Underclassmen Giving Campaign: Impact Page

Summer 2009 Public Service
Funds from the Spring 2009 campaign allowed for four MIT students to travel abroad during the summer to do public service work. Here's what they did:
Brooke Jarrett ’10 and Adam Talsma ’10 (both Course 1) Brook and Adam each received Expedition Grants to travel to Ica, Peru, a region under reconstruction after a 2007 earthquake. They hosted a video and journalism workshop for youth to reveal community opinions to local government and aid organizations in a new way. They also presented their students’ work as part of a documentary on communication between reconstruction NGO’s and post-disaster communities. Watch video...»

Students film an Ica, Peru community member’s thoughts on post-earthquake recovery.		Brooke Jarrett interviews NGO employees about their post-earthquake aid and reconstruction efforts in Ica, Peru.

Liz Theurer ’11 (Course 2) Liz received an Expedition Grant to work with RECYCLA, an e-waste recycling company in Santiago, Chile. Liz researched the causes of the high costs of e-waste recycling. While in Germany for an internship, Liz visited several German recycling sites to look at factory layout and worker efficiency. She then travelled to Chile to use that knowledge to look at ways to optimize the workstations at RECYCLA and to increase their daily efficiency.

Liz Theurer measures the work bench to design worker stations for the new disassembly facility at RECYCLA Chile.		Liz Theurer poses with a RECYCLA Chile employee after interviewing him about what tool he uses when disassembling computers.
Paul Welle ’11 (Course 1) Paul received an Expedition Grant to travel to Haiti to assist the Independent Association for Human Values with the instruction and implementation of their Youth Leadership Training Program. The 35 youth participants developed their leadership skills via projects concentrating on communication, recycling, sexual education, and permaculture—a type of sustainable agriculture. The hope is that young Haitians will be able to take this knowledge and use their leadership skills to improve their communities.

Paul helped tutor Augustin in calculus during free time.		As part of the permaculture training, Haitian participants learn the importance of understanding soil composition when planting.

IAP 2009 Public Service
Funds from the 2008 fall campaign allowed for six MIT students to travel abroad during IAP to do public service work. Here's what they did:

Fernando Funakoshi, ’09 (Course 10) Fernando went to Qinghai, China with his D-Lab team to research the needs of the villagers and to work on development projects such as water testing and portable energy sources. They also saw integrated biogas systems and plan in the future to improve their design and to disseminate other useful technologies.		Mahalia Miller, ’09 (Course 1) Samantha O’Keefe, ’09, Course 1 Mahalia and Samantha (above) traveled to Chennai, India for a D-Lab water quality project and surveyed the economic and social needs of the people and local fisherman to learn about possibilities for future projects.

Rebecca Smith, ’09 (Course 2) Rebecca worked in a D-Lab team on the first field prototype of a water pump of The Full Belly Project’s design in Tanzania. She also showed villagers how to carbonize corn cobs to make charcoal, a source of cooking fuel and a potential source of income. The team also worked with children in Tanzania on various educational activities.		Kofi Taha, G (Course 11) Kofi and the rest of the D-Lab Ghana team had the opportunity to work with a variety of people to find simple, low-cost technological solutions to better water quality, more efficient agricultural techniques, and education that would improve the quality of life for people in rural villages. The team was able to forge long-term relationships with several community partners in Ghana to sustain a connection for future MIT student projects.

2008 Public Service
Funds from the Fall 2007 campaign and Spring 2008 campaign allowed for eight students to travel abroad to do public service work. Here's what they did:
IAP 2008
Miriam Huntley, ’10 (Course 3) traveled to Totonicapan, Guatemala, to create an educational resource website for Colegio Scientífico y Tecnológico “El Pedregal”, a local high school. Key aspects of the Web site will be incorporated into their curriculum.

Miriam and staffers at Totonicapán, Guatemala high school.		Students in the Computer Lab at El Pedregal .

Michael Hurley, ’10 (Course 3) engaged a variety of public health efforts in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania ranging from a pilot program to test the capability of a rapid strep A test in detecting rheumatic heart disease to a diabetes initiative with the Association of Private Hospital Facilities in Tanzania (APHFTA). At Mwanamyamala Hospital, Mike prepared and presented pilot program training materials to clinicians. He also aided APHFTA in developing forms that allow physicians to keep track of a diabetes patient and streamline the health data collection process.

Tanzanian dentist Daniel Maro (member of Health Care Ambassadors) checks an orphan's health.		Orphans, Mike Hurley, caretakers, Health Care Ambassadors members at the end of the day.
Other student public service projects during IAP 2008:
Vidya Ganapati, ’10 (Course 6) worked in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with The Global Child School to develop a year-long curriculum in organic agriculture for high-school-aged street children.
Jessica Schirmer, ’08 (Course 8) worked in Delhi and Jaipur, India, with the Jaipur Foot Organization to document prosthetic fabrication techniques and the process of fitting amputees. The organization provides mobility aids at no cost to impoverished individuals.
Meghana Limaye, ’08 (Course 20) worked with Maya Pedal, an NGO that produces bicycle-powered machines in Guatemala, to strategically assess their operating procedures. To make the office more efficient and effective, Meghana installed Internet access and taught staff members basic accounting and computer skills.

Summer 2008

Juan Diaz ’11 (Course 2) and Coco Agbeyibor ’11 (Course 6) traveled to Asuncion, Paraguay where they worked with a local NGO to teach middle and high school students about science and engineering opportunities. The experience did not end with Juan and Coco's return to the United States, where they worked remotely providing students the tools to accomplish such futures. They created a web site and other materials that included instructions for teachers on methods of teaching science in new and interesting ways, through experiments and fun activities.		Fatima Hussain ’11 (Course 1) traveled to Santa Ana, Ecuador to work on a potable water system. Fatima performed technical installations to the filter, leaving the system fully functional. While Fatima was in Santa Ana with other MIT students, Kendra Johnson and Cassie Liu, the community elected a new water board operator, who was fully trained. Fatima also held a small educational seminar series for the children on hygiene and bacteria.

2007 Public Service
Funds from the Fall 2006 campaign and Spring 2007 campaign allowed for 6 MIT students to travel abroad to do public service work. Here's what they did:
IAP 2007

Christopher Cleaver ’08 (Course 16) Mauritius is a small island and a developing state in the Indian Ocean, off the East coast of Madagascar. Chris' project was the School Footprinting Initiative, a three-year environmental education project which challenges students to measure and reduce the environmental impact of their school. Through an Expedition Grant and a Public Service Fellowship, Chris founded the project, obtained approval from the Government of Mauritius, gained the support of local universities and other organizations, and secured a promise of funding from Shell Mauritius Ltd. In addition he conducted a two-week pilot project with a 9th grade class in the Hindu Girls School, discussing Ecological Footprinting, data collection and reporting. The project is being launched in 8 schools in 2007, with an extension to 16 and 32 schools planned in 2008-09 respectively.		Xin He ’09 (Course 10) Xin He worked on a variety of appropriate technology projects in Ghanaian communities with other D-Lab students and a faculty member. In the rural village of New Longoro, one focus was on education. Xin and another team member trained local schoolteachers to operate the laptop they brought to donate, teaching from the basics of using a mouse to running the installed educational programs. But the learning and teaching was mutual; Xin was particularly inspired by the Ghanaian culture and the enthusiastic spirit of its people. The team also made plans with local community leaders for future projects to address the needs of the schools and to help "better prepare rural West African students for today's high-tech world."

Sophia Kamran ’08 (Course 7 and 10) Keron Lezama ’08 (Course 10) Sophia and Keron traveled to Hospital Rivadavia in Buenos Aires, to help the medical workers develop their HIV and sex education counseling services. While they assisted in improving information access for patients, they also improved their own understanding of public health issues in developing countries, learned about cultural issues related to sensitive subjects, and gained Spanish fluency.