Rachel Levitt is graduated from Southern Methodist University with an MBA in the Cox School of Business studying marketing and management, with a specialization in customer engagement. She served as President of Net Impact and as an MBA Ambassador, and also has membership with Women in Business, the Jewish Business Club, and the Marketing Club.
Rachel has been recognized as a Forte Fellow and as a member of the Cox Dean’s Circle. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, and baking, specifically with Nutella.
Rachel says, “What drew me to working at the Hunt Institute was the opportunity to connect my studies at Cox with my passion for community involvement. One of the most fulfilling parts of my role as the Social Enterprise Program Lead is meeting so many like-minded individuals in the Dallas area who are committed to bettering our community and the world.”
At the Hunt Institute, Rachel was the Program Lead for the Social Enterprise Program where she works to address the key barriers faced by early stage social entrepreneurs, including capacity constraints and a need for strategic guidance, by connecting social entrepreneurs to critical resources. In addition to developing the program, Rachel contributes to the marketing strategy through the Hunt Institute Digest with weekly posts about key issues facing social entrepreneurs, highlighting social enterprises of note, or interviews of past and present members of the Hunt Institute Social Enterprise Cohorts.
After completing her MBA, Rachel has been working as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist at Mark Cuban Specialists.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
Cullen Blanchfield graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production with minors in Advertising and Arts Entrepreneurship. Cullen worked in the Hunt Institute as a the Undergraduate Creative Development Lead, functioning as the guardian of the Hunt Institute’s brand. He is an experienced film producer and has made dozens of videos for The Institute as well as various clients throughout Dallas and New York. Cullen has recently begun his career in the advertising industry.
Describing his motivation for working at the Institute, Cullen said, “I get to incorporate and build on my videography skills at the Hunt Institute through creating promotional videos for what we are working on with the Creative Team and the Institute as a whole. Being able to bring the Institute’s messages and events to life visually is crucial to spreading the word about who we are and what we are working on, and I’m very glad to be a part of that process.”
Cullen has been told that he sees things in people and in the world that others often overlook. As a filmmaker, he strives to create films that connect with the viewer both mentally and emotionally through his keen awareness of people. It is this ability that drives him to create impactful stories that can perhaps spark creativity and thoughtfulness from his viewers to create change. It is his goal to elevate stories through the unique opportunities video presents both conceptually and technically.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
Like billions of people around the world, workers at the Hunt Institute continue to adjust to the new normal of working and learning from home as part of social distancing. Despite physical separation, student leaders engage in new innovative methods to stay connected and increase impact. The Hunt Institute’s Gabi Gonzales, an Undergraduate Research Analyst at the Hunt Institute, channeled her at-home energy into creating new groups to stay in contact with friends, family, and peers miles away.
Gonzales and her brother stay positive and Pony Up when moving out of her dorm. Both attend SMU and, until now, have lived right across the Boulevard from each other
“I knew it was super important to me to continue to build a sense of community. Especially during social distancing, community is important to my friends as well,” Gonzales said. “This physical space we have created is good for our country and world, but it cannot also cause community and relationship distancing.” Health experts have repeatedly credited social distancing and enforcement of other self-isolation efforts with flattening the infection curve of COVID-19.
Gonzales was having dinner at home with family when her father made an off-hand comment about creating a socially distant book club. She used social media to create a poll gauging interest for the idea among friends and colleagues. In the end, Gonzales received more than enough support to launch her FaceTime book club.
“We ended up being a group of 15, some college students, some recent grads, spread across the county and world,” Gonzales said. “What we found after talking was not only did this book club allow us to build a community away from Dallas, it allowed us to connect to people we may have never met. And now have a common thread with them. Creating groups like this not only gives us the chance to foster old connections but create new ones as well – and that’s something we can always strive for!”
Seeing the success of her book club, Gonzales wants to expand the number of people she could virtually connect and introduce over a different shared interest. While on campus, Gonzales regularly attended group studio classes, pushing herself with an instructor’s guidance and connecting with friends in the process. Gonzales saw this staple feature of her morning routine as another opportunity to build community.
Gonzales and her mother supported local businesses together
“I’ve been leading small group yoga sessions with some of my usual workout buddies,” Gonzales said. Combining her drive to stay physically healthy with her understanding of the importance of mental health during this trying time, Gonzales finds the virtual classes as a fantastic way for participants to stay energized and engaged while working and learning from home. “Bringing in a little yoga time to shake off some of the stress of the news, stretch out the back that’s been hunched over the computer all day, and strengthening our social networks are good ways to make sure we stay healthy and positive as we make our communal adjustment to this temporary normal.”
With the spirit of community in mind, the Hunt Institute encourages everyone to stay positive by connecting to family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors during this time of social distancing. Gabi Gonzales is one of several student workers at The Institute supporting her community, and we celebrate her and her colleagues’ efforts to help their neighbors.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
The Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity and The Inclusive Economy Consortium (IEC) are excited to announce the creation of a Mighty Network and virtual Roundtable series dedicated to facilitating conversations with policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, and thought leaders about how technology can support and aid in the recovery for businesses most affected by COVID-19.
Starting Thursday with a Tech4Good Global Roundtable, the Institute and IEC will speak with participants about some of the questions our society is facing, transformational technology based solutions, and visions for the post-COVID-19 economic system. Roundtables will be hosted live on Thursdays, and questions can be submitted here before or during the event. After each Roundtable event, participants can utilize the Mighty Network to continue conversations fostered during the live meetings.
The first Tech4Good Global Roundtable will feature Dr. Eva Csaky, Executive Director of the Hunt Institute and Xiaochen Zhang, President of FinTech4Good. This Roundtable will focus on how fintech and financial innovations can play a role in assisting entrepreneurs and small businesses devastated by COVID-19, as well as outlining the objectives of future Roundtables. It will also discuss how crowdfunding, blended finance, smart philanthropy, and blockchain platforms can help these businesses be more resilient after this crisis.
If you would like more information on the Tech4Good Global Roundtable, or if you would like to sign up to participate, please click here.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) are comprised of a mixture of local soil, sand, water, and a stabilizer (such as cement) that is machine-compacted into a mold and allowed to cure for approximately one month. These blocks provide the structure of buildings as alternatives to bricks or other construction materials. The Better Building project researches CEB’s effectiveness as a low-cost and sustainable building material and investigate strategies for scaling CEB into a widespread building material.
SMU Civil Engineering Assistant Professor Dr. Brett Story leads a group of students in a pressure test of earthen bricks on Thursday, July 14, 2016 in the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building on the SMU campus in Dallas.
“Our society as a whole needs to leverage the forces of globalization, technological advancement, and climate change – what the UN calls ‘the three mega forces’ – for disruptive solutions to further inclusive sustainable economic development,” Director of the Hunt Institute Dr. Eva Csaky said. “We can reach this goal by harnessing the power of disruptive collaboration.” The CEB research partnership and collaboration between Dr. Brett Story and the Hunt Institute began in 2015. Dr. Story’s research for Phase I focused on the strength testing of CEBs under a variety of conditions including varying moisture levels, cement content, and soil type.
Phase II focused determining local soil characteristics for different types of soil found globally as a first step in standardization. Designing with CEB requires an understanding of the local soil conditions and how composition, moisture, and other variables interact and affect construction. This process is taught by Dwell Earth, an organization dedicated to spreading this knowledge through hands-on training workshops to share their efficient and intuitive building system. Founder, Adam De Jong, is an Affiliate in the Institute and has consistently provided his expertise to Dr. Story over the years as he expands his research now into Phase III.
Plans for Phase III will be to compare data pulled from three small-scale prototype structures built from insulated plywood, concrete masonry unit (CMU), and CEB. Duplicate prototypes will produce data to analyze from two locations, one set will be at the SMU @ Taos campus and the second set will be at the SMU’s main campus in Dallas, Texas.
Phase III’s objectives are to perform analyses and compare data from the test structures at both the Taos and Dallas campuses and investigate relationships between soil type and mix design, block strength, and thermal properties. This investigation will also include models developed by Dr. Story’s lab team, which includes Ph.D. students Jase Sitton and Robert Hillyard as well as undergraduate researchers Adriana Mena and Ziyu Sun. The Hunt Institute team includes an undergraduate project manager and the undergraduate researcher, Madison Rodriguez. This team will produce a report analyzing building requirements when using CEB in New Mexico which will inform the vision of a living laboratory in SMU @ Taos.
Dr. Story’s vision is, “…the end goal is to use the data obtained during this project to make recommendations for full-scale, more permanent structures than can be used by faculty and students at the SMU Taos campus. The information learned during this project will be used to start the design of a “living” laboratory, which would be a laboratory building constructed with CEB and instrumented with a variety of sensors. In this way, the structure is both the laboratory space as well as the test specimen.”
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
The EVIE project is entering its third phase in the Global Development Lab at the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity. Three years after its first public unveiling at Earth Day Texas in 2017, work on the mobile greenhouse has continued to push the boundaries of innovating a solution to Dallas’ fresh produce problem. The purpose of EVIE is to serve Dallas community members as a sustainable opportunity for fresh produce by encouraging their participation in the harvesting, maintaining, and general operations of a greenhouse.
EVIE’s name was derived from Eve, which is commonly associated with life and beginnings, appropriately matching the Institute’s goals for the project. In 2018, the Department of Agriculture identified 88 separate food deserts in Dallas County. Over half of the food deserts were in three southern portions of Dallas, encompassing close to 400,000 residents. EVIE is designed to be movable through areas lacking fresh produce and easily replicable to increase the availability of fresh produce across the food deserts. The first phase of EVIE focused on designing an easily replicable greenhouse model that could function in recycled environments, including an old, rickety Shasta trailer. In Phase II of the project, researchers from the Hunt Institute examined techniques that could facilitate irrigation, solar access, and temperature controls needed to maintain the greenhouse in any environment.
Plant Lab team lead Mitchell Dye works on the roof
Before Phase III could begin, the SMU Engineers Without Boards Plant Lab team gave EVIE a much-needed makeover. The roof had a leak. The makeover was completed right before spring break when the COVID-19 Global Pandemic hit the Unites States. Students are working remotely but unable to physically work on EVIE or in Labs as of June 2020. When they are able to return and resume work, Phase III of EVIE plans to make EVIE nearly autonomous to limit work and outside effort required to maintain the greenhouse. To achieve sustainability, EVIE will run off a solar panel to supply power for any water pumping or climate control measures. In addition, a rain collection system will provide irrigation to the individual planters. Through both of these additions to the current mobile greenhouse, EVIE will be able to provide fresh, healthy produce without requiring significant labor or effort on the part of community members.
The findings from this project hope to contribute to the agriculture value-chain development in rural and urban areas by promoting community involvement and educating local schools, food banks, and churches on environmentally sustainable, hydroponic, aeroponic, and vertical greenhouse growing methods.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
The Arabian Peninsula is typically not a top-tier destination for young, solo female travelers. But for the Hunt Institute’s Kelsey Shipman (SMU ‘20), spending part of her summer in several countries on the Peninsula provided unparalleled research opportunities.
Kelsey Shipman stands in front of the Al Alam Palace in Muscat, Oman where she conducted some of her research over the summer of 2019.
around the globe. Dividing her time between Muscat, Oman and Manama, Bahrain, she explored the intersection between female participation in the labor force and economic growth in those countries.
“One of the reasons why I chose these two countries in particular is they have released ‘grand policy plans,’” Shipman said. “Increasing female labor force participation is a huge part of those economic visions, and I was curious to see if we saw any change in female labor force participation in these two states with the introduction of these policies.”
“My goal is to investigate how we might be able to improve female labor force participation,” Shipman said. “And maybe isolate some of the factors that are contributing the most to this continuous low rate.”
Her trip to Bahrain and Oman was only the first phase of Shipman’s research project. The second phase, which is still ongoing, consists of analysis and drawing conclusions from the data she gathered over the summer. Shipman plans to return to both countries over spring break to meet with individuals who could provide guidance for this phase of her project.
A photograph of the Bahrain National Museum in Manama, Bahrain taken by Kelsey Shipman during her time researching abroad.
“I’ll be meeting with specific individuals who were not there over the summer,” Shipman said. “And meeting again with some of the people who I did have the chance to meet with, to talk through where I am in the project and get their feedback, given the information that I was able to find during my prior trip.”
As her project begins to wrap up, Shipman hopes to complete a final analysis by the time she walks at May graduation. Her report could provide valuable feedback to the governments of Bahrain and Oman on how they could continue to prioritize female labor participation.
“In my final product, I will be providing recommendations as to where the states could go from here, if female labor force participation is something they wish to prioritize as they have stated in these economic visions” Shipman said. “Policy analysis will be an important part of my final report. Even though these policies have not been in place for decades, I hope to see if we have noticed any distinct changes [in female labor force participation] since the policies’ introductions, and those kinds of conclusions will all be represented in this paper.”
Shipman says her experience in Bahrain and Oman helped her grow as a researcher by providing her with many opportunities to share her discoveries and conclusions with people who were completely unfamiliar with her work.
“Doing this independent project really strengthened my ability to articulate my project to individuals who might not be in academia whatsoever,” she said. “Even articulating the project to people who might not have any idea what the labor force participation rate is, or articulating it in a different language, and things like that. I think that that is something that will be continuously valuable for me throughout my career. I plan to pursue a PhD in Economics, and I know that the opportunity to pursue independent economics research abroad will prove to be valuable preparation for my future graduate studies.”
You can read more about Kelsey’s work at the Hunt Institute by clicking here.
The STEM Up project is entering its second phase in the Hunt Institute’s Global Development. STEM UP Phase I: Empowering Engineering for Rural STEM Access focused on place-based education specifically targeting rural schools that do not have the same support for STEM initiatives as some urban schools do.
Phase II Centered around helping students interested in computer science develop an understanding of basic engineering principles, the project hopes to transform the classroom into a digital learning environment by offering easily accessible resources and instructions. The average school education plan does not have the resources to provide these educational tools for their students resulting in the students lacking an important part of applicable school concepts. STEM Up aims to bridge the gap between school education and affordable additional practice for young students to help them find or pursue engineering.
Originally, the STEM Up project aimed to create an educational kit using Raspberry Pi, LAN devices, and low-price tablets. The kit targeted students 10 to 14 years old in rural areas. It is specifically geared toward computer science applications because of its practicality in industries such as software and civil engineering, business, and information technology.
Phase II of STEM Up is evolving. We are redesigning the kit to be tested by students in Tintinto Primary and Secondary School located in a village in the The Gambia, a Western country in Africa. It will incorporate an Intranet setup and display devices to create a low cost, portable computer lab which can adapt to the lack of stable electricity and broadband connection in rural areas like Tintinto. The kit will contain all of the materials of an introductory engineering education to inspire students to pursue new topics in their education. Teachers will be able to curate and preload materials, media, and interactive games to augment their curriculum as they introduce computers and their functions to students.
Due to the restrictions in response to COVID-19, plans to travel to the school and interact with both teachers and students to better understand their needs has been delayed. We continue to test the kits capabilities in hopes that once the pandemic is over, we can resume working with the school to develop STEM Up kits that meet their needs.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
The Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity’s project “Map 4 Good” has evolved into Map InDallas. This transition includes an interdisciplinary advisory committee representing a range of key stakeholders for the project. While the name of the project has changed, the goals remain the same. Map InDallas looks to connect individuals in need with free service providers in Dallas to increase the number of eligible individuals taking advantage of local services.
Studies have shown individuals who are eligible for free services may have certain barriers that prevent them from accessing opportunities. Possible barriers can be attributed to lack of information about available services, physical access to services, or even misconceptions or stereotypes about the services. The map created by Map InDallas will empower individuals to use the services available to them by providing them with tools and resources to seek out services they require.
In addition to providing a database about local free services, Map InDallas plans to include a feature allowing users to search and sort through each service based on their eligibility, location, and what free services they are looking for. Once a user has found a service they would like to use, the map will provide them with contact information including a phone number and email address for the free service to coordinate any appointments or meetings necessary, putting clients in direct contact with the free services they would like to use and allowing them to coordinate availability.
Map InDallas plans to release the map through three main mediums: an online version available on a website and smartphone application, printed maps available in community centers like libraries, and interactive kiosks. Hunt Institute partners will play a large role in the dissemination of the Map InDallas map once it has been complete. For organizations looking to participate in Map InDallas’ efforts, the Hunt Institute is still accepting partners and local service providers.
If you would like to support the Hunt Institute’s projects, including Map InDallas, please click here.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
Alboury Mohammed Njie speaks with a member of the Tintinto village in The Gambia about day to day life without electricity.
Many students at SMU return home during breaks, and the Hunt Institute’s Alboury Mohammed Njie is no exception. Like in years prior, Njie spent his winter break in The Gambia, where most of his family lives. However, Njie’s return to The Gambia was not just to catch up with family. Njie spent most of his time meeting with government officials, conversing with local villagers, and testing different methods to provide reliable electricity for his entire country.
In the fall of 2019, Njie won SMU’s Big Ideas competition for his idea to build a sustainable energy mix system in his home country of The Gambia. Since then, he was invited to be the first student social entrepreneur in the Hunt Institute. He then took his project to The Gambia to research how clean energy could be suited for the environment and to meet with locals in villages without any electrical connection in search of what would best suit their needs and lifestyle.
“I spent a lot of time going into the rural areas and the remote areas and meeting with those people,” Njie said. “Not just to hear from them, but also to help the rest of the world visualize what they’re going through.
More than half of the people in The Gambia, around 52%, have no access to electricity. The remaining 48% of Gambians have some unreliable access. For Njie, and Gambian officials, this is a reality that needs to change.
“There’s an ongoing problem in The Gambia with electricity,” Njie said. “There are a lot of different departments and ministries trying to solve this problem. I met with them, I heard what their goals were for the country, what their vision for the country is, and I share mine as well. They were very excited about this project.”
Njie attended high school in The Gambia before pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at SMU. He says he has the perspective of both worlds, understanding the resources of the high school he attended, which is one of the few schools electrified in The Gambia, and seeing students at other institutions with a very different academic experience.
The local secondary school in Tintinto, which has no electrical connection, indoor lights, or computers.
“There’s a huge technical lag, even within The Gambia,” Njie said. “There’s a lot of things kids wouldn’t necessarily be able to learn, just because they don’t have electricity. There are certain times of the day that they won’t be able to study because when it gets dark: that’s it, everybody has to go home.”
The benefits of providing sustainable, clean energy electricity for the entire country is monumental, reaching beyond just schools. Countless rural villages, like the one Njie visited, spend most of their day concerned with gathering enough firewood to cook food. Many villagers make a miles-long journey, even in rain or scorching heat, to collect the firewood.
Villagers in Tintinto make the long journey back to the village carrying firewood on their heads
“They walked to a certain area where they usually get firewood and the sad part about that is that it’s almost empty,” Njie said. “There’s no more wood, no more vegetation over there. You could already see the trend that in a couple of months or a year’s time they will probably have to move to another location for firewood alone.”
With a new semester beginning, Njie is optimistic and excited about applying what he learned in The Gambia from meetings, conversations, and exploration of solutions to the issues his project plans to address. If you would like to support The Gambia Clean Energy Project most recently named the Janta Energy Project, click here.
To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.
