Category: Alumni

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STEM Up Phase II Goes to Tintinto, The Gambia

STEM Up Phase II Goes to Tintinto, The Gambia

Phase II of STEM Up continues to evolve, featuring a Wi-Fi-generating computer cart to be used in combination with the solar power being produced at Tintinto Primary and Secondary School in The Gambia. Wilkie Stevenson, an alumnus of SMU Lyle School of Engineering, spent the majority of his college employment as an Undergraduate Research Analyst for the Hunt Institute where he worked on various projects, such as STEM Up, that are designed to support rural access to digital education in communities around the world. Early on in Mohammed Njie’s project research for Illuminating Tintinto, he and Wilkie began to discuss the potential of their two projects collaborating, with STEM Up going to The Gambia to be tested.

September 24, 2021, we welcomed a multi-disciplinary and multi-national audience for a demonstration of the STEM Up Phase II prototype on its way to The Gambia to be beta tested. Joining us for the demonstration was Haddijatou Lamin Njie, an International Development Expert with over 25 years of working with government, multilateral organizations, and international non-government organizations (NGOs) in The Gambia.

Ms. Lamin Njie responded to the demo with, “For me, this prototype opens doors. It is a huge entry point with so much possibility to build on and contextualize.” Considering Ms. Lamin Njie’s proven track record of leading and evaluating development programs, her words offered humbling confirmation that the STEM Up Phase II project is on the right track towards making an impact.

Wilkie graduated in 2020 amidst the global pandemic. After graduation, he continued to work on the STEM Up concept, designing a unit that will broadcast digital educational resources over Wi-Fi. Using the solar power produced at Tintinto Primary and Secondary School, the theory is to utilize low-cost and low-power servers, along with refurbished laptops, to outfit a computer lab. The Wi-Fi generated by the computer cart can also be used by other devices in addition to the supplied computers. With no internet connection in Tintinto, the STEM Up team decided to create a unique solution. Instead of attempting to provide internet to remote schools, they took the approach of downloading vast amounts of open source educational media and creating a static, offline version of the internet. This allows for a variety of educational media and digital materials to be accessible by any device connected to the open WiFi network, without internet connection. With years of pre downloaded educational media, this system will not only bridge the digital divide but will also teach computer literacy so that communities are prepared to take full advantage of the internet once they are connected. Open source materials include Wikipedia, Khan Academy, Crash Course, and Ted Talks, along with open-source K-12 educational resources. In addition, the hard drive contains the entire Project Gutenberg (one million books), WikiEM, and much more.

This redesign is the essence of STEM Up Phase II. It is essentially a computer cart functioning as a starter kit for a computer lab. The school was designed with a computer lab, but it has sat empty since its completion. The teachers and students in Tintinto Primary and Secondary School have agreed to beta test the concept and provide invaluable feedback. The goal is for teachers to be able to curate and preload materials, media, and interactive games to augment their curriculum, as they introduce computers and digital learning materials to the classroom experience.

According to Statista, “The lack of digital skills concerns a large share of the African population. In 2019, the adoption rate of digital skills stood at only 10 percent in Mozambique and 23 percent in Côte d’Ivoire, meaning that most of the people were not able to use digital devices and applications, nor access the internet.” Rural areas in Africa are lagging behind the development of urban areas due to many factors, with a major one being infrastructure which dramatically affects the level of education that teachers are able to provide their students. In recent years, the development community has started identifying the Global North vs. the Global South based on indicators like access to education and technology.  In The Gambia, a West African country surrounded by Senegal, just 48% of people have moderate, yet sometimes unreliable, access to electricity (typically in urban areas) and the remaining 52% have no access (typically remote rural areas). Solar energy and distributed generation are transforming rural communities. Organizations like Barefoot College and Janta, Mohammed’s social enterprise, seek to mitigate this lag with distributed generation that individuals and communities own. With this research, we hope to take it one step further and add access to a computer lab for rural schools.

Mohammed and Wilkie plan to travel to Tintinto village to train the teachers on the computers and to test the system’s tolerance for the conditions at the school. Risk management is an important piece of the project design, with factors such as dust, heat, moisture, and environmental conditions being considered. Technical limitations like battery life and hours of daylight for recharging after school are all variables that are also being considered in the planning stage.

Stay tuned to the Hunt Institute Digest to watch this project unfold.

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.

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Julianna Bond, Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort Intrapreneur

Julianna Bond, Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort Intrapreneur

Julianna Bond joins the Hunt Institute’s Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort as an Intrapreneur. Her focus is on enabling the enablers: how can consulting firms use their unique position—straddling organizations, industries, and sectors—to accelerate innovation and amplify social impact? Consultancies are already experts in fostering partnerships, disseminating knowledge, coordinating efforts, elevating solutions, and catalyzing change. Within these firms are consultants with the desire to leverage their collective knowledge and skills to tackle environmental and societal challenges. Julianna’s project will develop a replicable framework for empowering consultants to serve their local communities and champion sustainability.

Julianna is a Data & Analytics Consultant for Slalom Consulting and has experience across a dozen industries and functions, serving in data visualization, business analysis, project management, change management, and data strategy roles. Internal to Slalom, she is passionate about building bridges across capabilities and driving social, environmental, and community stewardship. In her previous firm, Sendero, Julianna co-founded the internal Diversity & Inclusion Committee focused on recruiting, cultivating, and celebrating diverse talent; she also played a critical role in coordinating pro-bono consulting projects.

In service of the community, Julianna has served as the board chair and development committee chair for Kids-U, a non-profit providing tutoring and holistic care for at-risk youths in low-income apartment communities. She is currently a partner at Social Venture Partners Dallas and is an alumna of their Dana Juett Residency program designed to help young professionals become philanthropic leaders. During this program, Julianna led a non-profit consulting, capacity-building project for The Educator Collective and was the winner of a fast-pitch competition on the non-profit’s behalf.

Julianna’s passion for social impact began during her undergraduate studies at Southern Methodist University, where she graduated with degrees in Political Science, Management, and a minor in Chinese. Beyond campus life, she ran a 3-year long Big iDeas & Engaged Learning Fellowship project focused on food insecurity and sustainable micro-agriculture for urban environments, resulting in setting up an aquaponics garden at Jubilee Park Community Center in Fair Park. When she returned to SMU for her Master of Science in Business Analytics, she worked with the Hunt Institute to support research for the Collective Action for an Inclusive Sustainable Economy model and corporate stakeholder interviews. Her favorite quote by Frances Hesselbein is, “Carry a big basket. In other words, be open to new ideas, different partners, and new practices, and have a willingness to dump out the old and irrelevant to make room for new approaches.”

When asked what her motivation is as a social intrapreneur, Bond answered, “I live to help people realize their greatest potential and inspire us, collectively, to be better and do better. This starts with building deep, meaningful relationships based in genuine care and understanding of individual needs, motives, and struggles. Mutual understanding is the foundation for fruitful partnerships and cultural change.”

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.

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Women Artisans and the Case for Handicrafts

The Case for Homemade by Silvia Rivera '18, SMU and Hunt Institute Alumni

As more and more social entrepreneurs show up in industry, both non-profit and for-profit, there is increasing overlap between the initiatives of the Social Enterprise and the Global Development Lab. While this integration will be a primary focus for the Hunt Institute in 2021, the overlap between entrepreneurship and innovation has been evident in past Institute projects, too, such as a report on the international handicrafts industry by Silvia Rivera ’18.

Rivera moved with her family from Chiapas, Mexico as a child. With this perspective, she has always been passionate about breaking down complex issues to empower underrepresented individuals. During her college journey at SMU, Rivera was immersed in exploring handicrafts and artisanal goods. She soon joined the Hunt Institute as an undergraduate researcher mentored by the Executive Director Dr. Eva Csaky. At the end of her senior year, Rivera’s findings lead her to conclude that handicrafts, “have a significant potential for social impact, both in terms of the income they generate and the cultural traditions they help preserve.”

Her research questions searched for a connection point to link local artisans with the global supply chain. Shortly before completing her work at SMU, Rivera journeyed to Washington D.C. for The Creative Economy Matters conference, which had a lasting impact on her. She produced a report titled “The Case for Handmade,” exploring the global artisan sector, its potential for impact, and both the challenges and opportunities involved in realizing this potential.

Foundational to inclusive economic development is the IE Model for entrepreneurs, corporations, and enablers developed by Dr. Csaky (see Applied IE Model below).

Applied Inclusive Economy Model, Dr. Eva Csaky
Model by Dr. Eva Csaky, Executive Director of the Hunter & Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity

This model led Rivera to search for the multi-stakeholders, global forces, and the opportunity for inclusive growth to local economies. The abstract of her report states, “From the definition of artisanal activity, to its importance for poverty alleviation, to the various challenges and opportunities faced by artisans, businesses, and other sector stakeholders, this report concludes with a brief case-study of the DFW market for artisanal goods, attempting to put to the test ideas set forth herein on the global artisan sector and the key opportunities that may point the way forward.”

According to Rivera’s report, handicrafts are an essential source of secondary income. About 80% of artisans are women globally, and the handicraft industry was worth $32 billion in 2018. Because it is not capital intensive, the barriers to entry are low. Typically speaking, women reinvest 90% of earnings into their family and train other women, passing down their skills and knowledge. Her research found that these women were quite resourceful, using existing resources and materials to enhance the uniqueness of their handicrafts.

Rivera says, “But the potential for impact doesn’t stop there, like I mentioned earlier there are other cultural aspects to handmade goods that make them more than the sum of their parts, and part of that is that often that they are made by marginalized ethnic minorities using (again often but not always) traditionally environmentally friendly methods. This part of their potential needs more research and attention but does pop up in the literature.”

Women artisans help to support education, healthcare, and housing for themselves and their families. The industry serves as an important source of diversification, especially as climate change negatively affects rural agriculture. Challenges facing artisan women are well documented, country-specific, and difficult to overcome with a one-size-fits-all solution. Primary challenges include informality, aggregation, access to information, and access to finance. Finding opportunities to overcome these challenges is where the social impact space can help the most, investigating global connection points to consumer, entrepreneurial, and corporate trends for artisan groups.

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.

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Controlled Environment Agriculture Technologies

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After working at the Hunt Institute over the summer of 2017, Adrienn Santa decided to continue her research in controlled environment agriculture in an attempt to help address the issue of food deserts in urban areas like South Dallas. Adrienn grew up on a family farm in Hungary. She expressed her surprise when she discovered how difficult it was to find fresh food in urban areas and deep sadness at the reality of food deserts in one of the most prosperous countries in the world.

The video in this post explains her passion and vision for high-tech, small, urban greenhouses to help mitigate extreme climates in order to bring fresh fruits and vegetables closer to the consumer.

In the Fall of 2017, Adrienn recruited a team and together they began their senior design project monitoring Evie, the mobile greenhouse. As shown in the images, Evie was invited to the Science Place at the State Fair of Texas. Adrienn led her team as they installed sensors to read temperature and humidity in the small mobile greenhouse during the length of the State Fair.

Santa said, “My main goal is to be able to apply my educational and life experiences to this research and to contribute to finding a solution to this pressing global problem of food deserts found in low-income communities.”

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a technology-based food system used in large high-tech greenhouses for the purpose of controlling the temperature, humidity, airflow, and light in the building. With a greenhouse, the growing season can be expanded to be year-round if the inside conditions are controlled properly according to the requirements of the plants. With CEA, technology can assist the growers and reduce both the number of people and the amount of time needed to monitor and care for the plants. In the case of Evie, where the space available to grow is small, there are no low-cost solutions to grow food efficiently in small urban spaces as of the writing of this post. Combined with vertical gardening, technologies like hydroponics and grow lighting CEA can help to address food production issues anywhere from the most remote rural areas to urban areas.

The best possible orientation and structures of a greenhouse, heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and glazing as well as insulation materials are discussed in Adrienn’s report. Adrienn says, “Results show that the most efficient and sustainable technologies are currently more expensive initially than the other ones. Due to this fact, most of the time small urban farmers are not able to afford sustainable and energy-efficient technologies.”

The findings of her report Controlled Environment Agriculture Technologies, the team’s research, and their observations of Evie’s sensor readings were that Evie was too small for CEA technology. This led her to conclude that CEA technology needed to evolve in order for it to be useful and affordable for small-scale farming operations.

Adrienn Santa graduated SMU in 2018, and she married one of her teammates Osama and is now Adrienn Alolabi-Santa. She and her husband live in Austria where she is pursuing a Masters in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.

To read more about Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity’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 to the work, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

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Rachel Levitt ’21

Rachel Levitt

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.

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Cullen Blanchfield ’21

Cullen Blanchfield

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.

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Varsha Appaji ’21

Varsha Appaji

Varsha Appaji ’21 is a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Previously, Varsha worked as a Research Analyst in the Hunt Institute.

While Varsha studied at SMU, she found her passion at the place where her three majors intersected: critically evaluating the potential mechanisms that can help alleviate socioeconomic inequality. In the Hunt Institute, she worked as both Co-Lead of the Research Team and an Undergraduate Research Analyst on a project dedicated to analyzing what it takes for an inclusive economy to realistically and sustainably exist. Her work focused on optimizing a database of inclusive economics best practices to create a model of sustainable stakeholder collaboration. She co-authored a proposal for piloting a “Living Labs” model in Dallas geared toward decreasing inequity by improving public safety, sustainable housing, and entrepreneurship opportunities through technology. In addition, she initiated an effort for the Institute to analyze the policy impacts of IoTs, as well as the business case of emerging technologies.

Varsha also has great interest in the potential of emerging technologies. Through her research, she has discovered the vast impacts these technologies can make on agricultural production and access, green energy, emergency response systems, politics, privacy, and more, for better or for worse. Varsha is committed to furthering her study of the effects that technology can have on various aspects of human life. In the long run, she is motivated to one day shape policy that can ensure innovation is for the benefit of all humanity, serving to fill the gap between dominant and subaltern groups.

Varsha spoke about her connection when she worked in the Institute, “…our research is guided by a holistic scope. We look at intersections of industries and innovation so that we can address issues as a system versus as isolated situations. Rather than adding to the information-overload, we learn from established best practices and understand how we can implement their principles to make a realistic local impact.”

Varsha also spent her time at SMU as the Jack C. And Annette K. Vaughn undergraduate fellow of the Tower Center, actively involved in policy and international affairs research. Outside of her academic pursuits, Varsha is a South Indian classically trained singer and she regularly performs throughout the US, often alongside different world music ensembles.

Varsha graduated with a B.S. in Statistical Science, a B.A. in Public Policy, and a B.A. in Economics. She was recognized as an SMU Dean’s Scholar, Pre-Law Scholar, and Discovery Scholar.

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.

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Kelsey Shipman ’20

Kelsey Shipman

Kelsey Shipman graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.S. in Economics, Public Policy, and World Languages (Spanish and Arabic) with minors in Math, Computer Science, History, Human Rights, and Public Policy & International Affairs. She was also a member of the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom Reading Group, the Engaged Learning Advisory Committee, Honors Research Association, Delta Delta Delta Sorority, and previously affiliated with the SMU Student Senate and SMU Honor Council.

Kelsey has been recognized as a President’s Scholar, Tower Scholar, Richter Undergraduate Research Fellow, and Mayer Interdisciplinary Research Fellow, including membership in Phi Beta Kappa honor society and the Hyer Honor Society. At the Hunt Institute, she was an undergraduate Research Analyst lending her skills in research to several interdisciplinary projects.

After completing her undergraduate studies at SMU, Kelsey is currently working as a Senior Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Board.

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.

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Javier Destarac ’20

Javier Destarac
Javier A. Destarac graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.A. in Markets and Cultures. 
 
Javier was born in McAllen, Texas but grew up in Tyler, Texas to a multicultural family speaking Spanish at home and English in school. He enjoys learning from new cultures and helping others. Javier has experience in working in marketing over this past summer in his most recent internship, doing research in digital media at NYU. 
 
Javier worked with the communications team to develop and market Impact Nights as well as the marketing strategy of the Hunt Institute. In the future, he hopes to translate his work in the Hunt Institute to a career in Marketing while continuing to spread awareness for sustainability across all platforms. Javier also would like to continue his hobbies of playing tennis, playing the piano, volunteering.

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.

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Lillie Noe ’20, Hunt Institute Associate

Lillie Noe SMU Alumna

Lillie Noe ’20, joins the Hunt Institute as an Associate, bringing with her a passion for providing quality heath care and advocating for sustainable apparel.

Lillie Noe is a Program Manager for Professional Membership with the American Heart Association. She works with healthcare professionals advancing the AHA’s mission to improve cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality.

Lillie received her MBA in 2020 from SMU’s Cox School of Business, where she concentrated in Strategy. While at SMU, Lillie served as the Hunt Institute’s Program Manager for Social Enterprise, launching the Institute’s first cohort of social entrepreneurs.  She also led SMU’s chapter of Net Impact where she organized volunteer opportunities and speaking events to help MBA students use their skills on behalf of the Dallas community.

Before her MBA, Lillie worked in the apparel industry and had a particular interest in sustainable and local production. She worked for a bridal and evening gown designer manufacturer in Dallas and, as an MBA student, interned for Eileen Fisher, an industry leader in sustainable apparel. Lillie holds a B.A. in Plan II Honors and a B.S. in Textiles and Apparel from the University of Texas at Austin.

Lillie previously explained her interest in sustainable apparel, saying, “In my undergraduate studies, I was struck by the amount of environmental waste and human harm unleashed by the apparel industry as a matter of routine. I believe that we have to use business to promote more than just profit if we are to have an equitable and sustainable future.”

 

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.