Natalie Owings – Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity

August 12, 2021August 12, 2021

Dr. Aurelie Thiele: Conversations about Community and Resilience

On this episode of the Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Dr. Aurelie Thiele, Associate Professor in the Operations Research and Engineering Management (OREM) Department in the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, discusses growing up in France, the value of forming connections in the classroom, and the power of defining yourself as a resilient person.

Dr. Thiele’s research is on decision-making under high uncertainty with a focus on robust optimization, and one current topic of interest for her is robust revenue management with choice models. Her research has received the George E Nicholson prize, an IBM Faculty award, several National Science Foundation awards and a Lehigh Faculty Innovation Grant. Dr. Thiele also received a Research Grant from the SMU Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.

Dr. Thiele said, “American culture favors finding a silver lining in everything, so when something bad happens you are almost obligated to look for the sliver lining right away. Especially in times of pandemic, we also have to allow ourselves to grieve for what we’ve lost.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

The Hunt Institute Sages & Seekers Podcast shares the stories of innovative social leaders and the resilient communities that have shaped them. The series explores guests’ personal experiences with social issues ranging from inequity in the arts and school segregation to climate change and police violence. Through conversations with these agents of change, listeners gain insight into the history of these matters and discover how we as a global community can work to correct them. Follow us on SoundCloud at Hunt Sages & Seekers Podcast.

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.

August 12, 2021

Ana Rodriguez: Conversations about Community and Resilience

On this episode of the Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Ana Rodriguez, Managing Director of the Latino Leadership Initiative in the Cox School of Business, discusses representation and diversity at SMU, the importance of mentorship, food security, self-care and grit.

Rodriguez ’03 serves as the head of the Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI), the nation’s only executive education program dedicated to the professional advancement of Latinos. In this role, she helps students and executive-level employees from minority backgrounds transform their lives and careers. The program also helps more than 40 companies – like AT&T Communications, State Farm, and Walmart – retain and develop C-suite talent, so they don’t miss out on the market value and cultural perspective that Latino professionals bring to the workplace.

Rodriguez said, “Grit is a beautiful thing. I’m very thankful for what I’ve overcome because it helps me so much. I’m always the first to volunteer for things, the first to say, ‘I’ll do it! And I’ll execute it beautifully.’”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

August 6, 2021February 16, 2022

Summer Internship Experience: Sam Borton

Sam Borton, student at Southern Methodist University

Many of our student workers were able to spend this summer participating in various internships outside of the Hunt Institute. Students often return from these experiences with a fantastic arsenal of newly acquired skills, ideas, and perspectives. This summer, one of the undergraduate research analysts in the Institute, Sam Borton, was an intern at the Institute for Technology and Global Health (ITGH), a research hub under PathCheck Foundation. Sam shared the following about his experience:

Startling statistics often have a way of provoking people to take action. Even as early as elementary school, I was taught the effectiveness of using an “interesting fact” as an introductory sentence. In the process of searching for a research topic this summer, I was sent down an entirely different path after coming across one such statistic: developing countries lose about 45 million cubic meters of water daily, totaling a loss of over $3 billion per year. I knew that lack of access to water is a significant issue, but the fact that this much water was available but not reaching end consumers was surprising.

In the beginning of the internship, we had a week of courses about doing research in the public health and technology space. One concept that stuck with me was that of developing a theory of change before implementing a program. I learned that going through the process of identifying the series of causal links between implementation and the intended end result is important in both accounting for unintended consequences and clarifying the program’s focus.

Initially, my group’s research efforts were going to be focused on sanitation infrastructure. After further pursuing the idea of water loss, however, I discovered the concept of non-revenue water, which includes physical water leakages, unbilled and unmetered water consumption, and illegal connections. It seemed to me that a vital preliminary step in achieving better sanitation conditions is achieving sufficient access to water. Addressing non-revenue water not only increases water availability, but by properly collecting revenue, local water utilities have increased capacity to repair and expand the existing water infrastructure. Ultimately, my group’s summer research culminated with the completion of a working paper about performance-based contracts as a solution for reducing non-revenue water.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to meet and work alongside other students who are passionate about contributing to a more inclusive, sustainable world, similar to my great co-workers at the Hunt Institute. My experience at ITGH taught me about working towards a tight deadline, developing a research question, and even about the wonderful challenges of collaborating remotely across several time zones. I am very grateful for the experience, and I am excited to apply what I learned to my role at the Hunt Institute and beyond.