind full time, he served as one of the first AI specialists in the U.S. House of Representatives, working on artificial intelligence policy for Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi and the House Select Committee on the CCP. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from LSU.","role":"Founder & CEO, FarmMind","profiles":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-raby-6266a5191/","https://colinraby.substack.com","https://x.com/colin_raby","https://www.instagram.com/colin_raby/","https://www.youtube.com/@colinraby"],"company":"https://farmmind.org"},"generated":"2026-10-05T06:29:17.966Z","count":97,"entries":[{"id":"CR-2026-010","slug":"agriculture-of-america-data-ownership","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/agriculture-of-america-data-ownership","title":"Who Controls Farmer Data? FarmMind CEO Says Farm Bill Provision Leaves a Gap","date":"2026-09-29","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","policy"],"summary":"On Agriculture of America, Raby argues farm bill cost-share for precision ag should be limited to trusted providers, and that farmers should own their data.","text":"On Agriculture of America, Raby takes up a question he says gets less attention than it deserves as AI and precision agriculture spread across American farms: who controls the data those tools collect?\n\nHis concern is a gap in the farm bill. Both the Senate and House versions raise EQIP and CSP cost share to 90% for adopting precision agriculture technology, which he called \"an incredible provision,\" but one with \"a pretty dramatic flaw\": it doesn't gate which providers farmers can use. Elsewhere, the bill's section 12610 includes a \"trusted provider\" standard that bars funds from going to known national security threats; the cost-share provision has no such language.\n\nRaby sorts agricultural software into three groups: the few companies that give growers real data privacy, domestic companies that protect data within their ecosystems but still own and profit from it, and non-trusted providers. In the last group he named Syngenta's CropWise platform, noting that Syngenta was acquired by ChemChina.\n\nData ownership, he argued, is also an opportunity. \"You can't have a marketplace if you don't own what you're selling.\" Under FarmMind's policy, any request for a grower's data goes to the grower first, who decides whether to keep it private or monetize it.\n\nAsked whether agriculture is moving too fast on AI, Raby said the opposite. \"Every single year that farmers don't have these tools, we are going to lose operations.\" He suggested farmers ask any AI provider four questions: can I export my data in a standard format, does it work with all providers, who gets paid if my data is sold, and can I say no. He also pointed farmers to incentives: FarmMind, he said, does better when more farmers stay in business.\n\nHe closed with an appeal to lawmakers to make sure EQIP and CSP money can only be spent with trusted providers, \"so that American agricultural data isn't going to folks who will use it against them.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Agriculture of America","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZZGABgYVg","format":"video","author":"Jesse Allen","article":"https://www.agricultureofamerica.com/2026/09/29/who-controls-farmer-data-farmmind-ceo-says-farm-bill-provision-leaves-a-gap/"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Apple Podcasts: AOA Monday 9-28-2026","url":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aoa-monday-9-28-2026/id1356247010?i=1000792047619"}],"related":["farm-bill-statement"]},{"id":"CR-2026-009","slug":"daily-iberian-harvest","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/daily-iberian-harvest","title":"Farmers prepare for harvest with new technology, safety training","date":"2026-09-16","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"Demonstrating FarmMind to sugarcane growers at the Teche Growers Association harvest meeting.","text":"At the Teche Growers Association's pre-harvest meeting, Raby and Aaron Beatty demonstrated FarmMind for growers: fields organized as digital folders, a full history manager, offline mode, and a simple promise: \"Your data is your data.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Daily Iberian","url":"https://thedailyiberian.com/2026/09/16/farmers-prepare-for-harvest-with-new-technology-safety-training/","format":"article","author":"Joanna Johnson"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2026-008","slug":"technically-how-i-got-here","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/technically-how-i-got-here","title":"A college class on AI became the foundation for this million-acre Louisiana agtech platform","date":"2026-08-13","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"Technical.ly traces FarmMind from LSU's first LLM course to more than a million acres, grown without traditional venture capital.","text":"Technical.ly's \"How I Got Here\" series traces FarmMind from a fall 2023 class project to a platform supporting more than a million acres, a company whose first five users became its first angel investors, and which grew without traditional venture capital.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/farmmind-field-scouting.jpg","source":{"outlet":"Technical.ly","url":"https://technical.ly/workforce/lsu-spinout-farmmind-scales-ai-for-agriculture-how-i-got-here/","format":"article","author":"Katie Malone"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2026-007","slug":"farm-bill-statement","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/farm-bill-statement","title":"FarmMind CEO Colin Raby applauds Senate Farm Bill precision agriculture provision, urges foreign adversary restriction","date":"2026-07-02","kind":"release","threads":["farmmind","policy"],"summary":"Statement supporting precision agriculture under EQIP, and urging Congress to apply the Farm Bill's \"trusted provider\" standard to agricultural AI.","text":"FarmMind CEO Colin Raby applauded the Senate Farm Bill's support for precision agriculture through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which helps farmers adopt the technology.\n\nRaby urged Congress to pair that support with the bill's Section 12510 \"trusted provider\" standard, ensuring that the precision-agriculture and AI tools farmers buy with federal support are not owned or controlled by a foreign adversary.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Full statement at farmmind.org","url":"https://farmmind.org/blogs/farmmind-ceo-colin-raby-applauds-senate-farm-bill-precision-agriculture-provision-urges-foreign-adversary-restriction"}],"related":["washington-examiner-op-ed"]},{"id":"CR-2026-006","slug":"twila-farmmind","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/twila-farmmind","title":"Louisiana Ag Tech Company Farm Mind Uses AI to Help Farmers Boost Productivity","date":"2026-06-05","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"This Week in Louisiana Agriculture on how FarmMind helps farmers get more from every acre.","text":"A television segment from This Week in Louisiana Agriculture on FarmMind and how farmers are using it to boost productivity.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"This Week in Louisiana Agriculture","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l0Tk8CCQZ0","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2026-005","slug":"american-potential-podcast","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/american-potential-podcast","title":"AI Meets Agriculture: How Colin Raby Is Transforming the Future of Farming","date":"2026-06-04","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"On the American Potential podcast with host David From, Raby talks AI, farming and what it takes to build a technology company in Louisiana.","text":"Raby joins host David From on American Potential to talk about AI, farming, and building a technology company in Louisiana.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"American Potential","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqvcp_HrTkY","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2026-004","slug":"washington-examiner-op-ed","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/washington-examiner-op-ed","title":"America's food supply security depends on AI integration into agriculture","date":"2026-03-23","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","policy"],"summary":"An op-ed in the Washington Examiner: if the U.S. doesn't build its own agricultural AI, it will import someone else's.","text":"Writing in the Washington Examiner, Raby argues that agricultural AI is a matter of national food security: with the country losing farms year after year, the United States must build trusted, domestic AI for agriculture or cede the industry to foreign competitors.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/washington-examiner-op-ed.jpg","source":{"outlet":"Washington Examiner","url":"https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4499185/america-food-supply-security-ai-integration-agriculture/","format":"op-ed","author":"Colin Raby"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Behind the op-ed (Substack)","url":"https://colinraby.substack.com/p/i-published-an-oped-in-the-washington"}],"related":["farm-bill-statement"]},{"id":"CR-2026-002","slug":"aginfo-lsu-roots","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/aginfo-lsu-roots","title":"LSU Roots Power Winning Farm Tech Startup","date":"2026-01-14","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"Ag Information Network of the West on the LSU-born startup that won the Farm Bureau's top prize.","text":"A radio report on FarmMind's Ag Innovation Challenge win and the LSU roots of a startup \"led by alumnus Colin Raby and two current students.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Ag Information Network of the West","url":"https://www.aginfo.net/report/64493/Southeast-Regional-Ag-News/LSU-Roots-Power-Winning-Farm-Tech-Startup","format":"audio"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2026-001","slug":"afbf-ag-innovation-challenge-winner","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/afbf-ag-innovation-challenge-winner","title":"FarmMind Wins $100K in Ag Innovation Challenge","date":"2026-01-12","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmMind wins the American Farm Bureau Federation's 12th annual Ag Innovation Challenge, taking first place and $100,000 at the 2026 AFBF Convention.","text":"FarmMind won the American Farm Bureau Federation's Ag Innovation Challenge, the national competition for startups building the future of agriculture, taking first place and $100,000 at the 2026 AFBF Convention.\n\nThe win capped a path that began with a Top 10 selection in August and a place among the final four in September. The announcement was carried by Farm Bureau publications and agricultural outlets across the country.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/afbf-ag-innovation-pitch.jpg","source":{"outlet":"American Farm Bureau Federation","url":"https://www.fb.org/news-release/farmmind-wins-100k-in-ag-innovation-challenge","format":"release"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"AgDaily","url":"https://www.agdaily.com/technology/louisiana-based-farmmind-wins-100k-ag-innovation-challenge/"},{"label":"Louisiana Farm Bureau News","url":"https://lafarmbureaunews.com/news/2026/1/12/farmmind-wins-100k-in-ag-innovation-challenge"},{"label":"Michigan Farm News","url":"https://www.michiganfarmnews.com/farmmind-wins-100k-in-ag-innovation-challenge-for-ag-intelligence-platform"},{"label":"Oklahoma Farm Report","url":"https://www.oklahomafarmreport.com/okfr/2026/01/12/farmmind-wins-100k-in-ag-innovation-challenge/"},{"label":"Farm Credit","url":"https://farmcredit.com/news/farm-credit-congratulates-2026-ag-innovation-challenge-winners/"},{"label":"AFBF Newsline","url":"https://www.fb.org/newsline/farmmind-announced-as-farm-bureau-ag-innovation-challenge-winner"}],"related":["afbf-finalists","afbf-top-10","aginfo-lsu-roots"]},{"id":"CR-2025-015","slug":"business-report-next-big-thing","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/business-report-next-big-thing","title":"This LSU-born startup wants to build the next big thing in agriculture","date":"2025-12-08","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"The Business Report profiles FarmMind's founding team and its ambitions.","text":"A profile of the FarmMind team (Colin Raby, Grant Muslow, Aaron Beatty, Cole Lacombe and Julius Pallotta) and their plan to build agriculture's next essential platform from Baton Rouge.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Baton Rouge Business Report","url":"https://www.businessreport.com/business/this-lsu-born-startup-wants-to-build-the-next-big-thing-in-agriculture","format":"article","author":"Dillon Lowe"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-014","slug":"business-spotlight-interview","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/business-spotlight-interview","title":"FARM MIND: AI FOR MODERN AGRICULTURE | With Colin Raby | The Business Spotlight","date":"2025-12-05","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"A long-form interview on FarmMind and the case for AI in modern agriculture.","text":"A long-form conversation about FarmMind: what it does, who it's for, and why agriculture is one of the most important places for AI to get right.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Business Spotlight","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm_rROUY65Y","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-013","slug":"talk-1073-brian-haldane","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/talk-1073-brian-haldane","title":"Mornings with Brian Haldane: Colin Raby and Grant Muslow","date":"2025-10-27","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"On Talk 107.3 with co-founder Grant Muslow, explaining how agentic AI turns weather, soil and crop-science data into insight.","text":"Raby and co-founder Grant Muslow joined Brian Haldane to explain FarmMind's agentic AI networks: systems that pull together weather, soil, regulation and crop-science data and turn it into decisions a farmer can act on.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Talk 107.3 FM","url":"https://talk1073.com/2025/10/27/mornings-with-brian-haldane-colin-raby-and-grant-muslow-10-27-25/","format":"audio"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-012","slug":"silicon-bayou-list","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/silicon-bayou-list","title":"LSU CSE Hosts Inaugural Gala Honoring Technology Leaders","date":"2025-09-22","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"FarmSmarter is named to the inaugural Silicon Bayou List of Louisiana technology leaders.","text":"LSU's Division of Computer Science and Engineering named FarmSmarter to its inaugural Silicon Bayou List, honoring technology leaders building in Louisiana.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/silicon-bayou-list-2025.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU College of Engineering","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/eng/news-stories/2025/09/lsu_cse_hosts_inaugural_gala_honoring_technology_leaders.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-011","slug":"afbf-finalists","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/afbf-finalists","title":"Ag Innovation Challenge Finalists Compete for $100K","date":"2025-09-10","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmSmarter advances to the final four of the Farm Bureau's national Ag Innovation Challenge.","text":"From ten to four: FarmSmarter advanced to the final round of the Ag Innovation Challenge, to compete for the $100,000 top prize at the Farm Bureau's national convention in January.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"American Farm Bureau Federation","url":"https://www.fb.org/news-release/ag-innovation-challenge-finalists-compete-for-100k","format":"release"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["afbf-top-10","afbf-ag-innovation-challenge-winner"]},{"id":"CR-2025-010","slug":"afbf-top-10","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/afbf-top-10","title":"Farm Bureau Announces Top 10 in Ag Innovation Challenge","date":"2025-08-05","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmSmarter is named a Top 10 semifinalist in the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2026 Ag Innovation Challenge.","text":"The American Farm Bureau Federation named FarmSmarter one of ten semifinalists, out of startups nationwide, in its 2026 Ag Innovation Challenge.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"American Farm Bureau Federation","url":"https://www.fb.org/news-release/farm-bureau-announces-top-10-in-ag-innovation-challenge","format":"release"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"FarmMind blog: Farm Bureau Selects FarmSmarter.ai Top-Ten Semi-Finalist","url":"https://farmmind.org/blogs/farm-bureau-selects-farmsmarter.ai-top-ten-semi-finalist-in-2026-innovation-challenge"}],"related":["afbf-finalists","afbf-ag-innovation-challenge-winner"]},{"id":"CR-2025-009","slug":"farmmind-full-time","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/farmmind-full-time","title":"Goes full time as CEO of FarmMind","date":"2025","kind":"milestone","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"Leaves Capitol Hill and returns to Louisiana to lead FarmMind full time as founder and CEO, moving from the policy of AI to building it.","text":"After his time in Congress, Raby returned to Louisiana to lead FarmMind full time as founder and CEO, trading the policy conversation about AI for the work of building it.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/farmmind-field-scouting.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-008","slug":"nexus-technology-cup","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/nexus-technology-cup","title":"FarmSmarter.AI Wins Top Prize in Nexus Technology Cup College Track Finals","date":"2025-06-19","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"First place and $15,000 in the college track of the inaugural Nexus Technology Cup.","text":"FarmSmarter won the college track of the inaugural Nexus Technology Cup at the Water Campus in Baton Rouge, taking first place and $15,000.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Nexus Louisiana","url":"https://www.nexusla.org/articles/farmsmarter-ai-wins-top-prize-in-nexus-technology-cup-college-track-finals","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Business Report: Encore CO2, LSU team win top honors at inaugural Nexus Technology Cup","url":"https://www.businessreport.com/article/encore-co2-lsu-team-win-top-honors-at-inaugural-nexus-technology-cup"}],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-007","slug":"lsu-homegrown-startup-success","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-homegrown-startup-success","title":"Homegrown Team Finds Startup Success Supported by LSU Resources","date":"2025-05-20","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"LSU's business school recaps FarmSmarter's competition run: Venture Challenge, Pelican Cup, Rice and Arkansas.","text":"LSU's E. J. Ourso College of Business tells the story of FarmSmarter's competition season, from the Venture Challenge to the Pelican Cup, the Rice Business Plan Competition and the Arkansas Governor's Cup, as the team began raising its seed round.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/business/news/2025/5/homegrown-team-finds-startup-success-with-lsu-resources-may-2025.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-017","slug":"fiu-future-forward-seminar","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/fiu-future-forward-seminar","title":"Leads a discussion on AI and national strategy with FIU's AI and public policy scholars","date":"2025-05","kind":"release","threads":["policy"],"summary":"At Florida International University's Future Forward: AI and Leadership Fly-In in Washington, Raby leads a tabletop discussion with a handpicked group of AI and public policy scholars.","text":"Florida International University invited Raby to present and lead a tabletop discussion for its Future Forward: AI and Leadership Fly-In, a seminar series in Washington for a handpicked group of AI and public policy scholars, both technical and non-technical.\n\nDrawing on his work as an AI specialist supporting the House Select Committee on the CCP, the conversation covered how AI hardware and software have become a key arena in what some call this generation's space race; the history and future of export controls; how government can use AI not just to automate but to transform how it delivers services and makes decisions; what good domestic AI policy requires; and the future of formal education in the Intelligence Age.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/fiu-future-forward-discussion.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LinkedIn: On the Future Forward discussion (May 2025)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_ai-gov-govtech-activity-7325238053675958272-JEfE/"}],"related":["fiu-ai-unveiled-panel","congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2025-016","slug":"hackathon-report-2024","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/hackathon-report-2024","title":"Congressional Hackathon Report","date":"2025-05","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"The House's official report on Congressional Hackathon 6.0 features Raby's Press Clips Generator, presented for the Office of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.","text":"The House of Representatives' official report on the sixth Congressional Hackathon, held Sept. 19, 2024, in the Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium, documents the tools presented and the recommendations that came out of the day.\n\nIt features \"Press Clips Generator | Colin M. Raby, Office of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi\": an AI tool that \"automates the daily task of formatting the daily Press Clips document from a list of links to the stories, saving congressional offices hours of administrative work per week.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/hackathon-report-press-clips.jpg","source":{"outlet":"U.S. House of Representatives","url":"https://www.house.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/Hackathon-Report-2024.pdf","format":"document"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: The report is out (May 2025)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ4x4xjx6XY/"}],"related":["congressional-hackathon","congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2025-018","slug":"arkansas-governors-cup","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/arkansas-governors-cup","title":"Places third in the graduate high-growth division of the Arkansas Governor's Cup","date":"2025-04","kind":"milestone","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmSmarter.ai takes third place and $7,500 in the graduate high-growth/technology division of the 2025 Arkansas Governor's Cup, LSU's first team to place in the competition.","text":"FarmSmarter.ai placed third and won $7,500 in the graduate high-growth/technology division of the 2025 Arkansas Governor's Cup, the long-running collegiate business plan competition presented by ACC Capital, formerly Arkansas Capital Corporation. The awards were presented in April at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.\n\nIt was the first time an LSU team had placed in the competition.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"FarmSmarter on LinkedIn: four competitions this spring (Apr. 2025)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/farmmind-platform_farmsmarter-lsustartups-agtech-activity-7320475315653292032-nlxh"},{"label":"Arkansas Money & Politics: Arkansas Governor's Cup Celebrates Quarter-Century of Seeding Innovation","url":"https://armoneyandpolitics.com/arkansas-governors-cup-quarter-century/"},{"label":"LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business: Homegrown Team Finds Startup Success Supported by LSU Resources","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/business/news/2025/5/homegrown-team-finds-startup-success-with-lsu-resources-may-2025.php"}],"related":["pelican-cup","rice-business-plan-competition"]},{"id":"CR-2025-006","slug":"rice-business-plan-competition","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/rice-business-plan-competition","title":"LSU's first finalist at the Rice Business Plan Competition","date":"2025-04-12","kind":"milestone","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmSmarter becomes LSU's first team in the final seven of the Rice Business Plan Competition, the world's largest student startup competition, finishing seventh.","text":"FarmSmarter became LSU's first team to reach the final round of the Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston, the largest student startup competition in the world and the one founders call the \"Super Bowl of pitch competitions.\"\n\nThe team won the competition's wildcard round, earning the Edward H. Molter Memorial Prize and the last spot in the finals, then finished seventh, a $5,000 prize sponsored by Shell Ventures. It also won a Company Showcase Prize at the competition's open house.\n\nWithin weeks it had also won the Pelican Cup, placed third at the Arkansas Governor's Cup and been named a top-10 finalist at Baylor's New Venture Competition.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Rice Business Plan Competition 2025 results","url":"https://rbpc.rice.edu/2025/2025-winners-results"},{"label":"FarmSmarter on LinkedIn: four competitions this spring (Apr. 2025)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/farmmind-platform_farmsmarter-lsustartups-agtech-activity-7320475315653292032-nlxh"}],"related":["lsu-homegrown-startup-success","pelican-cup","arkansas-governors-cup"]},{"id":"CR-2025-005","slug":"pelican-cup","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/pelican-cup","title":"ULM hosts Pelican Cup Final: FarmSmarter.AI wins top prize","date":"2025-04-10","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"Against 36 teams from eight universities, FarmSmarter wins the $50,000 grand prize and the $2,000 elevator-pitch prize at the 2025 Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup.","text":"FarmSmarter.AI took the top prizes at the fourth annual Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup, Louisiana's largest collegiate pitch competition, at the University of Louisiana Monroe on April 10, 2025: the $50,000 grand prize and the $2,000 elevator-pitch prize.\n\nThirty-six teams from eight universities entered; six reached the final, where each gave a 20-minute pitch followed by 30 minutes of questions from the judges. Nearly 200 people attended, KNOE reported. Raby, the company's CEO, delivered the winning elevator pitch.\n\n\"FarmSmarter aims to be the world's best virtual agricultural expert,\" Raby said. \"We take millions of pages of up-to-date agricultural documents and regulations and turn them into actionable intelligence. Louisiana has incredible agricultural and technical talent, and we aim to leverage this prize to lead the charge in revolutionizing an industry that our state has excelled in for generations.\"\n\nCTO Grant Muslow said winning both prizes \"completely changes the trajectory of our company.\" The team planned to use the winnings to grow, accelerate research and development, and build new tools: GIS field mapping, plant and insect identification, and compliance checks for new Endangered Species Act guidelines. Its first product, Farmer AI, had launched the month before with access to more than 16,000 EPA-approved pesticide and herbicide labels, state-specific research and live weather.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/pelican-cup-2025-trophy.jpg","source":{"outlet":"KNOE","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6odKFVkuSag","format":"video","article":"https://www.knoe.com/2025/04/10/ulm-hosts-pelican-cup-final-farmsmarterai-wins-top-prize/"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"FarmMind blog: FarmSmarter.ai Wins Big at 2025 Louisiana Pelican Cup","url":"https://farmmind.org/blogs/farmsmarter-ai-wins-big-at-2025-louisiana-pelican-cup"},{"label":"MyArkLaMiss: ULM hosts fourth annual Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup awards","url":"https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ulm-hosts-fourth-annual-entrepreneurship-pelican-awards/"}],"related":["nexus-technology-cup","venture-challenge","farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2025-004","slug":"business-report-ai-farm-field","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/business-report-ai-farm-field","title":"This Baton Rouge startup is bringing AI to the farm field","date":"2025-04-02","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"The Business Report on how FarmSmarter is making AI practical for working farmers.","text":"The Baton Rouge Business Report on FarmSmarter's approach: AI that meets farmers where they work, built in Louisiana.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Baton Rouge Business Report","url":"https://www.businessreport.com/business/this-baton-rouge-startup-is-bringing-ai-to-the-farm-field","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-019","slug":"baylor-new-venture-competition","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/baylor-new-venture-competition","title":"Named a top-10 finalist at Baylor's New Venture Competition","date":"2025-03-29","kind":"milestone","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"FarmSmarter.ai is one of ten finalists at Baylor University's 2025 New Venture Competition, which draws collegiate startup teams from around the world.","text":"FarmSmarter.ai was one of ten finalists at the 2025 New Venture Competition, hosted March 28–29 by Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business at the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation in Waco, Texas. The competition brings collegiate teams of entrepreneurs from around the world to pitch their business plans for cash prizes and resources; the 2025 finalists included teams from the University of Michigan, MIT and Johns Hopkins.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"FarmSmarter on LinkedIn: four competitions this spring (Apr. 2025)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/farmmind-platform_farmsmarter-lsustartups-agtech-activity-7320475315653292032-nlxh"},{"label":"Baylor Hankamer School of Business: Baylor Hosts 2025 New Venture Competition","url":"https://hankamer.baylor.edu/news/story/2025/baylor-hosts-2025-new-venture-competition"}],"related":["rice-business-plan-competition","pelican-cup"]},{"id":"CR-2025-003","slug":"lsu-innovation-pitch-perfectors","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-innovation-pitch-perfectors","title":"Pitch Perfectors: How LSU Louisiana Small Business Development Center Helped FarmSmart Win the Venture Challenge","date":"2025-01-30","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"How LSU's Small Business Development Center coached the FarmSmart team to the $20,000 Venture Challenge win.","text":"LSU Innovation on the coaching behind FarmSmart's Venture Challenge win, and the campus resources that help student founders get from idea to pitch.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"LSU Innovation","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/innovation/news/2025/2025.1.31_farmsmart.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["venture-challenge"]},{"id":"CR-2025-002","slug":"future-in-focus-500-billion","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/future-in-focus-500-billion","title":"FUTURE IN FOCUS: Trump's $500 billion investment in AI","date":"2025-01-25","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Analysis of the $500 billion AI infrastructure announcement and what it means for the country.","text":"Back on Future in Focus to explain the $500 billion AI infrastructure announcement: what's being built, who benefits, and what it means for policy.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Local News Live","url":"https://www.localnewslive.com/video/2025/01/25/future-focus-trumps-500-billion-investment-ai/","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: What Stargate is and why it matters","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DFQkGJWRE7x/"}],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2025-001","slug":"tfas-alumni-profile","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/tfas-alumni-profile","title":"TFAS Alumni Profile – Colin Raby '24","date":"2025-01-15","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"The Fund for American Studies on Raby's path from its D.C. program to AI policy work in Congress.","text":"The Fund for American Studies profiles Raby's summer 2024 in its Public Policy & Economics program, his AI policy work for Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, and his panel appearance at Florida International University.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Fund for American Studies","url":"https://www.dcinternships.org/tfas-alumni-profile-colin-raby-24/","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2024-016","slug":"lsu-people-of-2024","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-people-of-2024","title":"Meet Some of the Dedicated and High-Achieving People of LSU Featured in 2024","date":"2024-12-16","kind":"press","threads":["policy","campus","farmmind"],"summary":"LSU names Raby among its people of the year as the \"Policy Pioneer,\" one of the nation's first congressional AI specialists and CEO of FarmSmart.","text":"In its year-end roundup of the people who defined 2024 at LSU, the university featured Raby as its Policy Pioneer: an LSU graduate whose commitment and service to campus led him to become one of the first congressional AI specialists in the nation, tasked with pioneering AI-powered tools to help Congress do its work.\n\n \"I have the opportunity to build AI-powered tools that enable Congress to run more effectively, efficiently, and transparently while helping shape the direction of AI policy to balance fostering innovation with ethical considerations and societal needs.\"\n\nThe feature also noted his role as CEO of FarmSmart, the LSU student- and alumni-built AI tool that draws on decades of LSU AgCenter research to help farmers manage their crops.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/lsu-people-of-2024-v2.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/blog/2024/12/15-people-of-2024.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["lsu-ai-meets-public-policy","congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2024-020","slug":"sunwater-dc-legal-hackers","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/sunwater-dc-legal-hackers","title":"Speaks to DC Legal Hackers at the Sunwater Institute on being a congressional AI specialist","date":"2024-11-14","kind":"release","threads":["policy"],"summary":"At a DC Legal Hackers meetup hosted by the Sunwater Institute, Raby explains what a congressional AI specialist does and how AI-driven automation is changing government work.","text":"Raby spoke to DC Legal Hackers, the capital's community of lawyers and technologists, at a meetup hosted by the Sunwater Institute. As one of the first people to hold the role, he explained what a congressional AI specialist does, and how technology, especially AI-driven automation, is changing how government operates.\n\n\"It was inspiring to explore the diverse and impactful ways technology is modernizing government systems and processes,\" wrote organizer Nathaniel Burola. Raby followed up on ways similar automations could serve other government departments, and on a future of modernization focused on \"how government can do the most good for the people it serves.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/sunwater-dc-legal-hackers.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LinkedIn: Nathaniel Burola on the talk, with Colin's reply (Nov. 2024)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_civictech-legaltech-governmentservice-activity-7263622218230702080-8L_Q/"}],"related":["congressional-ai-specialist","congressional-hackathon"]},{"id":"CR-2024-012","slug":"reveille-farmsmart-app-launch","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-farmsmart-app-launch","title":"LSU students, alumnus launch AI app to simplify agricultural research for farmers","date":"2024-10-31","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"The Reveille on FarmSmart's launch, with its beta already being tested by growers in 15 states.","text":"FarmSmart's public launch, as covered by The Reveille: an app that turns dense agricultural research into answers a farmer can use, with a beta already in the hands of growers in 15 states.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/240553/news/lsu-students-alumnus-launch-ai-app-to-simplify-agricultural-research-for-farmers/","format":"article","author":"Ashlynn Baillio"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Republished by Louisiana Farm Bureau News","url":"https://lafarmbureaunews.com/news/2024/10/31/lsu-students-alumnus-launch-ai-app-to-simplify-agricultural-research-for-farmers"}],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2024-017","slug":"white-house-visit","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/white-house-visit","title":"Visits the White House","date":"2024-10-27","kind":"post","threads":["policy"],"summary":"An invitation to the White House, and a reflection on Article II, the presidency and the \"ongoing experiment in self-governance.\"","text":"Checked an invitation to visit the world's most iconic \"white house\" off the bucket list. We'd probably still be calling the President's residence \"the Executive Mansion\" if Teddy Roosevelt hadn't dubbed it \"the White House\" in letters sent in 1901.\n\nThis building embodies how Article II of our Constitution has been executed throughout the history of our still-young nation. It isn't just the home of the President; it's the command center where the buck stops on foreign policy, where the laws of our country are enforced — not made — and where national leaders are appointed to steer critical functions of government. It protects and enables the person charged with wielding substantial power, under constitutional constraints meant to prevent kingly tyranny.\n\nThe White House is a building of decisions, where the past, present and future collide. Every citizen should be proud to be part of this ongoing experiment in self-governance as the next chapter of the American story is written — not only by the occupant of this brightly painted house, but by all of us, every single day.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/white-house-visit.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DBo5J8Syw9M/"},"links":[],"related":["congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2024-011","slug":"future-in-focus-congressional-ai","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/future-in-focus-congressional-ai","title":"FUTURE IN FOCUS: Congressional AI specialist Colin Raby","date":"2024-10-26","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"A television interview on what a congressional AI specialist does and where AI policy is headed.","text":"A conversation on Future in Focus about the new role of the congressional AI specialist and how lawmakers are approaching artificial intelligence.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Local News Live","url":"https://www.localnewslive.com/video/2024/10/26/future-focus-congressional-ai-specialist-colin-raby/","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: On the interview and the Congressional Hackathon","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DBuSXV0SHF3/"}],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2024-010","slug":"lsu-meet-colin-raby","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-meet-colin-raby","title":"Meet Colin Raby: First to Create an Agricultural Consultant With AI","date":"2024-10-15","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"LSU's \"Working for Louisiana: First on the Field\" names Raby one of five students and alumni leading in research and service to the state, for building FarmSmart.","text":"In its \"Working for Louisiana: First on the Field\" series, LSU profiled five students and alumni who are first in their fields in research and service to the state, from agriculture to energy to health. Raby was featured for FarmSmart, now FarmMind: the AI agricultural consultant his team built to put decades of LSU AgCenter research in farmers' pockets.\n\n “Our goal is to be as good or better than the best agricultural consultants.”\n\nThe feature came the week FarmSmart, fresh off winning the J. Terrell Brown Venture Challenge, competed in the SEC Student Pitch Competition at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The idea, LSU reported, began with LSU AgCenter weed scientist Daniel Stephenson, who wanted the AgCenter's annual weed-management guide to be easier for farmers to use.\n\n “Colin Raby and his team’s work in developing AI-driven solutions for Louisiana farmers is an early example of how we are leveraging this emerging technology to directly contribute to the state’s economy and the well-being of its people.”\n — Roy Haggerty, LSU Executive Vice President and Provost","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/lsu-first-on-the-field.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU Working for Louisiana","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/working-for-louisiana/news/2024/10-first-farmsmart.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU Media Center: “LSU Student Team’s FarmSmart App Helps Farmers Manage Crops, Weeds With AI”","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2024/10/15-farmsmart-ai.php"},{"label":"LSU on Facebook: Meet five LSU students and alumni who are first on the field","url":"https://www.facebook.com/geauxlsu/photos/meet-five-lsu-students-and-alumni-who-are-first-on-the-field-in-research-and-ser/941469164694323/"}],"related":["venture-challenge","farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2024-009","slug":"congressional-hackathon","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/congressional-hackathon","title":"Presents “From Hours to Minutes: Press Clips Generator” at the Congressional Hackathon","date":"2024-09-19","kind":"release","threads":["policy"],"summary":"At the bipartisan Congressional Hackathon in the U.S. Capitol, demonstrates an AI tool that turns hours of press-clip work into minutes.","text":"Colin Raby presented at Congressional Hackathon 6.0, the bipartisan event held Sept. 19, 2024, in the Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium. Hosted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor, and organized by the House Digital Service, it brought staff from both parties together with civic technologists to explore how technology, artificial intelligence above all, can make Congress work better.\n\nHis presentation, \"From Hours to Minutes: Press Clips Generator,\" used a real tool to make the case for modernizing congressional workflows. The Press Clips Generator automates one of the most repetitive daily jobs on any office's communications team: turning a list of news links into the formatted daily clips document. Staff paste in URLs; the tool pulls each story's title, date, source and a summary or first paragraph, and assembles the document. A task that takes hours, done in minutes. The prototype was already saving teams hours each week.\n\nAfterward, Raby heard the talk had been voted among the audience's favorites. He closed with: \"The future truly is ours to build, and I look forward to working with everyone … to build a good one together.\"\n\nThe House's official report on the Hackathon, published in May 2025, featured the Press Clips Generator, and several AI initiatives Raby had championed made its list of Top Recommended Action Items in artificial intelligence. FedScoop also covered the tools presented at the event.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/hackathon-press-clips-title.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"U.S. House: Congressional Hackathon Report (2024)","url":"https://www.house.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/Hackathon-Report-2024.pdf"},{"label":"Instagram: The report is out (May 2025)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ4x4xjx6XY/"},{"label":"FedScoop: Staff directory, bill summary app among tools presented at Congressional Hackathon","url":"https://fedscoop.com/staff-directory-bill-summary-app-among-tools-presented-at-congressional-hackathon/"}],"related":["hackathon-report-2024","congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2024-008","slug":"lsu-ai-meets-public-policy","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-ai-meets-public-policy","title":"AI Meets Public Policy: LSU Graduate Plays Groundbreaking Role in D.C.","date":"2024-08-26","kind":"press","threads":["policy","campus"],"summary":"LSU profiles Raby as one of the nation's first congressional AI specialists, working with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.","text":"LSU's profile of Raby's work in Washington: how an engineering graduate became one of the first AI specialists in a congressional office, and what it looks like to bring AI tools into the legislative process.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/lsu-ai-meets-public-policy.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/blog/2024/08/26-raby-ai-congress.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU on Instagram: one of the first congressional AI specialists (reel)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_TJ1LJJ3SD/"}],"related":["congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2024-007","slug":"fiu-ai-unveiled-panel","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/fiu-ai-unveiled-panel","title":"AI Unveiled: Exploring Its Impact on You","date":"2024-07-17","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Panelist at Florida International University's discussion on how AI will change everyday life.","text":"A panel discussion hosted by Florida International University on what artificial intelligence means for ordinary people: work, information, and the policy choices ahead.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/fiu-ai-unveiled-closeup.jpg","source":{"outlet":"Florida International University","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ascodyf6OrE","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2024-006","slug":"aaea-national-champions","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/aaea-national-champions","title":"Captains LSU to a second straight AAEA Academic Bowl national championship","date":"2024-07","kind":"release","threads":["campus"],"summary":"As team captain, Raby leads LSU, with Benjamin Goldstein and Riley LaSavia, to a second straight national championship at the 2024 AAEA Academic Bowl in New Orleans.","text":"For the second year in a row, LSU won the Academic Bowl. Colin Raby captained the team, with Benjamin Goldstein and Riley LaSavia, as it won the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association's 2024 Academic Bowl at the association's annual meeting in New Orleans. A second LSU team took second place, the second year in a row that LSU swept the top two spots against dozens of universities.\n\nHaving competed the year before, Raby used that experience to help prepare a new team for the tournament. \"While this year's path to championship wasn't quite as heart-pounding as last year's nail-biter against Clemson,\" he wrote afterward, \"it was a well-fought and fun time nonetheless.\" The team was coached by Prof. Penn.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/aaea-2024-team-new-orleans.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: Back-to-back national champions (Aug. 2024)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C-sakjIOlUk/"},{"label":"PRWeb: Over 50 Recognized at 2024 AAEA Annual Meeting","url":"https://www.prweb.com/releases/over-50-recognized-at-2024-aaea-annual-meeting-in-new-orleans-la-302225535.html"}],"related":["aaea-academic-bowl-2023"]},{"id":"CR-2024-002","slug":"congressional-ai-specialist","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/congressional-ai-specialist","title":"Joins the U.S. House as one of its first AI specialists","date":"2024-06","kind":"release","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Begins work on artificial intelligence for Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, supporting the House Select Committee on the CCP, as one of the first AI specialists on Capitol Hill.","text":"Raby came to Washington through the Fund for American Studies' Public Policy & Economics program and joined the office of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi as one of the first AI specialists to work in the U.S. House of Representatives.\n\nHe worked on artificial intelligence policy and on putting AI tools to work inside a congressional office, supporting the House Select Committee on the CCP alongside the congressman's work on science, technology and commerce.\n\nRaby described the role as a dual mandate: to evaluate and improve congressional systems and workflows with artificial intelligence, making them more effective, efficient and transparent; and to advise on policy for AI and other emerging technologies under discussion across multiple congressional committees.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/portrait-capitol-hd.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"TFAS alumni profile","url":"https://www.dcinternships.org/tfas-alumni-profile-colin-raby-24/"},{"label":"LegiStorm","url":"https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/501340/Colin_M_Raby.html"},{"label":"Bloomberg Government: AI Tools Help Tech-Savvy Hill Aides Speed Tedious Work","url":"https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/ai-catches-on-with-tech-savvy-hill-aides-to-speed-tedious-work"},{"label":"Instagram: Announcing the role (June 2024)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8VLyObhkLS/"}],"related":["lsu-ai-meets-public-policy","congressional-hackathon"]},{"id":"CR-2024-005","slug":"graduates-lsu","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/graduates-lsu","title":"Graduates from LSU","date":"2024-05","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus","engineering"],"summary":"Graduates from the LSU Ogden Honors College in mechanical engineering, with minors in aerospace engineering and economics.","text":"Raby graduated from Louisiana State University's Ogden Honors College with a degree in mechanical engineering and minors in aerospace engineering and economics.\n\nHe marked it with a film shot from the top of Memorial Tower and shared a thank-you: \"To all of my mentors, peers, and to everyone who has supported me along the way, collaborated on challenging projects, and who made possible visionary community service initiatives many thought impossible — thank you. It has been an honor to learn from, serve, and lead within the LSU community.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8F3J1iOsbX/"},"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2024-013","slug":"tiger-twelve","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/tiger-twelve","title":"Named to LSU's Tiger Twelve, Class of 2024","date":"2024-04-29","kind":"release","threads":["campus","service"],"summary":"Named one of LSU's Tiger Twelve, the 12 graduating seniors recognized each year for academics, leadership and service to the campus and community.","text":"Each spring, LSU names its Tiger Twelve: the 12 graduating seniors who have contributed most to the life of the campus, the surrounding community and society, with a record of academic achievement, leadership and service. The honor has been given since 2003. Raby, a mechanical engineering major with minors in aerospace engineering and economics, in the College of Engineering and the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College, was named to the Class of 2024.\n\nAsked by LSU how the university had helped him succeed, and what came next, he said:\n\n “I have enjoyed getting involved with the many opportunities this large campus provides, from serving our student body in LSU Student Government to reviving LSU Silver Wings to my work with the Cadets of the Ole War School and as a Residential Assistant to ODK, RHA, ASME, SPM, BYX, Bengal Bots, Tiger Brawlers, developing AI systems, and many others not listed here.”\n\nFuture plans:\n\n “After graduation, I will move to Washington, D.C., to work with House of Representatives committees focused on creating and hearing AI, data, and legislation on innovative emerging technologies. After this, my next step may be with NASA, the U.S. Space Force, or the private sector, where I plan to use what I have learned at LSU to build a better world for us and those who follow.”\n\nSource: “Tiger Twelve 2024: These High-Achieving Students Say Attending LSU Made All the Difference,” LSU, April 29, 2024\n\nOn accepting the award, Raby gave a speech titled \"A bias towards action: a call to our generation of leadership.\" He shared the video afterward, thanking everyone \"who has helped turn ideas for community service into impactful successes.\"\n\nThat summer he joined the U.S. House as one of its first AI specialists.\n\n Atop each hill, what becomes easier to see is the steeper, taller mountain ahead, whose climb shall lead to our destiny.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/tiger-twelve-2024-class.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU Campus Life: Tiger Twelve Class of 2024","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/student-affairs/tiger-twelve/2024-tiger-twelve.php"},{"label":"LSU: “Tiger Twelve 2024: These High-Achieving Students Say Attending LSU Made All the Difference”","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/blog/2024/04/29-tiger-twelve-2024-quotes.php"},{"label":"The Advocate: LSU names the Tiger Twelve senior recognition Class of 2024","url":"https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/livingston_tangipahoa/lsu-names-the-tiger-twelve-senior-recognition-class-of-2024/article_15f9b9ca-08e1-11ef-8016-4ff5b346cb20.html"},{"label":"LSU on X: “We present to you the 2024 Tiger Twelve!”","url":"https://x.com/LSU/status/1785771974377046071"},{"label":"LSU Engineering on X: Congratulations to Chloe, Sybil, and Colin","url":"https://x.com/LSUEngineering/status/1786030016314376599"},{"label":"Colin's announcement on Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C67MTg9u-mz/"},{"label":"Instagram: His acceptance speech, “A bias towards action” (video)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7CRK4suRmD/"}],"related":["graduates-lsu","congressional-ai-specialist"]},{"id":"CR-2024-019","slug":"lsu-business-venture-challenge-2024","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-business-venture-challenge-2024","title":"AI-Powered Platform for Farmers, Gardeners wins 2024 J Terrell Brown Venture Challenge","date":"2024-04-19","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"LSU's E. J. Ourso College of Business on FarmSmart's first-place finish and $20,000 award at the 13th annual J Terrell Brown Venture Challenge.","text":"LSU's E. J. Ourso College of Business reported FarmSmart's win at the 2024 J Terrell Brown Venture Challenge — \"an AI-powered platform connecting modern professional farming and recreational gardening communities to tailored, high-quality information on crop management\" — and its $20,000 first-place award.\n\nThe story named the founders, Grant Muslow, Julius Pallotta and Colin Raby, and traced FarmSmart to the fall 2023 Honors course on large language model development and deployment taught by LSU Provost Roy Haggerty with James Ghawaly and Henry Hays.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/venture-challenge-2024-checks.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/business/news/2024/4/ai-powered-platform-for-farmers-gardeners-wins-2024-j-terrell-brown-venture-challenge-2024.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU Entrepreneurship on Instagram: the 2024 winners","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6XA_mhPwV7/"}],"related":["venture-challenge","farmsmart-founded","lsu-innovation-pitch-perfectors"]},{"id":"CR-2024-003","slug":"venture-challenge","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/venture-challenge","title":"Wins the $20,000 J. Terrell Brown Venture Challenge","date":"2024-04-18","kind":"release","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"From more than 60 entrants to first place: FarmSmart takes the $20,000 top prize at LSU's flagship startup competition.","text":"FarmSmart won the 13th annual J. Terrell Brown Venture Challenge, the business plan competition run by LSU's Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, and its $20,000 first prize. It was the company's first competition win, and the first outside validation that a class project could be a business.\n\nThe founders were three engineering students: Colin Raby (mechanical), Grant Muslow (computer science and computer engineering) and Julius Pallotta (biological engineering). Raby entered after spotting a Venture Challenge poster in the business school. The team had a week to make a two-minute video, shot in an LSU AgCenter greenhouse, laying out the problem: each year the AgCenter updates a 500-plus-page manual of farming best practices alongside thousands of research articles, and finding the right advice is like looking for a needle in a haystack. FarmSmart's answer was an AI that turns all of it into actionable recommendations in seconds, not the weeks traditional consulting can take.\n\nMore than 60 teams applied; FarmSmart was one of 13 semifinalists asked for an executive business plan, then one of three finalists to pitch live to the judges.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/venture-challenge-2024-checks.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU Entrepreneurship on Instagram: the 2024 winners","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6XA_mhPwV7/"}],"related":["lsu-business-venture-challenge-2024","lsu-innovation-pitch-perfectors","farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2024-018","slug":"clcu-future-of-ai-in-education","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/clcu-future-of-ai-in-education","title":"Represents LSU students on a statewide panel on the future of AI in education","date":"2024-04-12","kind":"release","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"One of three students chosen to represent LSU on \"The Future of AI in Education\" panel at the Conference of Louisiana Colleges and Universities.","text":"Colin Raby was one of three students selected to represent LSU at the annual Conference of Louisiana Colleges and Universities, held April 12, 2024, at LSU of Alexandria. This year's theme was artificial intelligence, and Raby sat on a student panel with students from across the state on \"The Future of AI in Education\": how traditional educational systems should approach, use and adapt to an AI-powered world.\n\nAfterward, he wrote:\n\n The conference was a fertile ground for competing opinions, which reinforced my conviction that the best path forward is embracing AI to equip our students for the technological future. Just like during the invention of the car, the creation of personal computers, and the emergence of the internet, AI can supercharge the capabilities of those who learn to use it well, and we should have systems that encourage our students to utilize it for maximal impact.\n\nTo keep education relevant in a world of increasingly capable AI, he argued, schools should focus on three things:\n\n- Building the skills to critically evaluate content.\n- Rewarding good questions, not just answers to the questions students are asked.\n- Experiential learning: partnering with industry, using AI for immersive learning, and offering the experiences an expert AI chatbot can't.\n\n Looking forward, the thoughtful integration of AI in education not only promises to enhance learning environments but also equips our students to lead and innovate.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/clcu-ai-education-panel.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Zp5wlOim0/"},"links":[],"related":["lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort"]},{"id":"CR-2024-015","slug":"reveille-sg-election-code","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-sg-election-code","title":"LSU SG voting results postponed amid election code confusion","date":"2024-03-28","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Raby's election-code amendment (no results until every campaign complaint is decided) and his petition to enforce it lead Student Government to postpone announcing the 2024 results.","text":"After seeing how the 2022 election played out, Raby wrote an amendment to Student Government's election code: no results would be announced until every pending campaign complaint had a final ruling. It would be hard, he argued, for the judicial branch to decide complaints fairly once a winner had already been named.\n\nWhen the 2024 election came, the Election Commission planned to announce results with complaints still unheard. Raby petitioned the judicial branch to delay the announcement, and found the source of the confusion: the code, as entered, had dropped a crucial word from his bill. \"That word was 'after,'\" he said. The commission postponed the announcement, and the typo was quietly corrected that night.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/157712/news/lsu-sg-voting-results-postponed-amid-election-code-confusion/","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["reveille-campaign-reforms","rise-tigers-presidential-race","student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2024-014","slug":"campus-connections-sg-interviews","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/campus-connections-sg-interviews","title":"Campus Connections: interviewing the candidates for LSU Student Government president","date":"2024-03-20","kind":"post","threads":["campus"],"summary":"A special episode of his student podcast, Campus Connections: one-on-one interviews with every candidate for LSU Student Government president, released the day before voting opened.","text":"On his student podcast, Campus Connections, Raby sat down with each candidate in the 2024 race for LSU Student Government president, for a look at their journeys, ideals and plans for the LSU community.\n\nHe released the special episode on March 20, 2024, the day before students began voting: \"The future of LSU is in the hands of every student who casts a vote.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":{"platform":"YouTube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqniBxlj5Qw"},"links":[],"related":["reveille-campus-connections"]},{"id":"CR-2024-004","slug":"lsu-llm-teaching-assistant","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-llm-teaching-assistant","title":"Teaching assistant for LSU's applied LLM systems course","date":"2024-01","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus","farmmind","engineering"],"summary":"Invited back to the course where FarmSmart began, Raby serves as teaching assistant for its second cohort, guiding a team building an AI \"Virtual Expert\" for BASF.","text":"A semester after taking the course in its first year, Raby was invited back by Roy Haggerty, Henry Hays and James Ghawaly to serve as teaching assistant for HNRS 3035, the Ogden Honors College course on developing large language model systems, in spring 2024.\n\nThe second cohort built on the lessons of the first. After covering the foundations of LLMs (agents, fine-tuning and retrieval-augmented generation), students formed project teams, each partnered with an industry sponsor: BASF, The Advocate and Our Lady of the Lake.\n\nRaby guided the BASF team as it built a \"Virtual Expert\": an AI system that gives employees, especially new ones, direct access to the company's policies and institutional knowledge, and preserves the know-how of long-serving engineers before they retire. The final product turned large bodies of patent information into accessible intelligence for engineers and lawyers alike.\n\nWorking through the material a second time showed how far the technology had moved in a few months, and how to help a team avoid the pitfalls of building these systems.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LinkedIn: Kicking off the semester as a teaching assistant (Feb. 2024)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_lsu-lsuinnovation-aiinnovation-share-7165477920558305280-Zsi5/"},{"label":"LinkedIn: Working with the BASF team (Mar. 2024)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_it-has-been-great-to-work-with-the-basf-group-share-7178629604646006784-LYMx/"},{"label":"The Advocate: Baton Rouge businesses collaborate with LSU students, showcasing AI solutions in new program","url":"https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/baton-rouge-businesses-to-showcase-ai-work-with-lsu-students/article_b720e6b0-e817-11ee-b934-c7f599a15f70.html"}],"related":["lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort","farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2023-019","slug":"lsu-bike-repair-stations","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-bike-repair-stations","title":"Brings five bike repair stations to LSU after a 2.5-year push","date":"2023-12-16","kind":"post","threads":["campus","service"],"summary":"As a Student Government senator, Raby co-authored the bill that funded bike repair stations across LSU, then spent two and a half years getting them installed.","text":"Turning the gears of change: after a 2.5-year journey of persistence and pedaling uphill, we finally did it! Five brand-new bicycle repair stations are now ready for use to tune up and fix bikes across LSU.\n\nEspecially after a campus repair shop closed, I noticed the lack of on-campus resources for cyclists. Even with some bike pumps already around campus, most were broken. This wasn't just about fixing flats but bridging barriers to students using a convenient, sustainable, and healthy mode of campus transportation.\n\nThose following my work in Student Government know I have been discussing this initiative for the last couple of years. To achieve it, I had to navigate through an admittedly complex web of bureaucratic processes, engaging in over 100 emails and numerous meetings to drive this initiative forward. However, I was dedicated to overcoming the hurdles that had dissuaded everyone who had tried this type of initiative before.\n\nThe journey to realizing this vision required effective communication and collaboration with multiple campus departments, encompassing planning, infrastructure change approval, purchasing, temporary storage, and final installation. It required working with my peers in student government to write and pass an SG Senate Bill to appropriate funding for both the purchase and installation of the repair stations and pumps. Special shout out to Nicole Monceaux for coauthoring and helping push forward this initiative.\n\nThis experience is an excellent example that while the \"planning fallacy\" can impede progress, it can also be overcome with persistence and audacity. People often think it will take less time and effort than it does to complete an initiative or project. Just because things take longer than they should or longer than you expected they would doesn't mean they're less worth striving for; some of the most impactful changes come after years of dedicated action. These repair stations are more than just metal and tools; they're a testament to what we can achieve with collaboration and persistence.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/lsu-bike-repair-stations.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"LinkedIn","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_lsu-geauxtigers-bike-activity-7141946086721527808-w0AP"},"links":[{"label":"F22RS SGB No. 18 (Bike Repair Stations), LSU Student Senate","url":"https://repository.lsu.edu/sg_sslegislation/1473/"}],"related":["student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2024-001","slug":"business-report-ai-playbook","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/business-report-ai-playbook","title":"AI: It's all in the prompt","date":"2023-12-06","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"In the Baton Rouge Business Report's AI Playbook issue, Raby shares how anyone, technical or not, can get more out of AI models by writing better prompts.","text":"For its December 2023 issue, The A.I. Playbook, on how Capital Region companies are using AI, the Business Report's Sam Barnes interviewed Raby about the new practice of prompt engineering: how anyone, regardless of technical background, can start using models like ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, Midjourney and DALL-E 3 effectively.\n\nHis tips: be specific, provide context, avoid the negative, frame the prompt, let quantity create quality, and get creative as the models rapidly improve.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/business-report-ai-prompt.jpg","source":{"outlet":"Baton Rouge Business Report","url":"https://issuu.com/batonrougebusinessreport/docs/the_ai_playbook","format":"article","author":"Sam Barnes"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Colin's post on Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C0qIXC8NjwA/"}],"related":["lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort","reveille-letter-ai-new-age"]},{"id":"CR-2023-009","slug":"wafb-lsu-ai-classroom","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/wafb-lsu-ai-classroom","title":"LSU incorporating AI into classroom; students showcase solutions in healthcare, farming and research","date":"2023-12-06","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"WAFB covers LSU's LLM course showcase, including the FarmSmart agriculture project.","text":"Baton Rouge's WAFB covered the end-of-semester showcase from LSU's large language model course, where student teams presented AI projects in healthcare, research and farming, including FarmSmart.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"WAFB 9News","url":"https://www.wafb.com/video/2023/12/06/lsu-incorporating-ai-into-classroom-students-showcase-solutions-healthcare-farming-research/","format":"video"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2023-013","slug":"cows-lsu-salutes-2023","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/cows-lsu-salutes-2023","title":"A fifth and final LSU Salutes","date":"2023-12-01","kind":"post","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"Closing five years of helping run LSU Salutes with the Cadets of the Ole War Skule, Raby writes on service and the long purple line.","text":"For half a decade, through time's swift flight,\n Every year, with reverence, when we'd convene,\n I helped uphold this noble rite,\n To celebrate the brave, the strong, the unseen.\n\nEach moment spent planning, organizing and executing events through the Cadets of the Ole War Skule has been a tribute to the valor and sacrifice of our veterans. This year marks the finale of five years helping run the annual LSU Salutes events.\n\nOur distinguished speakers, from General Downer to LSU President William F. Tate IV, echoed a resonating truth: that America and LSU, even in their imperfections, embody a continuous journey of improvement toward our highest ideals. As we honored this year's Hall of Honor inductees, I was reminded of the long purple line of LSU's military history — a lineage steeped in courage and resilience.\n\nThese events are more than commemoration; they are a reaffirmation of our commitment to honor and uplift through service, in whichever way we are each called. Thank you to our veterans for your bravery and sacrifice, and thank you to the COWS and the LSU Corps of Cadets. May we continue to serve others in your honor.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/cows-lsu-salutes-2023.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/C0VvBcCAnkB/"},"links":[],"related":["cows-lsu-salutes-2021","cows-memorial-tower-museum"]},{"id":"CR-2023-008","slug":"reveille-ai-herbicide-tool","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-ai-herbicide-tool","title":"LSU students develop AI tool for herbicide application, part of wider AI agriculture rush","date":"2023-11-26","kind":"press","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"The Reveille's first look at FarmSmart: student-built AI for herbicide decisions.","text":"The first press coverage of what would become FarmMind: a team of LSU students building an AI tool to help farmers make herbicide decisions, set against the broader rush of AI into agriculture.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159478/uncategorized/lsu-students-develop-ai-tool-for-herbicide-application-part-of-wider-ai-agriculture-rush/","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2023-007","slug":"reveille-sg-financial-dashboard","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-sg-financial-dashboard","title":"LSU SG takes steps towards transparency with new financial dashboard","date":"2023-11-09","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Raby builds Student Government's Financial Dashboard, a live, public view of how every dollar of student fees is spent.","text":"As chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Raby noticed Student Government had no way to track what it spent. \"Why do we not have something that shows live updates whenever we spend money, the state of all of our accounts?\" he asked. Then he built it.\n\nThe Financial Dashboard, released on the SG website in November 2023, breaks spending into categories and updates automatically as money moves, so any student can see where their fees go. It came weeks after a Reveille investigation into Student Government's transparency. \"We're definitely not where we should be,\" Raby said. \"But, if you look at the last two years, we've come a long way toward being a transparent, accountable and productive Senate body.\"\n\nHis aim was bigger than one campus: to \"set the precedent in the SEC that student governments need to be transparent.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159548/news/lsu-sg-takes-steps-towards-transparency-with-new-financial-dashboard/","format":"article","author":"Aidan Anthaume"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["sg-budget-chair","student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2023-006","slug":"reveille-letter-ai-new-age","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-letter-ai-new-age","title":"Letter to the editor: Artificial intelligence marks a new age for humanity","date":"2023-11-02","kind":"press","threads":["campus"],"summary":"A letter in The Reveille arguing that AI marks a turning point on the scale of the industrial revolution.","text":"An early public argument, written as a student: artificial intelligence is not another gadget cycle but a new age, and the people who understand it should help everyone else through it.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159542/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-artificial-intelligence-marks-a-new-age-for-humanity/","format":"op-ed"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2023-005","slug":"farmsmart-founded","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/farmsmart-founded","title":"FarmSmart is founded in an LSU classroom","date":"2023-10","kind":"milestone","threads":["farmmind"],"summary":"A class project in LSU's first LLM course becomes FarmSmart: an AI agricultural consultant that answers with citations to the research.","text":"FarmSmart began in the fall of 2023 as a class project in LSU's first course on building applications with large language models: HNRS 3035, Large Language Model Development and Deployment for Real-World Applications, taught by LSU Provost Roy Haggerty with James Ghawaly and Henry Hays.\n\nRaby’s team (Cody Flurry, Jackson Joyce, Grant Muslow and Raby) took on herbicide management. The problem was hiding in plain sight: the LSU AgCenter updates a 500-plus-page manual of farming best practices every year, alongside thousands of research articles, and finding the right advice in it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. FarmSmart AI read all of it, so a farmer could ask about the weeds in a field and get a personalized plan back, with citations to the research.\n\nThe team introduced FarmSmart AI on Dec. 5, 2023, at LSU's first AI Showcase. \"With all of the phenomenal research LSU does to produce quality information for those who grow our food,\" Raby wrote that week, the goal was \"to turn agricultural information into accessible farming intelligence and ensure that everyone can FarmSmart.\"\n\nThe next spring, Raby, Muslow and Julius Pallotta took it to the J. Terrell Brown Venture Challenge and won. The company would later be renamed FarmSmarter, and then FarmMind.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/farmsmart-ai-showcase-presenting.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: Introducing FarmSmart (Dec. 2023)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0vGDlgtZRG/"}],"related":["lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort","advancing-in-ai-post","venture-challenge","technically-how-i-got-here"]},{"id":"CR-2023-002","slug":"homecoming-court-2023","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/homecoming-court-2023","title":"Elected to Senior Homecoming Court (Part 2)","date":"2023-10-06","kind":"release","threads":["campus","engineering"],"summary":"Named to LSU's 2023 Senior Homecoming Court as one of three senior men in the running for Homecoming King, and a rare engineering student among them.","text":"Colin Raby, a senior in mechanical engineering with a minor in aerospace engineering, was named to LSU's 2023 Senior Homecoming Court, one of three senior men in the running for Homecoming King, returning to the court three years after he first served on it as a sophomore.\n\nIt had been some time since an engineering student was named to the court. Raby had spent three years as a Student Senate representative for the College of Engineering, was active in Bengal Robotics and the Society of Peer Mentors, and had interned at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and with Enercon.\n\nLSU announced the 14-member court on Oct. 6. Homecoming week, the university's 98th, culminated on Oct. 21, 2023, with the court luncheon, a walk down Victory Hill, and the presentation of the court at halftime of LSU's game against Army in Tiger Stadium.\n\nAfterward, he marked it on Instagram with a few lines of verse (\"Humbled and honored, on this court I stand, / In LSU's colors, with friends hand in hand\") and what he believes the court should stand for: initiative, servant leadership and an optimistic spirit.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/homecoming-2023-senior.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CzA609eO9cY/"},"links":[{"label":"LSU Campus Life: Homecoming Court 2023","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/campus-life/things-to-do/homecoming/court-2023.php"},{"label":"The Advocate: Here's LSU homecoming court; 6 days of events start Monday","url":"https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/heres-lsu-homecoming-court-6-days-of-events-start-monday/article_380db0aa-6915-11ee-a982-338956cff270.html"},{"label":"The Reveille: 2023 Homecoming court and royalty candidates announced","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159697/news/2023-homecoming-court-and-royalty-candidates-announced-voting-for-king-and-queen-begins/"},{"label":"LSU: AI Meets Public Policy (\"twice on the Homecoming Court\")","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/blog/2024/08/26-raby-ai-congress.php"}],"related":["homecoming-court"]},{"id":"CR-2023-004","slug":"advancing-in-ai-post","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/advancing-in-ai-post","title":"Advancing in AI: inside LSU's first large language model course","date":"2023-10-03","kind":"post","threads":["farmmind","campus"],"summary":"A note from the first weeks of the LSU Honors course on large language models, the class where FarmMind began.","text":"Early in the fall 2023 semester, Raby wrote about LSU's new Honors course on large language models, one of the first university courses in the country built around applied LLM systems. The class project he started that semester became FarmSmart, and later FarmMind.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":{"platform":"LinkedIn","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_lsu-artificialintelligence-llm-activity-7115017682298540032-eORS"},"links":[],"related":["farmsmart-founded"]},{"id":"CR-2023-003","slug":"aaea-academic-bowl-2023","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/aaea-academic-bowl-2023","title":"Add Another 'Ship to the Scholarship First Fleet! LSU Ag-Econ Trivia Team Wins National Competition","date":"2023-09-26","kind":"press","threads":["campus"],"summary":"Raby's LSU team wins the 2023 AAEA Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., the first of back-to-back national championships.","text":"Colin Raby's LSU team won the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association's 2023 Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., the national competition in agricultural and applied economics. A year later, with Raby as team captain, LSU would win it again.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"LSU College of Agriculture","url":"https://lsu.edu/agriculture/blog/2023-24/lsu-ag-econ-trivia-team-wins-national-competition.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["aaea-national-champions"]},{"id":"CR-2023-018","slug":"cap-intelligence-age-talks","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/cap-intelligence-age-talks","title":"Presents “The Intelligence Age” to community advisory panels across Louisiana","date":"2023-08","kind":"release","threads":["policy","service"],"summary":"In a series of talks to Community Advisory Panels across Louisiana, Colin Raby covers the history of disruptive technology and how local organizations can put AI to good use.","text":"From August 2023 through May 2024, Colin Raby traveled to Community Advisory Panel (CAP) meetings across Louisiana to present \"The Intelligence Age,\" a talk on the history of disruptive technological innovation and what it means for the communities living through the next one. Each talk closed on the practical question: how local organizations can use AI to their advantage.\n\nOn Nov. 15, 2023, Raby presented to the St. Charles Community Advisory Panel alongside teammates Cody Flurry and Jackson Joyce, on the recommendation of Henry Hays. They walked community leaders through how AI is reshaping industries and offered hands-on strategies for putting it to work, and the discussion carried on well after the talk.\n\nThe title was Raby's argument, which he also made in a letter to The Reveille in November 2023: the world is entering a fourth industrial revolution, the Intelligence Age. When OpenAI's Sam Altman published an essay under the same title in September 2024, Raby noted he had been making the case for more than a year.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/cap-intelligence-age-presenting.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LinkedIn: Igniting Innovation with AI, presentation to the St. Charles CAP (Nov. 2023)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_artificialintelligence-ai-innovation-activity-7131287393017462784-Au8x/"},{"label":"Instagram: Clips from the St. Charles CAP presentation (video)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzvQoEmu32S/"},{"label":"LinkedIn: On Sam Altman's \"The Intelligence Age\" (Sept. 2024)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_ai-intelligence-innovation-activity-7244351398643990529-Q4eL/"}],"related":["reveille-letter-ai-new-age","lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort"]},{"id":"CR-2023-014","slug":"lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/lsu-llm-course-inaugural-cohort","title":"Helps launch LSU's first course on building LLM applications","date":"2023-08","kind":"release","threads":["campus","farmmind","engineering"],"summary":"Joins the inaugural cohort of the LSU Honors course on large language model applications, the class where FarmSmart, now FarmMind, was built.","text":"In the fall of 2023, LSU's Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College launched one of the first university courses in the country on building applications with large language models: HNRS 3035, Large Language Model Development and Deployment for Real-World Applications. Raby was selected for its inaugural cohort, which learned about, researched and built LLM applications with tools that were only months old.\n\nHis team (Raby, Cody Flurry, Grant Muslow and Jackson Joyce, sponsored by Prof. Stephenson of the LSU AgCenter) built FarmSmart AI, which gives Louisiana farmers a personalized herbicide-management plan for their crop and field based on the weeds growing in it. It was the beginning of the company now called FarmMind.\n\nThe semester closed with LSU's first AI Showcase at the LSU Foundation, where the teams presented to leaders from IBM, Shell, Our Lady of the Lake, LSU Health Sciences Center, the LSU AgCenter and LSU's Office of Research and Economic Development. WAFB covered the showcase and spoke with Raby:\n\n \"There's something that's been said multiple times throughout the class, which is that AI will not replace any jobs, but those using AI will. And it's really great to see how LSU is using the initiative to help prepare students to use this new technology.\"\n\nThe next semester, he returned to the course as its teaching assistant.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/lsu-ai-showcase-2023.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"WAFB: LSU leading the way in incorporating AI into classroom, as students showcase solutions","url":"https://www.wafb.com/2023/12/06/lsu-leading-way-incorporating-ai-into-classroom-students-showcase-solutions-healthcare-farming-research/"},{"label":"LinkedIn: Presenting at LSU's first AI Showcase (Dec. 2023)","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/colin-raby-6266a5191_ai-machinelearning-llm-ugcPost-7140864510751412224-YVES/"}],"related":["advancing-in-ai-post","farmsmart-founded","lsu-llm-teaching-assistant"]},{"id":"CR-2023-017","slug":"omicron-delta-kappa","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/omicron-delta-kappa","title":"Inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa","date":"2023","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus"],"summary":"Inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, and later serves as vice president of LSU's circle.","text":"Colin Raby was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), the National Leadership Honor Society, which recognizes students for exceptional impact and exemplary character. He went on to serve as vice president of LSU's circle, which brings campus leaders together to get more done for the university.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":["tiger-twelve"]},{"id":"CR-2023-016","slug":"laspace-gps-scholar","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/laspace-gps-scholar","title":"Named a LaSPACE Guided Pathways in STEM Scholar","date":"2023","kind":"milestone","threads":["engineering"],"summary":"The Louisiana Space Grant Consortium names Colin Raby a Guided Pathways in STEM (GPS) Scholar.","text":"Colin Raby was named a 2023 Guided Pathways in STEM (GPS) Scholar by LaSPACE, the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, which runs NASA's Space Grant program in the state. The scholarship supports Louisiana students on a path into science, technology, engineering and math.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":["nasa-marshall"]},{"id":"CR-2023-001","slug":"enercon-nuclear","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/enercon-nuclear","title":"Nuclear controls engineering at Enercon","date":"2023","kind":"milestone","threads":["engineering"],"summary":"Interns at Enercon on digital instrumentation-and-control upgrades for nuclear power plants.","text":"At Enercon, Raby worked on digital instrumentation and control upgrades and control-system replacement projects for nuclear power plants, designing control logic and running the testing that safety-critical systems demand.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2023-015","slug":"louisiana-volunteer-service-award","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/louisiana-volunteer-service-award","title":"Receives the Louisiana Volunteer Service Award","date":"2023","kind":"release","threads":["service"],"summary":"Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser presents Colin Raby the Louisiana Volunteer Service Award for his commitment to the state through volunteer service.","text":"Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser presented Colin Raby the Louisiana Volunteer Service Award \"in recognition and appreciation of your commitment to the State of Louisiana to make a difference through volunteer service.\"\n\nRaby's certificate is framed beside a second one from the same office, recognizing \"Let's Practice Empathy Everyday with 'No Fear with Jonathan'\" and The America, My Oyster Association as participants in Global Youth Service Day on April 29, 2023.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/louisiana-volunteer-service-award.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2023-011","slug":"reveille-campus-connections","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-campus-connections","title":"Campus Connections","date":"2023-02-28","kind":"press","threads":["campus"],"summary":"Launches Campus Connections, a weekly live show and podcast with LSU's leaders, thinkers, builders and change-makers.","text":"\"What starts here at LSU changes the world and builds the future.\" Raby launched Campus Connections to listen in on that work: conversations with the leaders, thinkers, builders and change-makers around campus, live on Saturdays and wherever podcasts are found.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159254/uncategorized/campus-connections/","format":"article","author":"Colin Raby"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["campus-connections-sg-interviews"]},{"id":"CR-2023-012","slug":"reveille-campaign-reforms","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-campaign-reforms","title":"Will campaign reforms open Student Government to all? First election season with new rules begins","date":"2023-02-09","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Drawing on his own 2022 presidential run, Raby lays out the problems the new campaign-finance rules were meant to fix.","text":"As Student Government's first election under new rules began (a $4,000 spending cap, a shorter season, two days of voting), The Reveille asked whether the reforms would level the playing field. Raby, a senator for the College of Engineering, said running for president in 2022 had given him \"a crash course in the flaws of the election system,\" from family-funded campaigns to tickets that spent \"absurd amounts of money on food to essentially just bribe voters.\"","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159418/news/will-campaign-reforms-open-student-government-to-all-first-election-season-with-new-rules-begins/","format":"article","author":"Claire Sullivan"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["rise-tigers-presidential-race","student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2023-010","slug":"reveille-campus-fruit-trees-feature","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-campus-fruit-trees-feature","title":"Pecan, figs and fruit: An LSU professor has been mapping every tree on campus for over a decade","date":"2023-01-06","kind":"press","threads":["campus"],"summary":"The Reveille's feature on LSU's campus trees opens with Raby, a fallen satsuma, and the bill he wrote to plant more.","text":"The story begins in the fall of 2021, with Raby on his way to a meeting and a satsuma fallen beside Coates Hall, one of the trees a 2015 Student Government initiative had planted. A year later he helped write the proposal to plant more, with money for their maintenance.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/160443/news/pecan-figs-and-fruit-an-lsu-professor-has-been-mapping-every-tree-on-campus-for-over-a-decade/","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["reveille-fruit-trees"]},{"id":"CR-2022-006","slug":"reveille-fruit-trees","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-fruit-trees","title":"Student Government passes bill to plant more fruit trees around LSU's campus","date":"2022-12-02","kind":"press","threads":["campus"],"summary":"Raby's bill to plant 50 fruit trees across campus, with money set aside to maintain them, passes the Senate 42-1-1.","text":"Student Government passed a bill, co-authored by Raby, to plant 50 fruit trees around LSU's campus, 42-1-1. An earlier 2015 initiative had planted satsumas without funding their upkeep; after the 2018 freeze and a pandemic without maintenance, only a dozen or so survived. This time the bill paid for care, too.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/157663/news/student-government-passes-bill-to-plant-more-fruit-trees-around-lsus-campus/","format":"article","author":"Claire Theriot"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["reveille-campus-fruit-trees-feature","student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2022-007","slug":"reveille-sg-sponsorship-ethics","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-sg-sponsorship-ethics","title":"Student senators concerned about SG president's sponsorship, potential conflict of interests","date":"2022-10-30","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"One of two senators to speak on the record, Raby questions a student body president holding a corporate sponsorship and argues the office should be paid enough not to need one.","text":"When the student body president took on a sponsorship deal with Samsung, The Reveille spoke to ten Student Government senators; Raby was one of two willing to be named.\n\nEven if it was technically allowed, he said, it wasn't a precedent the Senate should endorse: \"It raises the question of who are you serving.\" He and Graduate School Sen. Adam Dohrenwend made the constructive case too: that the student body president should be allocated enough money not to have to worry about personal finances in the first place.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156790/news/student-senators-concerned-about-sg-presidents-sponsorship-potential-conflict-of-interests/","format":"article","author":"John Buzbee"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["student-senate","rise-tigers-presidential-race"]},{"id":"CR-2022-003","slug":"hurricane-ian-relief","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/hurricane-ian-relief","title":"Air Force service organization contributes to hurricane relief in Fort Myers, Florida","date":"2022-10","kind":"press","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"The Reveille covers the LSU service organization's Hurricane Ian relief trip to Fort Myers, which Raby helped organize.","text":"After Hurricane Ian struck southwest Florida, Raby helped organize an LSU service organization's relief trip to Fort Myers. He served that year as Region IX President of Silver Wings, the national service organization affiliated with Air Force ROTC.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156566/news/air-force-service-organization-contributes-to-hurricane-relief-in-fort-myers-florida/","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2022-008","slug":"reveille-sg-fy2023-budget","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-sg-fy2023-budget","title":"SG passes budget for 2023 fiscal year, members break down contents, discuss allocations","date":"2022-10-03","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"As budget chair, Raby steers Student Government's $127,694 budget for fiscal 2023 through the Senate, 40-2-4, including new money to promote elections neutrally.","text":"The Student Senate passed Student Government's fiscal 2023 budget of $127,694 across the executive, legislative and judicial branches, with 40 in favor, two against and four abstaining.\n\nRaby, chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, explained how it was built: \"things that we're forced to do because of the code, things that historically we've done that have worked, and then what the current needs are.\" One new line followed from that year's election reforms: $1,000 for the Election Board to promote elections with neutral signs around campus: \"outreach saying, 'hey there's an election' that doesn't have a ticket's name right on it.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/reveille-sg-fy2023-budget.jpg","source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156850/news/sg-passes-budget-for-2023-fiscal-year-members-break-down-contents-discuss-allocations/","format":"article","author":"Corbin Ross"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["sg-budget-chair","reveille-sg-financial-dashboard"]},{"id":"CR-2022-014","slug":"silver-wings-region-ix-president","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/silver-wings-region-ix-president","title":"After helping revive LSU's Silver Wings chapter, represents Region IX as its president at the national executive board","date":"2022-09-21","kind":"release","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"Months after helping reactivate LSU's Silver Wings chapter, dormant since COVID, Raby is elected Region IX president and presents the State of the Region to national leadership at the Air Force Association's conference.","text":"Colin Raby represented Region IX of Silver Wings, which covers Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, as its region president at the organization's national executive board meetings, held with the Arnold Air Society alongside the Air Force Association's Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Sept. 19–21, 2022.\n\nBefore the board, Raby presented the State of the Region: where its chapters stood, and the plan to rebuild those hit hardest by COVID. He also met national and Air Force leaders and helped set strategy for the organization's future.\n\nSilver Wings is a national, co-ed professional organization dedicated to developing proactive, knowledgeable civic leaders through community service and education about national defense, working in partnership with the Arnold Air Society.\n\nThe role followed a rebuild at home. LSU's Silver Wings chapter, once honored as a best student organization, had gone dormant during COVID. Raby helped bring it back, and the chapter was reactivated in spring 2022 under the leadership of Cort Fuller. That fall, as region president, he set out to stay in contact with every active chapter in the region, alongside their Arnold Air Society counterparts, and to reactivate the chapters that COVID had cost.\n\nWeeks later, he helped organize the LSU chapter's relief trip to Fort Myers, Fla., after Hurricane Ian.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/silver-wings-state-of-the-region.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: Representing Region IX at the national executive boards (Oct. 2022)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CjwQYM_OWmT/"}],"related":["hurricane-ian-relief","tiger-twelve"]},{"id":"CR-2022-013","slug":"nasa-internship-reflection","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/nasa-internship-reflection","title":"Looking back on a summer at NASA Marshall","date":"2022-09-17","kind":"post","threads":["engineering","policy"],"summary":"Control-room work, ISS command-system training and a seat on NASA Headquarters' intern roundtable on agency strategy: Raby reflects on his Marshall internship.","text":"At the top of every hill, I get a better view of the mountain ahead.\n\nDuring this summer's internship as a NASA Systems Engineering and Project Management intern at Marshall Space Flight Center (HP27), I was able to work on interesting projects and get to know great people — fellow interns and civil servants. A huge thanks to the entire HP team for a stellar example of effective leadership in a technical environment.\n\nI was honored to be the only undergraduate intern from Marshall selected to serve on the NASA Headquarters Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) Intern Roundtable, with interns from NASA centers around the country, considering issues pertinent to the agency's long-term strategy.\n\nMy projects focused on renovating a configurable control room with the capabilities future NASA missions will need; learning command systems to create training materials for future civil servants, while looking for areas of improvement; and researching technologies to integrate with the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC), supporting its projects, process development and technology integration.\n\nSeeing how many people it takes on the ground to support our missions in space gives you a fresh perspective on what operational excellence requires. I also had the chance to train on the job in the control room with a Payload Operations Director, learning from the cadre how to solve real-time off-nominal issues aboard the ISS after studying them in Space Ops Academy.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/nasa-internship-reflection.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CinP5AUO-UK/"},"links":[],"related":["nasa-marshall","nasa-internship-begins","nasa-internship-midpoint"]},{"id":"CR-2022-009","slug":"reveille-sg-finances-explained","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-sg-finances-explained","title":"Student Government members, adviser explain finances ahead of Senate budget vote","date":"2022-09-15","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Ahead of the budget vote, Raby walks students through where Student Government's money comes from and how the Senate decides where it goes.","text":"As Student Government built its budget for the coming fiscal year, Raby, chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, explained the money to students: it comes from the $2.20 student activities fee on each fall and spring fee bill and a $1 initiative fee in the spring, about $124,787 that year. \"All of our funding is contingent on how many students we have and how many students pay their fee bills,\" he said.\n\nHe laid out how the process works: the Senate has the final say on how money is divided between the branches, and the budget needs a two-thirds vote to pass. Working with executive-branch finance director Byron Hansley, he built the budget the Senate passed two weeks later.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/157222/news/student-government-members-adviser-explain-finances-ahead-of-senate-budget-vote/","format":"article","author":"Corbin Ross"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["reveille-sg-fy2023-budget","sg-budget-chair"]},{"id":"CR-2022-005","slug":"sg-budget-chair","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/sg-budget-chair","title":"Chairs Student Government's Budget and Appropriations Committee","date":"2022-09","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Leads the Senate committee that allocates Student Government's budget for two years, fall 2022 through spring 2024.","text":"After serving as vice chair, Raby chaired the Student Senate's Budget and Appropriations Committee from fall 2022 through spring 2024. He opened his first year with a bill letting the committee fund student needs over the summer, explained to The Reveille how Student Government is funded (the student activities fee and the initiative fee) and steered the 2023 fiscal-year budget through the Senate.\n\nThe work led to one of his signature projects as chair: a public financial dashboard, launched in fall 2023, so students could see how their fees were spent.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"The Reveille: Student Government holds first meeting of fall 2022 semester","url":"https://lsureveille.com/157232/news/student-government-holds-first-meeting-of-fall-2022-semester-introduces-new-position/"}],"related":["reveille-sg-finances-explained","reveille-sg-fy2023-budget","student-senate","reveille-sg-financial-dashboard"]},{"id":"CR-2022-012","slug":"nasa-internship-midpoint","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/nasa-internship-midpoint","title":"Halfway through the NASA internship, from ISS town halls to control rooms","date":"2022-07-01","kind":"post","threads":["engineering"],"summary":"At the midpoint of his Marshall internship, Raby writes on ISS command and communications work, and the visit to NASA Glenn that first drew him to space.","text":"From ISS town halls to control rooms to offices, it has been great to meet and work with so many excellent people through the first half of my internship at NASA Marshall. It has been fascinating to learn about and begin creating materials that synthesize some of the ISS command and communications systems, to help develop an operational plan to optimize facility capabilities, and much more.\n\nI have long been fascinated with space operations and the technology that enabled the exploration of humanity's final frontier. That interest was solidified years ago during a public open house at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio, which showcased the spinoff inventions — from Velcro to materials to the components in our phones and computers — that began with NASA. It was one of the first times I realized the impact of NASA's quest to push the limits of human exploration. Once an interest, now an opportunity.\n\nAs we approach the Fourth of July, we should celebrate the trailblazing spirit NASA has come to embody, and that our country's investment in it has paid back far beyond what anyone imagined at its creation 64 years ago. Ad astra, per aspera — through adversity, to the stars.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/nasa-internship-midpoint.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CffwshRtbNQ/"},"links":[],"related":["nasa-marshall","nasa-internship-begins","nasa-internship-reflection"]},{"id":"CR-2022-001","slug":"nasa-marshall","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/nasa-marshall","title":"Systems engineering at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center","date":"2022","kind":"release","threads":["engineering"],"summary":"Joins NASA Marshall as a systems engineering and project management intern, supporting the ISS program at the HOSC and the creation of the Artemis III command and control room.","text":"Colin Raby joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as a systems engineering and project management intern.\n\nAt Marshall he supported the International Space Station program at the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) and the creation of the command and control room for Artemis III, an introduction to how very large, very high-stakes technical programs are actually run.\n\nThe summer cemented an engineering habit that carries through his later work: decompose the problem, define the interfaces, test everything.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/nasa-internship-begins.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":["nasa-internship-begins","nasa-internship-midpoint","nasa-internship-reflection"]},{"id":"CR-2022-011","slug":"nasa-internship-begins","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/nasa-internship-begins","title":"Starts a summer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center","date":"2022-06-14","kind":"post","threads":["engineering"],"summary":"\"Not because they are easy, but because they are hard\": Raby begins as a systems engineering and project management intern in Marshall's Payload and Mission Operations Division.","text":"\"We choose to go to the Moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.\" — John F. Kennedy\n\nWhile I may not be going to the Moon (yet), this summer I have the distinct honor to work with the agency that got us there the first time and is working hard to take us there again — while sustaining current space operations and building the next great leap for mankind, to Mars. It is an honor and a privilege to be working as a NASA Systems Engineering and Project Management Intern (HP27) at the Marshall Space Flight Center this summer, where I will be working with systems that operate missions including the ISS, SLS and other NASA small satellites.\n\nI am excited for this role, \"not because it is easy,\" but because of the opportunity to learn from and contribute to the work of brilliant civil servants and contractors who are instrumental in pushing the boundaries of human ability — to be among those NASA has selected, as the manager of the Payload and Mission Operations Division put it, to \"invest in to shape the next generation of leaders, especially in space operations and scientific innovation.\"\n\nSignificant advancement rarely comes without exceptional work, and I look forward to the challenging environment NASA will provide. Ad astra per aspera.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/nasa-internship-begins.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cezd331u6OC/"},"links":[],"related":["nasa-marshall","nasa-internship-midpoint","nasa-internship-reflection"]},{"id":"CR-2022-010","slug":"cows-memorial-tower-museum","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/cows-memorial-tower-museum","title":"Opening the LSU Military Museum in Memorial Tower","date":"2022-04-11","kind":"post","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"After three years of work with the Cadets of the Ole War Skule, LSU's restored Memorial Tower reopens as home to the university's military museum.","text":"It has been an honor and a privilege to work with the Cadets of the Ole War Skule over the past three years as we completed the renovation and grand opening of the LSU Memorial Tower Military Museum. The extensive preparation culminated in a phenomenal opening ceremony that highlighted both the past and present impact of LSU's military heritage.\n\nAt the tower's original dedication in 1926, American Legion Commander John J. McQuigg spoke of \"peace through preparedness.\" That remark is the charge of our university and the responsibility of all its students: to prepare to make a positive impact wherever life after LSU leads, to refute needless violence and division, and to prepare an improved path for all who follow.\n\nThe story of the military told by Memorial Tower is the story of LSU — the story of the Long Purple Line. It is here not only to inform us of our past, but to remind us of our responsibility to the work happening in the present.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/cows-memorial-tower-museum.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CcORfX5ufM2/"},"links":[{"label":"The American Legion: Tower ceremony revives spirit of LSU's 'Ole War Skule'","url":"https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/newsletters/2022/april/tower-ceremony-revives-spirit-of-lsus-ole-war-skule"},{"label":"The William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/brookshire-museum/index.php"}],"related":["cows-lsu-salutes-2021","cows-lsu-salutes-2023"]},{"id":"CR-2022-004","slug":"rise-tigers-presidential-race","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/rise-tigers-presidential-race","title":"Rise Tigers ticket enters presidential race seeking to unite campus, end partisanship","date":"2022-02-15","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"Runs for LSU Student Government president on the Rise Tigers ticket with Georgia Peck, promising to end partisanship in SG and to deliver on its promises.","text":"As a junior, Raby ran for Student Government president with broadcast journalism sophomore Georgia Peck as his running mate, on a ticket called Rise Tigers. The pair announced in January 2022 with a promise to end partisanship in SG and to follow through: \"Ideas are good, but making ideas happen is way better.\"\n\nThe campaign took them through debates on Title IX, transparency and minority issues. Rise Tigers was eliminated in the first round with 437 votes, in a close race won by EVOLVE.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156397/news/rise-tigers-ticket-enters-presidential-race-seeking-to-unite-campus-end-partisanship/","format":"article","author":"Corbin Ross"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"The Reveille: Four campaigns speak on Title IX, SG transparency at 2022 SG debate","url":"https://lsureveille.com/155812/news/four-campaigns-speak-on-title-ix-student-government-transparency-at-2022-sg-debate/"},{"label":"The Reveille: SG spring elections take place Wednesday: How to vote and what's on the ballot","url":"https://lsureveille.com/155761/news/sg-spring-elections-take-place-wednesday-how-to-vote-and-whats-on-the-ballot/"},{"label":"The Reveille: Student Government candidates participate in minority issues debate","url":"https://lsureveille.com/155871/news/student-government-candidates-participate-in-minority-issues-debate-ahead-of-election/"},{"label":"The Reveille: In close race, EVOLVE wins spring 2022 Student Government campaign","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156079/news/in-close-race-evolve-wins-spring-2022-student-government-campaign-most-senate-seats/"}],"related":["reveille-campaign-reforms","student-senate"]},{"id":"CR-2021-003","slug":"cows-lsu-salutes-2021","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/cows-lsu-salutes-2021","title":"Honoring veterans at LSU Salutes with the Cadets of the Ole War Skule","date":"2021-11-15","kind":"post","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"After helping plan and run LSU Salutes week, Raby reflects on the Hall of Honor inductees and the veterans of LSU's \"long purple line.\"","text":"We all owe an incalculable debt to those who built and sustained much of the world we get to live in. The contribution of our veterans, who dedicated a portion of their lives to the protection of our nation, is worthy of particular honor. This is why this past Salute's Weekend the LSU Cadets of the Ole War Skule honored this year's Hall of Honor inductees and all veterans who have walked along the long purple line of LSU's rich military history.\n\nI am glad to have been a part of the planning and operation of the LSU Salutes events, and to see the impact they had on our accomplished honorees. One theme ran through the addresses of our distinguished speakers, from Rep. Steve Scalise to Sen. John Kennedy to LSU President William F. Tate IV: while America and LSU are not perfect, they are certainly good, worth defending, worth protecting — and it is our imperative to keep improving our communities through service, in whatever form it may individually take.\n\nThank you to our veterans, and God bless America.\n\nFrom the end of the long purple line, looking forward to the open field ahead.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/cows-lsu-salutes-2021.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CWUOyd-NU3_/"},"links":[],"related":["cows-memorial-tower-museum","cows-lsu-salutes-2023"]},{"id":"CR-2021-002","slug":"reveille-tigers-civilized-politics","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/reveille-tigers-civilized-politics","title":"See how LSU students identify politically and how some are fighting polarization on campus","date":"2021-11-03","kind":"press","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"As executive chairman of Tigers for Civilized Politics, Raby makes the case for civil discourse over winning arguments.","text":"Raby was executive chairman of Tigers for Civilized Politics, a student club working against polarization by giving students of every view a place to talk. \"As long as people are learning things that maybe they hadn't considered and hearing other people's point of views, I think that's a win for everyone involved,\" he told The Reveille.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"The Reveille","url":"https://lsureveille.com/206957/news/see-how-lsu-students-identify-politically-and-how-some-are-fighting-polarization-on-campus/","format":"article","author":"Maddie Scott & Bella Dardano"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2021-006","slug":"governors-fellow-concludes","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/governors-fellow-concludes","title":"Completes the 2021 Louisiana Governor's Fellows program","date":"2021-08-08","kind":"post","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Cabinet meetings, strategy sessions, travel across the state and a proposal to the Governor: Raby looks back on the 2021 fellowship.","text":"This week concluded the 2021 Louisiana Governor's Fellows program. It was a distinct opportunity and honor to have been one of this year's Fellows, serving with Louisiana Economic Development.\n\nThe program ranged from working with the accomplished team at LED, to going behind the scenes at cabinet meetings and strategy sessions, to traveling across the state to learn the history and current affairs of Louisiana, to developing a policy proposal and presenting it to the Governor and his cabinet, to witnessing historic action in the legislature — and to forming great relationships with our impressive fellow Fellows. It has been an exceptional experience to be part of the work done every day for the betterment of Louisiana.\n\nThank you to the Office of the Governor, Chief of Staff Mark Cooper, Zac Lemoine, Chancely D. and the team at LED for an incredible opportunity that became an outstanding experience.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/governors-fellow-concludes.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSVpbwbgSV9/"},"links":[],"related":["governors-fellow","governors-fellow-begins","governors-fellow-policy-proposal"]},{"id":"CR-2021-005","slug":"governors-fellow-policy-proposal","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/governors-fellow-policy-proposal","title":"Presents a solar-farming policy proposal to Gov. Edwards and his cabinet","date":"2021-08-07","kind":"post","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Raby presents a proposal to Gov. John Bel Edwards, his chief of staff and cabinet members: solar farming as an engine of rural economic development.","text":"It is always a good week when you can quote The Art of War in a presentation to the Governor. It was a distinct honor to present a policy proposal to, and answer questions from, our Governor, his Chief of Staff and members of his cabinet last week.\n\nMy closing statement summarized the goal of the proposal:\n\n \"Opportunities multiply as they are seized, and embracing solar farming is an opportunity with multiplicative positive implications for rural economic development. It is imperative Louisiana actively pursue this opportunity.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/governors-fellow-policy-proposal.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSTD9l5g5qP/"},"links":[],"related":["governors-fellow","governors-fellow-begins","governors-fellow-concludes"]},{"id":"CR-2021-008","slug":"governor-fellow-friday","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/governor-fellow-friday","title":"Welcome back to #FellowFriday! Today, we're meeting LSU students Colin Raby & Kaitryana Leinbach","date":"2021-07-09","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"The Office of Gov. John Bel Edwards features Raby in its #FellowFriday series on the 2021 Governor's Fellows.","text":"\"Welcome back to FellowFriday! Today, we're meeting LSU students Colin Raby & Kaitryana Leinbach. Kaitryana is working with the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness this summer and Colin is working with Louisiana Economic Development.\"\n\nThe governor's office introduced each of the 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellows on its official Facebook page through the summer.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"Office of the Governor of Louisiana","url":"https://www.facebook.com/LouisianaGov/posts/welcome-back-to-fellowfriday-today-were-meeting-lsu-students-colin-raby-kaitryan/2561572367471338/","format":"release"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["governors-fellow","klfy-governors-fellows-2021"]},{"id":"CR-2021-004","slug":"governors-fellow-begins","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/governors-fellow-begins","title":"Begins as a Lamar Governor's Fellow at Louisiana Economic Development","date":"2021-06-12","kind":"post","threads":["policy"],"summary":"After the first week of the 2021 fellowship: cabinet-level meetings, a class at the Governor's Mansion and policy work at Louisiana Economic Development.","text":"\"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.\" That line from former President Bill Clinton came up from one of the speakers at our orientation for this year's Lamar Governor's Fellows Program, and my confidence in it has grown each day.\n\nIt is a distinct honor to have been chosen as one of this year's Lamar Governor's Fellows, serving with Louisiana Economic Development. Already, the chance to go behind the scenes, see public policy in action and learn the history and current affairs of Louisiana government has been both enjoyable and deeply insightful — sitting in on critical meetings, learning about cybersecurity in briefings with leaders from Air Force Global Strike Command, lunch with state legislators who work to build a stronger Louisiana, a class from First Lady Donna Edwards at the Governor's Mansion, a tour of the Old State Capitol, learning from the experts at LED and beginning to develop policy.\n\nThis summer I am excited to keep learning from those throughout the Governor's office, the team at LED and our other Fellows — and to serve our community by pursuing solutions that advance the great state of Louisiana.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/governors-fellow-seal.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCqbDYh4g1/"},"links":[],"related":["governors-fellow","governors-fellow-policy-proposal","governors-fellow-concludes"]},{"id":"CR-2021-007","slug":"klfy-governors-fellows-2021","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/klfy-governors-fellows-2021","title":"14 college students selected for 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellowship Program in La Government","date":"2021-06-07","kind":"press","threads":["policy"],"summary":"KLFY reports Gov. Edwards' announcement of the 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellows, with Raby placed at Louisiana Economic Development.","text":"KLFY covered Gov. John Bel Edwards' announcement of the 14 college students chosen for the fourth annual Lamar Governor's Fellowship Program in Louisiana Government, listing each fellow's placement: Colin Raby with Louisiana Economic Development.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":{"outlet":"KLFY","url":"https://www.klfy.com/louisiana/14-college-students-selected-for-2021-lamar-governors-fellowship-program-in-la-government/","format":"article","author":"Abigail Jones"},"post":null,"links":[],"related":["governors-fellow","governor-fellow-friday"]},{"id":"CR-2021-001","slug":"governors-fellow","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/governors-fellow","title":"Louisiana Governor's Fellow","date":"2021-06-07","kind":"release","threads":["policy"],"summary":"Selected for the 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellowship in the Office of Gov. John Bel Edwards, placed with Louisiana Economic Development. It was a first look at how policy is made from the inside.","text":"Raby was selected for the 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellowship Program in Louisiana Government, announced by Gov. John Bel Edwards on June 7, 2021. Fellows serve in state agencies for the summer; Raby was placed with Louisiana Economic Development.\n\nIt was his first view of policymaking from the inside, and the start of the policy thread that would later lead to Capitol Hill.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/governors-fellow-seal.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Office of the Governor: Gov. Edwards Welcomes Students Selected for the 2021 Lamar Governor's Fellowship","url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20220627072905/https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/3172"}],"related":["governors-fellow-begins","governors-fellow-policy-proposal","governors-fellow-concludes"]},{"id":"CR-2020-002","slug":"homecoming-court","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/homecoming-court","title":"Elected to Homecoming Court (Part 1)","date":"2020-10","kind":"release","threads":["campus"],"summary":"As a sophomore, selected as one of 14 students on LSU's 2020 Homecoming Court, in the first Homecoming of the pandemic.","text":"Colin Raby, then a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, was selected as one of 14 students on the 2020 LSU Homecoming Court.\n\nIt was a Homecoming shaped by COVID-19. The court met on Zoom, campaigned online, and gathered in person only once: a court luncheon at The Club at Union Square on Oct. 24, before LSU hosted South Carolina in Tiger Stadium. In place of the traditional field presentation, each member of the court was showcased at halftime.\n\nThree years later, he would return as a member of the Senior Court.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/homecoming-portrait.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"LSU: AI Meets Public Policy (\"twice on the Homecoming Court\")","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/blog/2024/08/26-raby-ai-congress.php"}],"related":["homecoming-court-2023"]},{"id":"CR-2020-003","slug":"student-senate","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/student-senate","title":"Elected to the LSU Student Senate","date":"2020","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus","policy"],"summary":"As a sophomore, elected to LSU's Student Senate for the College of Engineering, a seat he would hold for four years.","text":"Raby was elected to LSU's Student Senate as a sophomore, representing the College of Engineering, and served through his senior year (re-elected in fall 2022) while working as a Residential Assistant.\n\nOver those years The Reveille followed his work in the Senate: from a run for speaker pro tempore in his first semester, to budget fights, a public financial dashboard, election-code reform, and a 2024 bill that held election results until pending complaints were resolved.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"The Reveille: LSU Student Senate elects new speaker and speaker pro tempore (Nov. 2020)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/208822/news/lsu-student-senate-elects-new-speaker-and-speaker-pro-tempore/"},{"label":"The Reveille: International Student Association welcomes students back (Sept. 2021)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/207433/news/international-student-association-welcomes-students-back-please-consider-this-place-your-home-away-from-home/"},{"label":"The Reveille: SG leaders sit down with President Tate and Provost Lee (Oct. 2021)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/207011/news/we-come-to-lsu-to-be-students-first-sg-leaders-sit-down-with-president-tate-and-provost-lee/"},{"label":"The Reveille: An in-depth look into President Tate's cybersecurity and military initiative (Apr. 2022)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156029/news/an-in-depth-look-into-president-tates-cybersecurity-and-military-initiative/"},{"label":"The Reveille: SG seeks to improve communication, connections on campus (Aug. 2022)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/157275/news/important-for-students-to-know-sg-seeks-to-improve-communication-connections-on-campus/"},{"label":"The Reveille: SG passes resolution for $20 an hour minimum wage (Oct. 2022)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156760/news/we-still-care-about-this-issue-sg-passes-resolution-for-20-an-hour-minimum-wage/"},{"label":"The Reveille: SG fall election, re-elected for the College of Engineering (Oct. 2022)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/156915/news/sg-fall-election-sees-1600-votes-new-seats-awarded-both-referendums-fail/"},{"label":"The Reveille: Innovate becomes LSU's first all-female presidential administration (Apr. 2023)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/158998/news/innovate-becomes-lsus-first-all-female-presidential-administration-pending-verification/"},{"label":"The Reveille: Student Senate proposes motions honoring Robert Mann, increasing SG association fee (Oct. 2023)","url":"https://lsureveille.com/159744/news/student-senate-proposes-motions-honoring-robert-mann-increasing-sg-association-fee-and-more/"}],"related":["sg-budget-chair","rise-tigers-presidential-race","reveille-sg-financial-dashboard","reveille-sg-election-code","reveille-sg-sponsorship-ethics"]},{"id":"CR-2020-001","slug":"ruck-march-for-veterans","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/ruck-march-for-veterans","title":"The Greatest Salute: LSU ME Freshman Marches 323 Miles for Veterans","date":"2020-02-27","kind":"press","threads":["service","campus"],"summary":"LSU Engineering profiles Raby's 323-mile ruck march to honor veterans.","text":"As a freshman, Raby marched 323 miles under a loaded ruck to honor veterans, a project LSU's College of Engineering called \"the greatest salute.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/ruck-march-2020.jpg","source":{"outlet":"LSU College of Engineering","url":"https://www.lsu.edu/eng/news/2020/02/rabyruckmarch.php","format":"article"},"post":null,"links":[{"label":"BRProud: LSU freshman and friends trek 323 miles to raise awareness for veterans","url":"https://www.louisianafirstnews.com/news/lsu-freshman-and-friends-trek-323-miles-to-raise-awareness-for-veterans/"}],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2019-002","slug":"begins-at-lsu","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/begins-at-lsu","title":"Begins at LSU in mechanical engineering and the Honors College","date":"2019-08","kind":"milestone","threads":["campus","engineering"],"summary":"Enrolls in the LSU Ogden Honors College to study mechanical engineering, later adding minors in aerospace engineering and economics.","text":"Raby enrolled at Louisiana State University in the Ogden Honors College to study mechanical engineering, adding minors in aerospace engineering and economics. The combination of how machines work, how flight works and how markets work would show up in everything that followed.","pinned":false,"image":null,"source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":[]},{"id":"CR-2019-004","slug":"eagle-scout-convention-post","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/eagle-scout-convention-post","title":"Accepts Eagle Scout of the Year at the American Legion state convention","date":"2019-06-12","kind":"post","threads":["service"],"summary":"From the American Legion's Department of Louisiana convention in Alexandria: thanks for Boys State, the Oratorical contest, veterans' oral histories, and on to nationals.","text":"Blessed and honored that the Louisiana American Legion selected me the Eagle Scout of the Year for the State of Louisiana! I greatly enjoyed the presentation at the State Convention in Alexandria and appreciated the opportunity to speak to everyone in attendance.\n\nFrom Boys State, to the Oratorical competition, to interviewing veterans for the Library of Congress, to the Eagle Scout of the Year contest — thank you very much to the American Legion for the many opportunities you have provided. One step closer; now on to the national competition.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/eagle-scout-convention.jpg","source":null,"post":{"platform":"Instagram","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/ByodDH6gOtR/"},"links":[],"related":["eagle-scout-of-the-year"]},{"id":"CR-2019-001","slug":"eagle-scout-of-the-year","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/eagle-scout-of-the-year","title":"Named Louisiana's Eagle Scout of the Year","date":"2019-06-02","kind":"release","threads":["service"],"summary":"The American Legion Department of Louisiana names Colin Raby its Eagle Scout of the Year; the Louisiana House of Representatives commends him in House Resolution No. 264.","text":"Colin Raby was named Eagle Scout of the Year by the American Legion Department of Louisiana, the state's highest recognition for a Scout who pairs rank advancement with service to community and country. He accepted the award and spoke at the Legion's state convention in Alexandria, advancing to the national competition.\n\nThe Louisiana House of Representatives marked the honor with House Resolution No. 264 of the 2019 Regular Session, \"to commend Colin Raby on being named Eagle Scout of the Year.\"\n\nRaby also holds the Order of the Arrow's Vigil Honor, Scouting's highest recognition for service. That fall he began his studies at Louisiana State University.","pinned":true,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/eagle-scout.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"House Resolution No. 264 (2019)","url":"https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1141516"},{"label":"Instagram: Accepting the award at the state convention (June 2019)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/ByodDH6gOtR/"}],"related":["eagle-scout-convention-post"]},{"id":"CR-2019-003","slug":"patrick-henry-award","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/patrick-henry-award","title":"Awarded the Bronze Patrick Henry Medallion for Patriotic Achievement","date":"2018-09-23","kind":"release","threads":["service"],"summary":"At his Eagle Court of Honor, the Military Order of the World Wars' Baton Rouge chapter presents Colin Raby its Bronze Patrick Henry Medallion for leadership, coaching and teaching.","text":"At Colin Raby's Eagle Court of Honor on Sept. 23, 2018, the LTG Troy H. Middleton Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars in Baton Rouge presented him its Bronze Patrick Henry Medallion for patriotic achievement. The chapter joined the Istrouma Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, his family and fellow Scouts in recognizing his achievement as an Eagle Scout.\n\nThe citation recognizes him \"for his exceptional skills and abilities in leadership, coaching, teaching, facing challenges, and moving forward to positive and productive ends.\"\n\nThe chapter's letter traced the record behind it:\n\n- Assistant Senior Patrol Leader in his first troop, in Cleveland, Ohio, and then a leader and coach for Scouts in Troop 50 at University Methodist Church in Baton Rouge.\n- His Eagle Project: a challenging orienteering course at Highland Park in Baton Rouge.\n- Training Scouts and their leaders at Avondale Scout Reservation and in the Order of the Arrow lodge.\n- At the multi-state Youth Leadership Conference at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., he stood out as a team leader, problem analyst and program designer, and was invited back to help staff the follow-up conference hosted by the Baton Rouge chapter.\n- The National Honor Society, and the American Legion's Boys State, where he was elected governor.\n\nThe letter placed him in the tradition of leaders sought by Gen. John J. \"Blackjack\" Pershing, founder of the Pershing Rifles, and closed by wishing him \"God speed as he sallies forth from University Lab School to greater challenges.\"","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/patrick-henry-medallion.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":["eagle-scout-of-the-year","eagle-scout-convention-post","camporee-most-outstanding-troop"]},{"id":"CR-2018-001","slug":"camporee-most-outstanding-troop","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/camporee-most-outstanding-troop","title":"Leads Troop 50 to Most Outstanding Troop at the Sewell-Eagle District Camporee","date":"2018","kind":"release","threads":["service"],"summary":"As Senior Patrol Leader, Raby leads Baton Rouge's Troop 50 to Most Outstanding Troop at the spring 2018 camporee, winning a record number of individual events for a single troop.","text":"In the spring of 2018, Colin Raby led Troop 50 of University Methodist Church in Baton Rouge as its Senior Patrol Leader (the Scout elected to run the troop) at the Sewell-Eagle District Boy Scouts Camporee.\n\nThe troop was named the camporee's Most Outstanding Troop, and won a record number of the individual events for a single troop.\n\nThat fall, the Military Order of the World Wars' Baton Rouge chapter would recognize his leadership and coaching of Troop 50's Scouts with its Bronze Patrick Henry Medallion.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/camporee-most-outstanding-troop.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[{"label":"Instagram: Great job Troop 50! (May 2018)","url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Biio5a8HQoG/"}],"related":["patrick-henry-award","eagle-scout-of-the-year"]},{"id":"CR-2015-001","slug":"survival-campout","url":"https://colinraby.com/record/survival-campout","title":"Pictured on a survival weekend campout","date":"2015","kind":"release","threads":["service"],"summary":"A Scout survival weekend in the woods, spent in a shelter built by hand from poles and tarps.","text":"Pictured on a survival weekend campout: a teepee-style shelter framed from poles cut in the woods and covered with tarps, and a torch to light the way after dark.","pinned":false,"image":"https://colinraby.com/media/survival-campout-torch.jpg","source":null,"post":null,"links":[],"related":["camporee-most-outstanding-troop"]}]}