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        INNOVATION CHRONICLE
           
October 2019
"The Blum Center 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
F E A T U R E S
                            
               

In Salute and Celebration of Women Social Entrepreneurs 
Faculty Director Shankar Sastry notes that October was an exceptionally good month for Blum Center-affiliated women social entrepreneurs. 

Dr. Bertram Lubin to Mentor Cal Students and Focus on the Social Determinants of Health
The former CEO, president, and research director of Children's Hospital Oakland will serve as senior health advisor for the College of Engineering and the Blum Center.  

Development Engineering Course Deploys Diversity and Design Thinking
How does one bring a social impact idea from conception to reality? Forty-four STEM graduate students taking DEVENG C200: Design, Evaluate, and Scale Development Technologies are finding out.  

Redefining Secondary School Education in Ghana
Vicentia Gyau and Abraham Martey, graduates of the Global Poverty & Practice program, are forging ahead with a nonprofit that redefines public education in Ghana through financial and career supports for both students and parents.

   

Mentoring and Marveling at Founders
There are few people as committed to judging the Big Ideas Contest as Jill Finlayson, director of the Women in Technology Initiative at CITRIS.

Empowering Women of Color in Medical Technology
Big Ideas Winner Maria Artunduaga sees racial and gender bias as a motivation to diversify the medical and technology fields, especially in Silicon Valley.

Echolocation Technology that Empowers the Blind
The Sonic Eyewear Project, enabling blind or visually impaired people to use echolocation to navigate their surroundings, originated during a deployment in Baghdad.

Blum Center Panel at SF Collaborative Against Human Trafficking
Evidence continues to mount that artificial intelligence and machine learning can help prevent child exploitation and combat human trafficking.
I N   T H E   N E W S

Blum Center Education Director Honored for Robotics
Mechanical Engineering Professor Alice Agogino had a busy month: She was named one of 30 women in robotics to watch for her company Squishy Robotics, which is developing rapidly deployable mobile sensing robots for disaster rescue, remote monitoring, and space exploration. Squishy Robotics also won the 2019 Silicon Valley TechPlanter competition, was selected by the Army as semi-finalist in the xTechSearch 3.0 Competition, and was featured in Emergent Enterprise and GCN ("Squishy Robots Give Responders Remote Insights"). 

Development Engineer Ryan Shelby Wins Sammie
Ryan Shelby (PhD Mechanical Engineering '13), a USAID Foreign Service Engineering Officer, was honored with a 2019 Service to America Medal for National Security and International Affairs ("Sammie"). In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti, affecting more than 2 million residents, killing 546 people, and causing an estimated $2 billion in damage. Shelby worked with his team to support reconstruction efforts, securing buy-in from local leaders; managing material shortages and preventing theft; investing in local contractors; and training locals to perform hurricane-resistant repairs. His work led to the rebuilding of nearly 5,000 homes and roofs in southern Haiti.

Aboubacar Komara Wins Sather Gate Award

Aboubacar Komara (BA Architecture '18), winner of a 2019 Big Ideas Award for Kaloum Bankhi, a low cost housing concept for two slums in his native Guinea, has been selected to receive the 2019 Sather Gate Young Volunteer Award. The awards are given annually to individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to serve the UC Berkeley community.

Pit Vidura Featured in Forbes

Pit Vidura (2018 & 2019 Big Ideas winner) was featured in Forbes for helping improve water and sanitation services in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda with support from UNICEF. Pit Vidura’s strategy includes a digital platform that enables SMS messaging for pit-to-road sanitation services. Since March 2019, Pit Vidura has helped provide safe sanitation emptying services to over 1,200 households in Kigali. 

E V E N T S

Innovations and Collaboration at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems: Toward Sustainability in the Middle East 
(Oct. 29, 5:30-8:30 pm PT  | 330 Blum Hall)           
Suleiman Halasah, founder of Integrated GREEN Solutions, an organization implementing projects on water, energy, and the environment in Jordan and the Middle East, will present on recent collaborative initiatives. He will be joined by Professor Isha Ray as discussant. 

The Chowdhury Center Distinguished Lecture for 2019 
(Nov. 9, 5:30-7:30 pm PT  | Sibley Auditorium) 
The Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies will host Dr. Shahidul Alam, photographer, writer, human rights activist, and Time magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year, for this year's distinguished lecture. Dr. Alam will be in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Geeta Anand
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