GPP Student Stories - Blum Center

Appropriate Technology

Kara Nelson on Aspirational Technologies and the Sustainable Development Goals

Kara Nelson, a UC Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering, has dedicated her career to solving global water and sanitation challenges. By championing “aspirational technology” and interdisciplinary approaches, she develops innovative, sustainable solutions for low-resource settings while mentoring the next generation of development engineers tackling critical infrastructure and environmental crises.

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Big Ideas Winner Po Jui “Ray” Chiu, co-founder of BioInspira Inc., named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy category

In July 2014, a series of natural gas explosions ripped apart Kaohsiung, a Taiwanese city where Po Jui “Ray” Chiu, MEng ’14 (BIOE) had lived with relatives just a year before, while he was completing his compulsory military service.

accelerators

How Universities Can Support Women-Led Entrepreneurship

When Maria Artunduaga won a University of California award in 2017 for her team’s technology to manage pulmonary disease, she noted a critical factor in the victory: contest-organized mentorship from Jocelyn Brown with the Rice 360˚ Institute for Global Health.

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February 2019

Blum Center events

Tread Carefully: Education Technology’s Role in Developing Countries

Education technology (edtech) holds immense potential to improve global education access and quality. However, as explored in the Berkeley Education Initiative for Development panel, thoughtful implementation is critical. Panelists emphasized the need to integrate tech within local contexts, prioritize teaching over tools, and focus on human support systems to ensure edtech’s effectiveness in resource-poor settings.

Blum Center for Developing Economies

A Watershed Moment in Global Poverty Reduction

In 2018, the world saw over half its population join the middle class and a billion people rise out of extreme poverty since 2000. This milestone raises critical questions about sustaining progress in Asia and addressing concentrated poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, where targeted investments in education and health are deemed crucial for future growth.

Alice Agogino

“Imagining the Future Helps Us Engineer Toward that Future”: A Q&A with Will Tarpeh

Will Tarpeh, Stanford professor and UC Berkeley alum, discusses how Development Engineering shaped his work in ecological sanitation and resource recovery. Combining electrochemical engineering with fieldwork in Kenya, Tarpeh emphasizes iterative design and community engagement to address global sanitation challenges. He advocates for inclusivity and sustainability in STEM to create impactful solutions.

Blum Center publications

Siddharth Kara’s Garment Research Receives International Press Attention

Siddharth Kara’s report Tainted Garments documents the plight of Indian home-based garment workers earning as little as $0.13/hour. Over 99% lack minimum wages, with 42% starting as children. Research Fellow Siddharth Kara urges brands to improve transparency and worker rights to break cycles of poverty and exploitation.

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Big Ideas Innovation Ambassadors Nurturing Ideas into Enterprises

Since its founding in 2005 at UC Berkeley, Big Ideas has grown into one of the nation’s largest and most diverse student innovation competitions. Supporting early-stage social entrepreneurship, the contest offers mentorship, training, and resources. In 2017, Big Ideas launched the Innovation Ambassador program to expand accessibility across all ten UC campuses.

Tainted Garments

Siddharth Kara’s Tainted Garments: The Exploitation of Women and Girls in India’s Home-based Garment Sector provides the most thorough investigation to date into the conditions faced by women and girls working in India’s home-based garment sector. The report reveals that 85% of these workers, who predominantly serve U.S. and EU supply chains, earn just $0.15 per hour and belong to historically oppressed communities. Kara aims to inspire coordinated efforts among governments, companies, and nonprofits to address this pervasive exploitation.

Pursuing a Career in Engineering Co-Design: A Q&A with Ryan Shelby

Ryan Shelby, a UC Berkeley PhD in Mechanical Engineering, applies co-design methodologies and engineering expertise as a USAID Foreign Service Officer in Haiti. Through the Build Back Safer II program, he’s repaired 4,000 roofs, trained over 2,000 locals in hurricane-resistant construction, and advanced sustainable infrastructure to empower communities and enhance resilience.

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Maria Artunduaga’s Mission to Manage Chronic Lung Disease

On February 26, 2018, Maria Artunduaga had a breakthrough while discussing her wearable prototype for COPD patients with UCSF Professor Mehrdad Arjomandi. Hearing his frustration with costly, time-intensive testing methods for COPD, the third leading cause of U.S. deaths, she realized her innovation could revolutionize patient monitoring and care.

Graduate-Undergraduate Student Mentorships Grow

UC Berkeley’s Global Poverty & Practice minor and Development Engineering program exemplify Chancellor Christ’s strategic goals by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and addressing societal challenges. Projects like STEM workshops with the Pinoleville Pomo Nation and cervical cancer screening in Ghana showcase innovative solutions, mentorship, and experiential learning to advance equity and impactful global change.

Fletcher Lab CellScope Is Ready for Scaling

UC Berkeley Bioengineering Professor Dan Fletcher is advancing neglected tropical disease (NTD) treatment with the LoaScope, a smartphone-based microscope. The device enables rapid, low-cost diagnosis in remote areas, crucial for treating River Blindness safely in Loa loa-endemic regions. Scaling and funding remain the main challenges to broader implementation and impact.