Shankar Sastry on a New Era of Global Development Training
Development professionals increasingly need STEM skills, such as the design and management of technology, knowledge of emerging technologies, and digital assessment techniques. But to educate the next generation of social impact professionals, STEM skills are not enough.
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A Course for Addressing Wicked Problems in the Bay Area
Student enthusiasm is high for the Development Engineering course Hacking4Local, which combines pedagogies in interdisciplinary project-based learning, human-centered design, the flipped classroom, and student team learning as well as input from a half dozen professors and instructors. The main assignment? Framing a problem to be solved.
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Learning from Failure: NextDrop’s Water Information Pilot in Bangalore
Professors Isha Ray of the Energy and Resources Group and Alison Post of the Political Science Department share their analysis of the effects of the UC Berkeley-incubated social enterprise NextDrop, which deployed a mobile phone intervention in Bangalore to alert households when to expect water supply.
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Tread Carefully: Education Technology’s Role in Developing Countries
At a recent Education Initiative for Development IdeaLab, students and alumni weighed in on the trends, the challenges, and the learnings for nonprofit edtech organizations working in low-income countries.
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How Universities Can Support Women-Led Entrepreneurship
"If more university-based programs follow the steps they've taken to support women entrepreneurs, they too can play an important role in addressing the gender disparities so evident in American entrepreneurism."
Published in Stanford Social Innovation Review by Phillip Denny, Big Ideas Director, and Rachel Dzombak, Blum Center Research Fellow
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Congratulations to 2019-2020 InFEWS Fellows!
The Blum Center's National Science Foundation-supported InFEWS (Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems) Fellows have been announced and are listed below with their advisors.
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Areidy Beltran | Dept. of Env. Science, Policy, and Management, Paolo D'Orico
Drew Cameron | School of Public Health, William Dow
Savannah Cox | College of Env. Design, Charisma Acey
Zack Dinh | College of Env. Design, Iryna Dronova
Elias Micah | Energy & Resources Group, Isha Ray
Casey Finnerty | Civil & Env. Research, Baoxia Mi
Taryn Fransen | Energy & Resources Group, Dan Kammen
Soliver Fusi | Civil and Env. Engineering, Kara Nelson
Adrian Hinkle | Civil and Env. Engineering, Kara Nelson
Bavisha Kalyan | Civil and Env. Engineering, Ashok Gadgil
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Sarah Lindbergh | College of Env. Design, Charisma Acey
Yakira Mirabito | Mechanical Engineering, Kosa Goucher
Esther Shears | Energy & Resources Group, Isha Ray
Sofia Steffens | College of Chemistry, Lisa Alvarez-Cohen
Jesse Strecker | Energy & Resources Group, Dan Kammen
Jaimie Swartz | Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Alexandra von Meier
Liya Weldegebriel | Civil and Env. Engineering, Sally Thompson
Shelby Witherby | Civil and Env. Engineering, Ashok Gadgil
Haley Wohlever | Mech. Engineering, Alice Agogino
Tamara Kerzhner | College of Env. Design, Dan Chatman
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Development Engineering Professor David Zilberman Wins 2019 Wolf Prize in Agriculture
"Dr. Zilberman's career presents a unique mixture of theoretical work, applied research and extension, and he is a leading protagonist in debates over water policy, environmental and resource policy in agriculture and the bioeconomy."
The Wolf Foundation
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Zapping Lead Pipes with Electricity Could Make Them Safer for Drinking Water
"It will take time to replace lead pipes, and Lobo thinks the new technology might offer a temporary stopgap to reduce contamination."
Published in Scientific American featuring Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Ashok Gadgil, Development Engineering faculty, and Gabriel Lobos, Big Ideas Winner.
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Development Engineering PhD. Julia Kramer Tapped for Global Health & Innovation Conference
Julia Kramer has been selected to deliver a Social Impact Pitch at the world's largest and leading global health and social entrepreneurship conference at Yale University.
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InFEWS Fellow Liya Weldegebriel Awarded Outstanding Student Presentation Award at American Geophysical Union Conference
At the AGU's Washington, DC conference, Liya Weldegebriel won for her presentation "What determines the success of soil and water conservation practices? A case study from the Tana and Beles sub-basins, Ethiopia."
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Yashraj Khaitan and Gram Power Team Recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 Clean Energy in Asia
Based in India, 2011 Big Ideas winner Gram Power develops smart grid technologies to prevent the distribution loss of electricity by installing smart meters, which can be connected to management software to monitor energy use and reduce electricity bills.
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Steph Speirs of Solstice Wins Big at the 2019 ELLE Impact Awards
Steph Speirs co-founded 2017 Big Ideas winner Solstice, and won both the Impact Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Banana Republic No Boundaries Award. Solstice radically expands access to clean energy across the U.S. by providing community-based solar power to any type of household.
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Grand Prize Pitch Day
April 24 | 5:00 pm PT | B100 Blum Hall, UC Berkeley
After months of developing their Big Ideas with mentors, selected student teams compete in the annual Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day for up to $5,000 in prizes. Teams will share their vision for social impact with a panel of esteemed judges.
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Big Ideas Awards Celebration
May 1 | 5:00 pm PT | B100 Blum Hall, UC Berkeley
The Awards Celebration brings together the entire Big Ideas community to mark the conclusion of the 2018-2019 contest. Winning teams will be formally recognized and there will be opportunities for judges, mentors, industry professionals, and students to network, engage, and learn about the myriad resources available to advance your social ventures.
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"The Blum Center for Developing Economies may well be the finest program of its kind in the world. It turns out legions of young graduates who are well prepared with expertise, humility, purpose, and a pragmatic optimism for combating poverty in the US and globally."
Jimmy Carter
Former US President and Blum Center Honorary Trustee
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