Owen Emerson, of Huntsville, Alabama, is a senior at the University of Alabama where he is studying Economics. He is a guitarist and singer-songwriter who fuses Appalachian folk music techniques with modern pop and alt-rock styles. Noting the Ulster Scots influence on Appalachian music, he wants to become a documentarian and educator of Appalachian-Irish musical heritage. As an economist and marketing professional, Owen works with nonprofits in rural Alabama to create culture and tourism development programs for small local communities. He started internship programs to match University of Alabama students with rural Alabama nonprofits seeking volunteers and designed social media tourism campaigns for small Alabama towns with underemphasized civil rights history. His volunteer activities include working for a foodbank in West Alabama and helping at-risk Marion, Alabama high school students build strong college applications. Owen plans to combine music creation with cultural preservation to serve Appalachian East Tennessee–recording and performing neo-folk songs for a wider audience while simultaneously working as an educational programs manager with the Great Smoky Mountains National Heritage Center and other cultural nonprofits in Knoxville, Tennessee. He wants to be an ambassador of Irish-American folk music to the region's tens of millions of annual tourists. Owen will study Music & Media Technologies at Trinity College Dublin.