It’s crazy to see how fast time has past by. I can’t believe that we’re about to enter into our final week of the internship and present our proposals to the Design Studio Managers and at the Engineering Showcase. Our team has worked so hard on our design ideas for the intubation box and contactless temperature monitor which I hope will be put to good use. (NO SPOILERS! WAIT FOR WEEK 6!)

Our week started off with a workshop on the, “Power of Imagination,” by Malawian entrepreneur Hastings Golosi. He shared with us the story of how he started his own computer repair company, film company, and even a program to mentor youth towards the path of entrepreneurship. While I was really impressed with his resume and professional journey, what stuck with me the most through his workshop was actively working towards our dreams and not waiting for the “perfect opportunity” or “whenever I feel ready.” As students who are constantly learning, I think we really underestimate our abilities and what we can accomplish. But, after Hastings’ workshop, I feel inspired to better myself and work towards my goals one step at a time. Change happens gradually through persistence, not simultaneously.

Another workshop that we had, “Engineering a New World,” by Ms. Faith Mzandu, Co-Founder of WomEng Malawi, touched upon the difficulties of being a women in STEM. As a male body who cannot understand the depth of her lived experiences, it was really eye-opening to learn about the unique challenges that women face in engineering and, in general, life. I hope that I can take this information to use my privilege and advocate on behalf of women (if they allow me and want me to!).  Moving forward, I will try my best to be open-minded and reflect upon how my behaviors may unintentionally come off as micro-aggressions or disheartening to my female counterparts on a team. I hope through honest conversations and listening, I am able to serve as a better ally, leader, and teammate.

Our last workshop of the week was on Career Paths! The main take-away that I received was that I can do a similar set of tasks/responsibilities across a variety of fields/disciplines. In my case, I started to think about type of physician I wanted to be: academic? research? primary care? engineer? entrepreneur? While I’m not sure at the moment, I hope that after medical school, I will have a better understanding of what I want to accomplish in my career and in life.

Best,

Austin

I can’t believe this is the end of the internship; these past six weeks really flew by. It feels just like yesterday that I was meeting my group for the first time. These past six weeks have been so amazing, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program this summer. I am so proud of the work that my team was able to do and our final presentation and pitch we did this past Wednesday and Thursday. If you had told me six weeks ago that as a group we were going to get to know each other so well and accomplish so much, I would have been doubtful, but this internship was surprising on all accounts. It has been a real joy getting to know and work with these amazing people, and I’ll never forget the fun we had on a daily basis. I’m really going to miss interacting with them on a daily basis.

This past week was a whirlwind as we prepared our final presentations to the design studios and our pitch to the stakeholders, donors, and others involved with Rice 360. We made our final decisions regarding our suggestions, thus narrowing down all the work we did during the past five weeks. This was difficult, as we knew we only had a limited time to present all of our work, but we were able to narrow it down to what we deemed the core elements and most important to our overall message. From there, we divvied out the work, Sana, to do the walk-through disinfection unit technical project video, I to do the hand sanitizer station technical project video, and Krystal and Mwayi to present our pitch on Thursday. I’ve included the links to our two technical-based project videos below. We decided that we all should be a part of the presentation to the design studio, because this was our opportunity to present what we all achieved together to the ones who had given us our project and provided invaluable insight along the way.

On Tuesday, Dr. Volz led a workshop focused on pitch presentations and question answering skills, which allowed us to modify and improve our presentation before the big day arrived! Her advice was so helpful, and it really helped us ensure that we presented our technology in a concise manner that made sure to bring focus to what we considered to be our main points. This added to both our confidence that we could do it within the time limit, with so much information to share, five minutes is a short time, and in a way such that those with limited prior knowledge on our technologies could understand the problem context and the reasoning behind our solution suggestions.

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to share all our work to the design studios. It was really great to hear all their positive feedback about what we had done, especially since they had a more significant background in the areas that we were researching, and it really helped get us in the mindset necessary to present the following day to a much larger audience.

Thursday was the last day of our technology work, and it was a great experience. Over 90 people joined virtually to hear from us about the work we had done. One of my favorite parts was the highlight video made by Alex, one of the TA’s, as it showed really how far we had come. Krystal and Mwayi did a fantastic job of presenting the walk-through decontamination unit, and we did a great job as a team with answering the Q&A. Through the Q&A experience, we were able to address the parts of our technology that may have been unclear, and we also got a lot of positive feedback. At the end of the day, my team was very happy with the work we had done, not just that day but also over the course of the internship.

Friday was the last day of the internship. I could hardly believe how quickly time had flown by. To start this meeting, we did a quick story circle game, where we went around and added a sentence to the original prompt, thus creating a funny story. The story we wrote as an internship group had a lot of Marvel undertones that had hints of our own internship experience as well. Next up was awards, my team won the People-First award due to our continued focus on our design’s user side. Overall, I was honored to be part of such a great, thoughtful, and innovative team that was able not just to work together but to have fun together. I’m certainly going to miss our two o’clock team meetings and our game days. Thank you to everyone who made this experience possible and supported my team and I throughout! Your dedication and support was hugely appreciated, and we couldn’t have achieved what we did without you!

Signing off one last time,
Kaitlyn Heintzelman

And just like that, six weeks are up. It really seems like yesterday that I was introducing myself to my new teammates and just starting to get to know them. In the blink of an eye, we have come together to make something that we are very proud of. I am proud of the suggestions that we made to the design studio managers. I am proud of the pitch we gave to stakeholders, donors, and others involved with Rice 360. I am proud of the work we have put in and the innovation that has resulted. Most importantly, I am so very proud of my team. The way that we were able to connect and click from the onset was beyond anything I could have hoped for. It is truly a joy to be a part of this team and to interact with my teammates on a daily basis. I cannot thank them enough for making this internship the unforgettable experience that it was. All that being said, let’s get in to what we actually did this week.

Monday was a work day for us. The Education Team and the TAs gave us a bit more information on what the pitches were supposed to look like and we had time to work on them (with guidance from the TAs). We found this quite difficult. We could only present on one prototype and we quickly chose the UV Disinfection System. That’s when we started encountering problems. How in the world were we supposed to reduce our whole prototype, our whole internship’s work, and a 10 minute long technical presentation into a 5 minute pitch? We were told to make it easy to follow, include background information that the audience would need to understand the prototype, and again to keep it under 5 minutes. We clearly had to take a bunch out of our technical presentation. We boiled our project down to its core elements and started pulling together a pitch.

On Tuesday, Dr. Volz joined the workshop again, and thank goodness she did. Hearing the feedback she gave the other teams helped us to modify and improve our pitch before we even had the chance to give it to her. Dr. Volz was the perfect person to give us feedback that day because one, she didn’t know too much about our project so what we pitched is what she got, and two she is so incredible at giving feedback. She pointed out the large knowledge gaps that were present in our pitch. She gave us suggestions on adding a slide to help clarify the current system and make the transition from the current system to our suggested improvements clear. She also pointed out that the ending was not quite strong enough, and that if we emphasized impact, people would remember our project. These suggestions were hugely important in making our pitch something that we were proud to present. Before the Dr. Volz workshop, we were not very confident about the quality of our pitch. After implementing her suggestions and modifying the pitch a bit on our own, we had a product that really highlighted the work we had done in a way that most people could understand.

The beginning of the end approached quickly. After all this work, we were finally pitching our technical presentations to the design studio heads. We gave our presentation and everybody’s parts went very smoothly. We were prepared for a tough Q&A session that was critical of our suggestions, but the feedback was very positive. We were overjoyed and relieved. They did ask some great questions that allowed us to further clarify aspects of our suggested design improvements and they were quite satisfied with our answers. As a team, we felt really accomplished after this, as it was a confirmation that our work, ideas, and innovation was all valid.

Thursday was pitch day. While I was expecting many more people on the Zoom call than usual, I was surprised to see 90 people join. Alex, one of the TAs, made a highlight video of this summer’s internship which was played near the beginning of the meeting and it was quite moving. It really reminded us of how much we had grown as a group in the weeks of the internship. We were up first to present, and Yankholanga nailed her part. I gave my part of the pitch and was relieved when we finished at 5 minutes and 5 seconds (the last 5-10 seconds were to say thank you so in my mind we still hit the mark 😆). The Q&A again went well, as we were able to clarify, explain, and answer any questions the audience had. The other teams followed us and they were fantastic. What a great group of people to get to share the summer with. The reflections on the program were moving, and I’m hoping that everyone watching understood the impact that this internship had on us.

The last day of the internship. Wow I can hardly believe it. With a sense of accomplishment, we started a day of games, reflections, awards, thank yous, and goodbyes (only for now!). Our team won the Care Bear Award for how much our team came to care for one another and for others in the internship as well. I am honored to be a part of the team that was able to bring so much joy, laughter, and unity both to each other and to the internship as a whole. I really hope that I have the opportunity to meet up with my teammates in Malawi one day and bring this dream team back together once again.

Lastly, thank you to the Education Team, the faculty leaders, and the TAs for being there for us and with us every step of the way. Your work is hugely appreciated and we could not have done this all without you. Your flexibility and selflessness have made this possible. Thanks again.

 

Signing off for the last time,

Andrew Abikhaled

This week, we dove into some innovative concepts that focused on the power that we have as individuals to shape the societies that we hope to live in. Through leveraging our imagination, engineering skills, and engaging in some intentional practices, we can find creative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

On Tuesday, we had a thought-provoking workshop led by Hastings Golosi on the power of imagination. According to Mr. Golosi, imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something that is not yet real through the power of the five senses. To help spur our imagination, Hastings recommended a neat tool named IPAVIS, outlined below.

• Imagine a better reality: if you want your life to change, you must change your mindset, because it is often your mindset which may be limiting your success in life.
• Passion: passion and vision must sign if you want to achieve success
• Action: must be backed by passion and faith
• Visualize: see yourself in your mind’s eye as the person you desire to become
• Information: what you put into your mind determines the kind of person you become
• Surround yourself with likeminded people

Mr. Hastings also shared his personal story and recounted the imagination that he has exhibited throughout his entire life. This was such an inspirational workshop and I learned so much about resilience  and the power of mindset to shape a better future.

On Wednesday, we had some teamwork time. It was nice to catch up with everyone as it had been some time since we truly sat down as a group after the long weekend. During out teamwork, we spent some time working on the presentations for next week and finalizing some of the recommendations that we have for each of our devices.

On Thursday, we had an “Engineering a World” workshop led by Ms. Faith Mzandu, a civil engineer and changemaker who has done extensive work to advocate for women in Malawi to pursue engineering through initiatives such as WomEng. I really enjoyed hearing Faith’s perspective on innovation and grounding your work into a larger goal of improving society—Faith’s insights were incredible and very applicable to me as a young woman. After I asked Faith how she helps to instill confidence in women, and she gave an incredibly thorough response—ranging from tips on how to market yourself, network or receive mentorship, to affirmations that she recommended. It really instilled in me some reassurance that this is not a phenomenon only I feel—but that many people, including women, but also people from all walks of life, struggle with and can work through. By building upon the qualifications and skills that one has, and challenging yourself to improve, you can fight the narrative you might craft about yourself. Overall, the workshop gave me a lot to think about and many tangible ways to help build confidence—it is through hearing the stories of people like Faith and Hastings that I have so much hope in the future we are imagining and working towards.

On Friday, we heard from Professors Alick and Richard on post-graduate career options. As a rising senior who will likely be graduating in the midst of a global pandemic and recession, I was playing close attention to this workshop and really appreciated the discussion we held. They provided an overview of some of the major career paths we could take and some of the pros and cons associated with each. I particularly liked some of the ways they framed the choices that we make in relation to our careers— for instance, by reflecting on some of the various questions: ‘What do I enjoy doing? What skills do I have? What would I like to be doing in the next, say 10 years?’ Francis, Hope, and Brenald also briefly presented on the drone technology they are working on to address medical transportation in Malawi. It was very inspirational, and I am so proud that one of my teammates, Brenald, is involved in such an impactful endeavor.

On Saturday, we had a game show bonding arranged by the wonderful TA’s. During the first challenge, we received a list of ingredients from Malawian and American dishes (including chambo, nsima, cheese, Kamba puffs, and marshmallows) and were challenged to innovatively meld them into some delicious dishes. I took the charge in suggesting a ‘7-layer’ dip that included layers of chambo, nsima, cheese, and crushed Kamba puffs and a classic Texan deep fried marshmellow-nsima combo. After some bold embellishments, I am proud to say that we won! We also had a ‘talent show’ and a ‘most likely to..’ game—it was so wonderful to see all of the talent that exists across the program: from singing, drawing, fashion, speaking other languages, and having the ability to make strange noises with body parts. I was also surprised at how well we all knew each other in the ‘most likely to…’ game. It is incredible to think that even virtually, our teams have all really bonded and gotten to know one another.

Overall, this was an incredibly inspirational week– it really helped tie in some of the foundational concepts that underlie the mission of Rice 360—a focus on people, creativity, and solutions. As we press forward next week, I am excited to work on some of our final deliverables for the program and present on the work we have been doing over the summer.

 

Until Next Week,

Sana

I grew up in Prosper, TX, a small town where they prioritized pep rallies over AP classes, and where my public high school principal was more than happy to lead prayers for the Christian student club while simultaneously giving students a hard time when they tried to start a Gay Straight Alliance club. I love my family and my home, but my values and interests weren’t aligned with the “Prosper way,” and I felt ostracized. I knew I needed to leave my community to find the kind of community I craved, one that valued diversity, equity, and knowledge. Fortunately, I found this community at Rice University where I am studying bioengineering and global health. 

Last summer I had the privilege of traveling to Malawi, Africa as a Rice 360° intern. I spent several weeks living in Kabula Lodge in Blantyre and working in the Polytechnic Design Studio alongside some very wonderful, kind, intelligent people. 

In Malawi, I expected my attention and learning to be focused on the differences between my home country and my surroundings. But, what struck me more profoundly than the differences were the similarities. I realized that my Malawian and Tanzanian teammates and friends were just like me. We laughed at the same things, complained about the same types of classes, and worked towards a common goal of using our engineering skills to serve those who need us most. There is an unmistakable sameness to be felt when you work and laugh alongside people, and this sameness has a way of rooting itself into your heart even when you know that the rest of the world probably sees you and your teammates as being very different. 

The time I spent in Malawian hospitals taught me so much about inequality, and those lessons have been coming back to me in waves as the events of the last several months have unfolded on the news. 

2020 has unquestionably been a year for the history books. The world has had the wind knocked out of it by a global pandemic. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, all fifty states and many countries across the world had week-long protests after the tragic and unjust murder of George Floyd by police officers was caught on video. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is demanding nationwide police reform, and in ways that I hope will become clear through this blog, this movement is not unconnected to the world of global health. 

This year I am honored to serve the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health as a TA for the virtual summer internship. It’s an opportunity to reflect on my experiences and their relevance in the present. 

Rice 360° embodies my core values and beliefs: Diversity. Compassion. Advocacy. Outreach.

“As we write this, we are experiencing and witnessing challenging times. The murders of Black Americans, including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have led to massive protests and demands for justice. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging the entire world, but taking a much greater toll on marginalized communities in the US and all around the world.

As a global health team working towards equity, we know it is our responsibility to acknowledge, understand, and address racism and injustice. … We are all in this world together. We must use this troubling time as an inflection point – in our team and in our work – to personally do all that we can to move toward lasting equity, for everyone.”

This message was written by Rice 360° directors Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Dr. Maria Oden, two of the most inspiring women I have ever met. I am lucky and honored to be employed by an organization that acknowledges the racism our country faces and that supports #BlackLivesMatter.

On June 10th, Rice 360° participated in #ShutDownSTEM. We spent the day educating ourselves about systemic racism and the inequities that exist in our world. As I committed myself to learning, I kept thinking about what I had learned the previous summer in Malawi: It’s important to recognize sameness in those who appear different from us, both outside the borders of the US and within our own country. As I continued reading up on racial inequality in the US, my research pointed to the colonization and slavery that began hundreds of years ago as sources of the inequity that blind us to our fundamental sameness today. I thought about how racism continues to produce health disparities as well as something called the Single Story of Africa. I hope this blog inspires you to actively educate yourself and to use your voice to strive for positive change.

The Danger of A Single Story

If you have a spare 20 minutes, I cannot recommend enough watching the TED Talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie. It’s called The Danger of a Single Story. To this day, this TED talk goes down as one of the most moving things I have ever seen. In her speech, Chimamanda Adichie talks about what she calls the Single Story of Africa. When she grew up and moved from Nigeria to the US for college, she realized that people in the US hold a single story of Africa in their minds: a story of poverty, disease, and simplicity. She was confused by this at first. Being the daughter of a professor, she grew up in a middle-class family surrounded by educated, successful people. She realized that our media, our history classes, and our literature have continuously propagated this image of Africa, one that takes an entire, beautiful, rich and diverse continent and boils it down to a single story of catastrophe and suffering.

This single story is a fiction, a tragic, disgraceful remnant of a time when America and Europe disrupted the trajectory of an entire continent that was trending very positively. It’s not surprising that western society invented a single story of a war-torn, impoverished continent to justify its actions. 

My time in Malawi taught me that there is NOT a single story of Africa. Africa is a HUGE, incredibly diverse continent. There are 54 countries and 1.2 billion people there who all live different, unique lives. There are rich people, poor people, educated people, farmers, businessmen, big cities, small villages, immigrants, heroes, criminals, politicians, doctors, friends, families. When my bestie from Rice, Nimisha, sends me entertaining Tik Toks made by our Malawian friend and fellow intern Tebogo it challenges the Western perception that Africa contains only rural communities without internet or electricity. When I scroll through Instagram and see the stylish company logos that my Tanzanian friend Cholo has designed, I question the notion that innovation and entrupreurship are specifically western traits. When I’m blown away by the stunning photography posted on my former Malawian teammate Foster’s Facebook page, the weight of all that is neglected by the single story really hits me. By failing to recognize that Africa offers 1.2 billion unique stories instead of one single story, we allow ourselves to continue ignoring our history, and we fail to hold ourselves and our country accountable for the impact that we’ve had on the world – an impact that still affects Black people in America and in Malawi today.

Social Correlates of Health in Malawi

Although my time in Malawi made me value the sense of similarity, there is one difference that sits with me in a heavy way. This difference was seared into my mind last summer. The difference between the hospitals in Malawi and those in the US revealed itself to me as one of the greatest injustices of the world. 

I witnessed major health disparities in Malawi and thought about their relationship with social correlates of health.

Social correlates of health – the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life

According to the definition above, social correlates of health are the conditions of our lives, usually conditions that we have little control over. I’ll use a personal example to illustrate the differences between a few social correlates of health in the US versus Malawi. When I was one year old, I got an ear infection that led to pneumonia. While I was being treated for pneumonia in the hospital, I contracted rotavirus. I ended up being hospitalized for three days, got an x-ray to confirm my pneumonia, a spinal tap to rule out meningitis, went through two rounds of antibiotics and received IV fluids to keep me alive. After all of that medical attention, I was able to leave the hospital after three days and make a full recovery. Two decades later, I’m completely healthy, and I don’t even remember that hospital visit (although of course my parents say it was a very scary time for them, especially when I had to get that spinal tap!). 

This story highlights the social correlates that affected my health outcome. The biggest one is that I was born in the US. Hospitals in the US are among the best in the world. My doctors had access to x-rays and antibiotics. There was never any question of whether or not the treatment I needed would be accessible to me. Consequently, the rate of children under the age of five dying of pneumonia in the US is 3 out of every 100,000. In Malawi, the rate of children under five dying of pneumonia is 149 out of every 100,000. That’s 50 times higher. One study showed that babies with pneumonia in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, Malawi – the same hospital where I spent so much time last summer – have a one in five chance of dying. When shadowing in QECH I grew attached to tiny, premature babies hooked up to oxygen machines, only to notice that the babies would be gone the next day. I knew this was not because the babies had recovered. Pneumonia happens to be the leading cause of death around the world for children under the age of five. Unless you live in the US.

My surroundings and circumstances drove my medical outcome, and they drove the outcomes of all the babies and other patients I encountered in hospitals in Malawi. There are more subtle social correlates of health as well, such as where you live, the pollution in your city, the food your family has access to, the quality of your education, the amount of violence in your neighborhood, the amount of stress in your life, etc. All of these social correlates of health affect the outcomes of populations and individuals. They explain why, despite fundamental human sameness, countries like the US have different health outcomes compared to countries like Malawi.

Sources of Global Inequality; Trajectory Disrupted by Colonialism 

I learned in Malawi that people, at the core of their hearts, are all fundamentally the same, and this has driven me to question: Why are health outcomes so different across the world? My online research shows that health inequality is a function of a nation’s economic success; therefore, it’s important to place Malawi’s history in context when thinking about the country’s economic challenges. Malawi was colonized by the British from 1891-1964. From early on in the 20th century, the people of Malawi opposed British rule, and their attempts to achieve independence were often met with violence and imprisonment. During World War II, Malawians were conscripted to fight for Britain in the war. Malawians resisted the idea of fighting without having their own independence as a nation, and unrest increased. Eventually Malawi achieved independence on July 6th, 1964. That was 56 years ago. 

The economic effects of colonialism are directly linked to the inequality broadly seen in Sub-Saharan Africa today. In order to maximize the economic benefits of their rule, colonizers in Sub-Saharan Africa mainly engaged in what’s known as extractive colonialism, where the ruling country takes advantage of a nation’s labor and raw materials without reinvesting in the land or communities. Scholars widely agree that the current economic hardships throughout the region are a result of historical extractive colonialism, which ended in Malawi less than 60 years ago. 

What this says to me is that there are people on the other side of the world who are the same as me in terms of their minds and their hearts, but who suffer poorer health outcomes due to the lingering effects of colonialism. 

(Readings on the modern day economic impacts of extractive colonialism can be found here, here, here, here, and here.) 

Inequality Exists Within the US, Too

Health disparities do not only impact low-income countries; they impact disenfranchised communities within our own borders, too. To illustrate this, let’s talk about Covid-19. This excerpt comes from a New York Times article:

“In Illinois, 43 percent of people who have died from the disease and 28 percent of those who have tested positive are African-Americans, a group that makes up just 15 percent of the state’s population. African-Americans, who account for a third of positive tests in Michigan, represent 40 percent of deaths in that state even though they make up 14 percent of the population. In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are Black, though only a third of that state’s population is.”

The disproportionate burden of disease faced by Black Americans was a reality long before Covid-19. Black people in America are more likely to die of HIV, get cancer, or suffer from strokes than white people. They’re also more likely to suffer from chronic stress, which means they’re more likely to suffer from heart disease earlier in life. Health inequality has been present in the US from the very beginning, and it persists today over 100 years after slavery ended. 

These disparities are undeniably a byproduct of racism, classism, and slavery in this country. Black peoples’ lives in 2020 are still impacted by the origin of Black people on this continent: The Transatlantic Slave Trade.  Just as extractive colonialism resulted in the economic realities in Sub-Sahran Africa, slavery in the United States has resulted in economic and many other forms of modern inequality.

Tying it All Together

The common thread among all these issues and disparities is us. It’s not enough for us to claim to be not-racist. It’s time to become actively ANTI-racist. Being anti-racist means being a good ally to the Black community by taking actionable steps to recognize racist systems in this country and to advocate for changes that address these issues. This can begin with actions such as donating to nonprofits that support Black communities, signing online petitions calling for change, and contacting our representatives to demand systematic change. (I have attached links at the bottom of the blog to give a helping hand to anyone trying to begin taking these actionable steps.) It’s time to educate ourselves and to use the power of our voices to contribute to positive change in the world.

After my time spent in Malawi and my three years so far at Rice, I have come to believe more strongly than anything else in the fundamental sameness and connectedness of all human beings. To me, this means that inequality is not inherent to human nature, and it can be addressed with empathy, compassion, education, hard work, and the acknowledgement of our history. 

We must not overlook health disparities, or any other form of modern inequality. According to the CDC’s definition of health disparities, the inequalities of this world are preventable. Preventable means things don’t always have to be this way. It’s a hopeful term. We have the power to address health disparities and all other forms of inequality and to alter the trajectory of the world. The disparities that persist may not directly be my fault, but as an educated, privileged person I do have the power and the drive and desire to work towards repairing the damage that was done by the forefathers of my country. We can change the future.

Rice 360°’s work lies at the intersection of engineering and advocacy. In this intersection I know that I have found my calling and my home. I will never stop educating myself, and I will never stop advocating for the elimination of preventable disparities in this world. Readers, I challenge you to do the same.

 

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ANTI-RACISM ACTION ITEMS

Where to donate
This is not an exhaustive list, and it is slightly Houston-centric because of my everlasting devotion to the city that has been my home for the last three years. 

Texas Organizing Project (TOP) organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. Led by working families, TOP is involved in direct action, grassroots lobbying, and electoral organizing. In regards to criminal justice reform, TOP regularly fights for the release of incarcerated individuals and is working at the legislative level to reform the bail system, end debtors prison, and hold police accountable. 

BlackGirlsCode is a grassroots organization dedicated to exposing girls to opportunities in STEM. They’re based in the Bay Area but are currently working to expand. They hope to provide young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to learn in-demand skills in technology and computer programming at a time when they are naturally thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.

Pure Justice advocates for changes in the criminal justice system and has fought to improve the overall lives of low income families in Harris County. Through their prison outreach initiatives, “Know Your Rights” workshops, recent COVID-19 community grants, and ongoing bail fund program, Pure Justice provides direct support to Black people in Houston.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund  is an American non-profit organization that supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending its 47 member-schools that include public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), medical schools, and law schools. The TMCF is the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. TMCF member-schools include the publicly-supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). 

A longer list can be found here! 🙂

 

How to communicate with your representatives
I’m the first to admit that this is the action item that I’ve struggled with the most lately, but I am actively working to commit myself to doing better in this area! 

Introductory Guide to contacting your representatives

This website allows you to input your zip code, identify your representatives’ contact information, and view scripts and talking points among various issues, including civil rights.

Phone script for calling your representatives to tell them to condemn police brutality 

Email script for calling your representatives to tell them to condemn police brutality

 

Furthering your education
Getting educated about Black issues is a lifelong process, and there’s no better day than today to get started! This list includes some readings and videos that I personally have found interesting and enlightening over the last several weeks.

GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER – Anti-racism resources for white people
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic?fbclid=IwAR2_aTX_DQ9rHSF6iwY1C6IAOAoLLUzWkP4Gk5YiXFuHg4BHMI-xgHN9dKc&urp=gmail_link

TED TALK – The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

WEBINAR – Equity and Social Justice Webinar – Health Disparities and COVID-19
* a personal favorite of mine *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_GnyjW-VZE

NYT ARTICLE – Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/us/coronavirus-race.html

TED TALK – A prosecutor’s vision for a better justice system | Adam Foss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1fvr9rGgSg

TED TALK – We need to talk about an injustice | Bryan Stevenson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tOp7OxyQ8

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I am incredibly grateful… 

For Dr. Ashley Taylor and Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum for providing me with invaluable feedback on my original draft of this blog. 

For Dr. Tracy Volz for working so closely with me to organize, refine, and polish my writing. Thanks to Dr. Volz’s time, effort, and empathy, I learned so much from this process, both about writing and about myself. 

For Nimisha and Alex, who (remotely) watched the documentary 13th with me, who shared valuable articles and videos with the Rice 360° TAs’ groupchat to further our education about racism, and with whom I’ve shared many conversations over the last several weeks which helped me learn to articulate my thoughts about these issues. 

For the many friends I made in Malawi last summer, especially the ones who continue to regularly reach out to me and who have stayed a part of my life. 

For the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health as a whole and all the amazing, wonderful people who work there, for being an institute that proudly advocates for change and stands up for what is right.

Going into the final week (which is absolutely crazy to think about), I just wish there was more time. Six weeks seems like a long time, but they have gone by so quickly. I’ve learned about engineering design, different cultures, global health, and have made many new friends across the world. It’s been an incredible experience thus far, and this week was one that was particularly inspiring. It made me really consider where I can take this experience and this opportunity. How can I learn from it? How will this inform my career choices? 

One of the workshops that truly struck me this week was by Ms. Faith Mzandu, the co-founder of WomEng Malawi. She talked a lot about the challenges that she had to overcome as a woman in engineering — seeing herself as the only woman in STEM classes, with no female mentors around. Witnessing backhanded comments about her abilities. Feeling that her contributions weren’t as valued as her male counterparts. Even though I am not from Malawi and don’t have nearly the same background as Ms. Mzandu, I related to all of it. 

Being a woman in engineering, as early as high school I would see all of my STEM classrooms filled with all male students, with just a handful of girls. Additionally, a main issue lies in how women tend to internalize these comments. My male friends seem consistently more confident than I am before taking an exam or doing a presentation. Even with the same amount of preparation, women statistically see themselves as not up for the job — not qualified enough. Ms. Mzandu encouraged the women engineers on the call to find female mentors, find people that we could look up to. She also made a point to the males on the call: if a female is being mistreated in the workplace, recognize it and speak up about it. Small comments can make the biggest difference. 

Ms. Mzandu’s talk gave me more confidence about being a woman engineer, and also made me appreciate the women in STEM that I know that much more. Looking at the participants on the call, the majority were women. And looking even within my own team, there are three women engineers. It’s empowering to be in this environment, where women’s voices are encouraged and admired. It was a really powerful final stakeholder to speak to, and a talk that I won’t forget. 

The rest of the week consisted of a few more workshops, but a lot more group work time. This coming week we have pitches and presentations to key stakeholders and donors each day. We started the week honing in on our final solutions to the two prototypes. 

For the UVC disinfection system, after many iterations of brainstorming and bouncing around different ideas, we settled on four final suggestions to the current design. First, we want to make the new shape of the system half the size of the original circular clothesline design. Creating this half-circle orientation, the system will take up less room, and will cost less (with the smaller system, 3 bulbs will be used instead of the original 5 bulb setup). However, to maintain the mask capacity of the system, we propose having a two-layer clothesline. 

Based on stakeholder feedback, we also realized the need for concrete tests of system efficacy. We ultimately decided that both a viral load test and a filtration test was necessary. The viral load test would be tested based on dosimeter card readings (dosimeter cards change color when the necessary dosage for disinfection is reached). Filtration quality will be tested based on a smell test — by aerosolizing different smelly substances, mask wearers can test whether they can smell the chemical with the mask on. If they do, then the mask doesn’t filter properly. Finally, we suggest adding a feedback mechanism to show when the system is in progress, and we also suggest imposing a screening process where soiled masks (with makeup, etc.) cannot be disinfected. A potential idea to mitigate this is to also provide a thin, breathable fabric in the mask, such that the makeup and cosmetics will land on the disposable fabric, not on the mask. 

With this prototype, we also have two new project proposals for future Rice 360 teams. We first suggest creating a smaller UVC “box” that could be used in more low-resource, rural settings. This could be simply a cardboard box with reflective surfaces on it and small UV bulbs on the corner. However, with this proposal, we also want future teams to look at alternate power sources like solar panels. This “box” could be adaptable and flexible to different hospital settings, as we have now realized that these systems are not one size fits all. We also propose a project for 360 teams to make cheap, affordable UV light meters for places like Malawi that don’t have access to them. Homemade light meters can cost around $10, but the ones that users can buy online cost as much as $1000. 

For our second prototype, the face shield design, we came up with one finalized design recommendation. For these recommendations, we thought critically about the stakeholder feedback we had received. We focused on a comfortable piece that could connect the shield to the forehead, and a comfortable head attachment mechanism that could be reused. Building on the initial foam model, we now suggest having a laser cut plastic shield with curved edges. On these curved edges, we are suggesting adding small hooks where a removable elastic head attachment piece can be added. By making this removable, the elastic can also be machine washed, and the laser cut plastic can be cleaned with disinfectant. For the forehead attachment, we suggest keeping the foam model, but adding a machine-washable foam enclosure. This Chitenge fabric enclosure (fabric commonly found in Malawi marketplaces) can cover the foam with a zipper, and can then be attached to the shield with velcro. Velcro pieces can be sewn onto the Chitenge fabric, and can then be attached to the velcro attachments stapled onto the shield. By using solely velcro, foam, and Chitenge fabric, all of the materials are locally sourced and can be made with materials directly available in Malawi. This design will also maintain the comfort that the clinicians wanted, while also making the shield reusable. 

Once we finalized our suggestions, we worked on creating presentations and pitches to prepare for the upcoming week. We focused on graphically representing our ideas as much as possible, as the UVC system especially could be hard to conceptualize without visual aids. After finishing the slides for our presentation to the design studio managers, we recorded a video summarizing the work we have done so far for design studios in Malawi. Playing these videos back, I’m really proud of the work that my teammates and I have done these past 5 weeks. I truly believe in the ideas that we are presenting to the design studio managers. While I feel some sadness that this amazing program is soon coming to an end, I’m really excited to see the responses of the design studio managers and some of the Rice 360 donors later next week!

– Bhavya 🙂

We are in the home stretch everyone!!!!!! I cannot believe that we have only one more week left of this internship. It feels like there is just so much more we can research and work on to refine our recommendations and ideas. That being said, I think that we are now in a place where it is valuable to connect back to the Design Studio. I am so excited to be able to present some new recommendations to them, and I really hope that these suggestions help them in the next phase of prototyping.

As the final week approaches, we are preparing full force for our upcoming presentations. Of course we’ll be presenting to the Design Studio, but we also have a showcase where many members of both the Rice 360 community and our affiliates will be in attendance. There, each of team will be “pitching” one of our designs. While I wish we had a physical prototype to be presented, I know that the suggestions we have developed carry their own weight.

My team has decided to share the ways that we envision reiterating the Walk-Through Decontamination Unit. Both in terms of organizing stakeholder feedback and in terms of consolidating our recommendations, we feel that this device has given us both our greatest challenges and rewards. Just to give a snapshot of what we are presenting, we are looking at its accessibility, ease of use, disinfectant selection, use outside of the originally intended public spaces, and determining criteria for testing the unit.

I think that the most interesting part about this decontamination unit is that at first glance, it seems to be very simple. As we got to know it better through the duration of this internship, the intricacies of how the different parts come together challenged us to really focus on how to employ improvements yet ensure it remains feasible within the social and cost constraints we have.

As I have mentioned in a majority of these blog posts, centering our design around the user is the NUMBER ONE priority. We had to really identify how many areas required this kind of reconsideration with this walk-through unit. One of these key pieces that we directed attention to was how to make this unit as accessible and approachable as possible. We had to really consider whether a change in the structure’s shape was worth the monetary strain. I’ll spoil it now and say that we decided it wasn’t. However, we have decided to increase the amount of transparency into the unit and how to use the unit. Each aspect that I listed above received this same kind of scrutiny as we came to our final design recommendations. For right now, I think that I’ve revealed enough about what we have in store. Don’t worry, I will have a more comprehensive review of our decisions in my final blog! Just to give you guys an idea of how this device operates, I’ll provide this diagram of how it works.

I’ll be back with a final recap soon enough!

–Krystal

At the beginning of this week it actually hit me: there are only two weeks left. It is crazy to me how quickly these weeks have flown by. We realized that after all of the work that we had done, it was now time to put everything together into the suggestions that we are going to present to the stakeholders and the design studio managers.

The week started off with a workshop by Hastings Golosi. This was truly an incredible workshop. Hastings is an entrepreneur in Malawi that has started a computer repair company, invested in pig farming, started a film company, and started a program to inspire young people to be entrepreneurs and reach for their dreams. Inspire us he did. He spoke about the dreams that we have for our futures and about not waiting for them to happen. He urged us not to use the excuse of “I’ll do that when I’m done with school,” and emphasized how important mindset and visualization of goals was to final outcome. It was really amazing to learn about what he accomplished with so little resources.

The rest of the week we had team working time, a workshop from Faith Mzandu, and a career and technology presentation from some of the Rice 360 team of faculty mentors and TAs (Professors Alick and Richard; TAs Hope and Francis; and student Brenald) The workshop from Ms. Mzandu was quite eye opening. She is the co-founder of WomEng Malawi and is doing fantastic work. Listening to her speak made me very proud of my teammates who are all women. I hadn’t considered the difficulties of being a woman engineer, especially in Malawi, until Ms. Mzandu talked to us. I am grateful for the workshop and for the incredible experience of working together with my very talented teammates. The main takeaway I took from the career paths workshop was how to frame your work in your mind. You can do many similar types of jobs but in an array of fields. This is especially true in engineering. You can be an engineer and work in a hospital, a lab, an oil rig, and a dam just to name a few. This workshop helped me to get out of the mindset of college –> medical school –> residency –> doctor and really made me consider the ways I could apply the things I am interested in into this path.

This week my team and I worked quite a bit. In solidifying our final proposals, we changed what we thought we were going to do from the beginning. We focused on changing the shape of the current system as our main suggestion but had hit a dead-end in which shape to suggest. Then we had an epiphany that we think will be very successful and hit most of our target goals. We worked on presentations, scripts, videos, and more. We are proud of the suggestions that we will be making to the design studio as the show the effort, research, and attention to detail that we have put into this project. We can’t wait to present this coming.

 

-Andrew Abikhaled

 

Wow! These past five weeks have flown by; I can’t believe we only have one week left of this internship. It has been an excellent opportunity to expand my understanding of Global Health and the design process while getting to know some awesome people along the way! This week, in particular, had me considering my future career options not only in the field of Global Health, but overall.

It was really great to listen to Ms. Faith Mzandu, the Co-Founder of WomEng Malawi, discuss the challenges women might face within the field of engineering and how, in part, to overcome them. Throughout high school, many of my STEM classes had a majority of male students, which is something that is commonly found in the more science-based fields. From this, Ms. Mzandu encouraged us to find mentors who would help us to overcome the challenges posed by this minority status and would offer a layer of understanding from shared experiences. She also discussed the importance of encouraging younger females to pursue careers in STEM, and in turn, become their mentors and to help overcome this long-standing gender stereotype. I connected with a lot of what she said in her presentation about the role of gender roles in not only STEM-based fields but in life and the expectations that result from them. One thing that I really enjoyed about her presentation was the advice she posed to the male students: if you see women being regarded as lower status due to their gender, you should mention it. She didn’t suggest doing so in a radical manner, but instead making comments like: I had the opportunity to do ____ last time, I think that she would benefit from this experience and have some helpful insights. I appreciated this idea as it didn’t make a big scene or come off as abrasive; instead, it was a suggestion that might be more accepted while still decreasing the role of gender norms in the workplace.

When I thought about my future, I have always said that I wanted to be a doctor. The specialty has changed over the years, from an OBGYN, a pediatric surgeon, to a pediatric oncologist. However, looking forward now, so many other opportunities have been exposed to me, many of which are in the field of Global Health. I still believe that I want to go into medicine and become a doctor (something I’ve always dreamed of); however, I hope to have the opportunity to do research in the field of Global Health.

Moving on, last week was a week of many decisions concerning our final recommendations for our prototypes. For the Walk-Through Decontamination Unit, we decided to focus on the collection mechanism and the requirements necessary for the chemicals to be used safely. The collection mechanism, outlined in the image below, makes use of metal grating, a rubber mat, an angled plastic tray with a central hole in the bottom, a funnel, and a shallow collection container. This collection method works well with our idea of adding a ramp to make it more accessible for different populations of people and with not adding additional power demand to the device.

 

Regarding the necessary requirements for the safe use of chemicals in this device, we were stuck with a tough decision: indicate this device as hospital and lab use only, or find a way to make it safe for general public use. This stemmed from an issue that we have considered throughout this internship: the toxicity of chemicals. All chemicals that we could find that have been proven to be effective against COVID-19 have the risk of being potentially harmful to the user’s mucous membranes. In a lab or hospital use, the wearing of PPE while using the device mitigated this risk; however, we remained unsure how to make this device suitable for large scale public usage where PPE, such as face shields, is not as standard. Our final recommendation for this device ended up being that it is ideal in clinical settings, but if it is to be used in general public spaces, face shields and/or masks and drying sheets should be utilized. We hope to get a better understanding in the coming week of how these measures, or similarly effective measures, could be implemented cost-effectively.

Important decisions were also made for the Hand Sanitation Station device. Power demand has been a significant issue throughout this internship. We have looked into many different solutions ranging from 9V rechargeable batteries, to connection to the main power line, to solar panels. From our research, we concluded that it would be best to connect the devices to the main power line when possible. When it isn’t possible to connect to the main power line, it would be helpful to look into connection to solar power; however, this would only be cost-effective when a lot of devices were present. As a backup, all devices should contain a rechargeable 9V battery.

To end the week, our awesome TA’s set up a game show bonding activity. The first challenge was to create a meal and dessert from a list of ingredients that was given to us (instructions in the image below). This meal was required to have a Malawian and American cultural flair from the ingredients: hambo, marshmallows, cheese, Kamba Puffs, and Nsima. This was difficult, but Sana did a great job presenting our dish, and we got first place!

The next challenge was a talent show where each of us was offered the chance to present one of our talents for 3 points. Everyone in my group presented: Krystal with the neat ability to crack all her joints, Sana with her amazing art skills, Mwayi with her sewing skills, and me with my Chinese speaking skills. I didn’t really consider this a hidden talent, but my group really encouraged me, and it was fun to have a chance to speak Chinese outside the classroom atmosphere. The last challenge was a “most likely to” game. The TA’s presented a statement on Zoom, and each group had to, at the same time, text who in their group this statement applied to. Apparently, I’m the most likely to survive on a deserted island in the Infection Prevention team; however, I don’t think I’m going to put that to the test anytime soon hopefully. In the end, we won first place, and the TA’s relinquished control of the intern group chat to our team!

 

Signing off,

Kaitlyn Heintzelman

Short blog post this time around!

After weeks of brainstorming design improvements, understanding the context of Malawi’s available resources, and comparing our current iterations to the standard and/or existing models, our team felt prepared with the knowledge to ask more in-depth questions to our various stakeholders. Throughout this week, we had the opportunity to hear from the voices of end-users such as doctors and nurses as well as graduate students, engineering professors, non-profit leaders, and leaders of similar technological start-ups. Our conversations showed me that with each user, they all have different ideas and priorities in mind which should taken into holistic consideration. One of our stakeholders was interested in the manufacturing and engineering design process; he asked us questions that dug deep into why we decided on design X. For example, why was the intubation box a cube? Why did you select acrylic instead of plastic or glass? And, where are the resources from the current iteration coming from? It was really nice for us to start thinking about the production process of our devices, but also revisit the core issues that we are addressing in the first place. Four weeks into our internship, we are now taking a step back, see the bigger picture, and come up with different approaches to ensure physical distancing while addressing COVID-related clinical needs.

After our interviews, we were prompted with a few more questions that will define our future direction before we make a final recommendation to the design studios:

• What are the current disinfection methods in hospitals?
• What is the rationale behind the current designs?
• For the temperature sensor, is there a mathematical formula to accomodate for confounding factors such as ambient temperature and distance between the sensor and patient?
• How can our prototypes be modified to address the unique circumstances of rural areas vs. urban areas?
• What other screening devices can be implemented to reduce transmission of COVID-19?

Signing off,

Austin