“Through my Grand Challenges project I learned so much about how important it is to intersect an understanding of humanities and science in order to look at culture and how it impacts people. How people interact with technology and medicine is very important when trying to make a positive impact and true change in public health.”

“It was actually Grand Challenges that helped me to find my passion. I worked on a project my freshman and sophomore year that looked at the ebola epidemic--- I learned that a lot of experts had these great ideas and solutions, but when these solutions were being implemented into the field a lot of the cultural reasoning was lost and wasn’t kept in mind when forming these solutions. It’s so important for these experts to know the background of the people they are working with and to help people help themselves and not just impose solutions.”.

This summer Ann worked with Dr. Brown’s environmental engineering lab in Mozambique on a project called Maputo Sanitation (MapSan). The city of Maputo has one of the largest urban slum areas in the world and lacks proper plumbing and clean water sources. This leads to poor sanitation and an unhealthy environment. MapSan is working to implement improved latrine systems in order to improve child health. The goal of this study is to gauge the impact that latrine systems are having on the health of people being impacted. Ann said she was attracted to this project because it included both quantitative and qualitative results.

“I really liked the idea of studying who is using the latrine, what is the cultural surrounding the latrine, what’s the community buy in, as well as the quantitative research like testing water quality and charting what health issues the children may have. It brings together that anthropology side as well the hard sciences.”

Ann’s personal project was tracking the height and weight of children in the area, however, the traditional method was either bulky or expensive and easily damaged. So Ann decided to get the job done using a modified xbox kinect, an idea inspired by an article about the weight of astronauts in space. Ann explained that she faced many challenges working in a low resource environment, but she was proud of being able to overcome these obstacles and created a device that was essential in her field work.

“I was working on a small project within a very large project, so I was working with graduate students and other researchers, living as well as working with these people, something that Grand Challenges made me very accustomed to. These people are from very different places and we didn’t have a relationship beforehand but we had to just make it work. Because I was in Grand Challenges I knew how to make it work and really leveraged my strengths and weaknesses with this new group of people.”

When asked how the Grand Challenges program shaped her success in the global health world, she replied, “The best thing about Grand Challenges that I was able to, as a freshman, have experiences and opportunities that showed my passion in a concrete form and allowed me to get my first real experience. If you are passionate about something and you can communicate that passion, people are going to want to give you opportunities even if you don’t have the experience. It’s ok if you don’t have that much experience in a certain aspect, don’t be afraid to reach out to professors and professionals that are going to help you pursue that passion. “

Andrew Perry, tell me a little about yourself.

Hey, I’m a fourth year computer science major and industrial design minor from Peachtree City, Georgia. I’m involved in a few things, but the main ones are the Mental Health Student Coalition, Omicron Delta Kappa, Georgia Tech Ambassadors, and Delta Chi. For fun, I love messing with new microcontrollers and eating pizza, sometimes at the same time.

What is your favorite Georgia Tech tradition?

Oh gosh, this is a hard one. My favorite tradition is less of a tradition and more of a piece of history. I LOVE the campanile. The place is beautiful, and has a fun history. Campanile is an Old Italian word for ‘bell tower,’ and it got this name because of it use to play music. Unfortunately, some students were dancing in it, and broke the music box part of it. The institute never got around to fixing it, but the changing lights that shine on it at night still correspond to the music that use to play.

How has Grand Challenges shaped your journey at Georgia Tech?

Grand Challenges has been the kick starter to my collegiate career. By starting in a Living Learning Community, I was able to start school off with 109 people that I could become friends with. The program kind of forces you to become friends with these people. They stick you in a dorm together, make you take 3 hours of class together, and still have bonding activities. It’s where I found my best friend! I’m still involved with GC without working on a project, being part of the mentor program and the recruitment team. I’ve also met almost all of the GC students by being a retreat leader, and I can’t explain how happy I am to see this program grow and strengthen.

As a campus leader, how do you feel the Grand Challenges program has helped shape your leadership skills and experience leading others?

Grand Challenges was a stepping stone for me to get connected and become a leader on campus. In high school, I barely did anything. Grand Challenges gave me an opportunity to join a committee and I decided to run for a leadership position. Eventually, I became the chair for the Faculty Engagement committee and I was able to start defining my leadership styles. I also got to meet some amazing faculty and administration through that role too. The program also helps me work on my team building skills, an essential skill to become a good leader. Grand Challenges allowed me to be consistently work on team building and bonding through the entire duration of my project. I owe a lot to the program.

What is your advice for students that would like to be in your position one day?

My absolute best piece of advice came from the previous Ms. Georgia Tech, Missy Pittard. She told me to never say something to myself if I wouldn’t say it to a 7 year old. You would never tell a 7 year old that they are dumb and couldn’t do better. Don’t say it to yourself. You would never tell a 7 year old that they should skip eating dinner or skip sleeping in order to study more. Don’t say it to yourself. I found this advice to keep me away from any self-deprecating behavior.

The advice I have to share from my personal experience is that you need to love yourself first. You need to make sure you have your well-being at the top of your priorities. You won’t be able to succeed or even progress if you don’t make sure that you are healthy. I hope everyone understands that it’s ok to drop a class or organization if it is becoming too stressful or that it is ok to go see a counselor. Everyone has the potential to become Mr. or Ms. Georgia Tech, it just depends on where you put your priorities and how you decide to love Tech.

I am from Long Island, New York. I’m majoring in chemical engineering. I love drawing, reading, and I run track for the NCAA Division 1 team here at Georgia Tech. I actually walked onto the team and officially signed on in December and I’ll be running the 5k, 6k, and the cross country race in the Fall. I am on the Board of Chabad. I’m very involved with the Jewish community on campus. I have volunteered all over the world and am very passionate about philanthropy and volunteering my time.

Why did you decide to apply to Georgia Tech?

I actually decided in 10^th grade that I wanted to become a chemical engineer. I loved chemistry and felt that I could make a difference in such a flexible field. I applied to Georgia Tech with no intention of attending, but when I visited I fell in love with the campus. I knew Georgia Tech gave me the opportunity to get the best education and the furthest development in life.

What attracted you to the Grand Challenges Program?

I have actually always had a passion for water purification. After volunteering at a village in Nicaragua, I started my own charitable organization called Be Part of the Change in the World. The organization raised money to buy needed and desired supplies for the village, which was actually sports equipment! Once that started rolling, I realized there was so much that I wanted to do. I’ve always had a big passion for water purification. I discovered how the Grand Challenges program made an impact in that sector and I wanted to be part of that campaign. Grand Challenges presented me with a diverse way of thinking that I could apply to any platform in order to propel my ideas.

What is your current project in Grand Challenges?

My project is in water purification. Currently my team is working to improve the communication infrastructure within the water district ministry in Malawi. We wanted to create a network that allowed the ministry to contact the villages and other NGOs in the area in order for funds to be properly distributed. Eventually we hope to create a data retrieval base for maintenance purposes, so the skills and knowledge to keep up funded projects are not lost. On the ground, we have a government contact that really helps us understand what is going on in the community so our solution is not so far removed, as some “solutions” tend to be.

What is your most fond memory of the Grand Challenges program?

Definitely the white water rafting trip during our Fall retreat! There were some hilarious pictures of me that were taken and they’re actually hanging in Alison’s office. I loved meeting people and just experiencing the sheer craziness of people falling out the raft. It was an amazing chance for me to meet my fellow Grand Challengers and take a break from Tech work.

What advice would you give to incoming first-years that want to apply to the program?

Apply to the program! If you’re passionate about something, anything, apply! Be yourself and discover who you are and what you can contribute and gain from the community.

Grand Challenges has always been a huge impact on Phoebe’s life, as she claimed it strongly influenced her college decision. “I already knew about the larger Grand Challenges program through the Bill Gates initiative. I was always interested in humanitarian applications of engineering and I knew I wanted to go to a university that emphasized that as well as allowed me to pursue a great degree. When I found out Georgia Tech had that program, it was not only a big push to apply to the program, but also consider Georgia Tech above other schools.”

Phoebe is a member of the fourth-year team, Team NoMaDD. NoMaDD is currently working to create a novel malaria detection device that will analyze parasite density in collected blood samples. The project carries close to Phoebe’s heart, as she has seen first-hand the problems around the current method of self-diagnosis.

“Since getting started with Grand Challenges, I’ve had nothing but good experiences. The program has taught me to approach problems in different ways, and just how to approach problem solving in a way I never expected to get out of this program— I’ve always considered myself an optimist, but Grand Challenges has taught me open-mindedness in problem solving that will be valuable for any field I want to go into.”

As part of the Grand Challenge program her freshman year, Phoebe remarks that she was surrounded by a dynamic group of passionate and inspiring people. She attributes her relationships with other Grand Challenge students as a huge influence in pursuing her own passions. She began her love affair with global humanitarianism as part of well-drilling project with Engineers Without Borders. Since then she has traveled to Cameroon, South Africa, and Ghana twice.

“I am very thankful to have formed relationships with such dynamic people. I was in an environment of people pursuing their passions. Everyone was doing such inspiring things and I decided I wanted to be part of that, so I said I want to go to Africa! Since the first time, I’ve been hooked.—I knew it wasn’t a novelty, ‘voluntourism’ sort of trip. I could see the direct impact of my work both in fundraising and actual installation. And, I knew the system we put in would be monitored and maintained for years to come.”

Phoebe continues to work with the organization Saha Global and says that her approach to problems in the field is built on the foundation of anticipating the worst and being able to response with “yes, we can fix this.”

“My advice to anyone coming into the Grand Challenges program is to keep an open mind. Don’t let anyone else intimidate or undermine your goals, they are just as valid and just as cool. Also, be an optimist! There are so many great opportunities, go into everything with an open mind and a smiling face.”

Upon their return, it was impossible for Lauren and Ann to describe just how amazing this experience was for them. The students were able to talk to a range of experts, from pharmaceutical engineers and public health officials, to doctors who had recently been treating patients on the ground. It was incredible for them to have the opportunity to ask these individuals about the problems they observe in this outbreak, as well as what these experts thought about the students’ project. Several people Lauren and Ann talked to were excited about what their team is trying to do, and many of them even wanted to help. Every session during the symposia was enlightening for the students. Ann and Lauren furiously took forty pages of notes, trying to capture every word and idea from the speakers. They gained valuable insight into the roots of the real issues, not just the surface level ramifications they had previously focused on. Their conversations were stimulating, and they returned home with countless ideas for their project. Perhaps the most valuable part of the symposium was the incredible networking opportunities. Ann and Lauren were able to trade contact information with individuals they would never otherwise have access to. In fact, Lauren received an email from a doctor at Public Health England before she had even landed back in Atlanta!

Moving forward, the Disease Divas are so energized to take a fresh look at their problem space and identify where they can make the greatest impact. With the information they’ve learned and the experts Lauren and Ann have met over the past week, this team can also move beyond looking at just the problems and start focusing on creating the solutions. This experience was life changing for Ann and Lauren, and the women reported they could not ask for a better way to learn about their problem space and get first-hand advice from public health experts. “This experience confirmed that Grand Challenges was the perfect program me, and I can’t express enough how grateful I am to be a part of it,” Lauren said.   

The competition, which was sponsored by the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Health Matters Initiative, Jawbone, and Tumblr, challenged participants to create an application that would use Jawbone’s UP wristband to reduce stress. The “GTBuzz” team was prepared for this challenge through experience in the Grand Challenges Living Learning Community, where they are working on a project focused on preventing childhood obesity.

The team’s application, Buzz, connects to a user’s Google calendar and allows the user to prioritize their own stress levels related to events such as “tests” or “meetings.” The UP wristband then collects data on the user’s sleep patterns and movement throughout the day. Buzz then assigns a daily “stress score” based on the health data collected during designated time periods and the number and level of stressful items on the user’s calendar. The user can use their stress score to monitor their daily stress levels and practice stress-reducing techniques accordingly.

GTBuzz team members attributed their success to the problem identification and solution development skills that they learned in Grand Challenges and the cross-disciplinary nature of their team.

“All of the other teams were made up of computer science professionals,” said Patrick Kelly, a second-year business administration major and member of GTBuzz. “We were the only team of students and the only team that had members from different backgrounds. We were successful because we were each able to think about the challenge differently and could offer different opinions about how to design our solution.”

Both the Clinton Foundation and Jawbone have expressed interest in continuing to work with the team to develop Buzz at another competition in January 2014, in addition to supporting the team as it continues work on other Grand Challenges projects.

A part of the Office of Leadership, Development and Education and in partnership with the College of Engineering, the Grand Challenges program is a living learning community that began last fall and is open to incoming freshmen of all majors. It tasks participants with finding solutions to worldwide issues related to food, water, energy and health and teaches students a curriculum centered around problem solving and effective teamwork.

GTBuzz is just one example of the many Grand Challenges teams that are already making a significant impact in their chosen areas of study. Other teams have gone on to win prizes at case competitions and to present at conferences all over the country.

For more information about the Grand Challenges Living and Learning Community, visit the program’s website at www.grandchallenges.gatech.edu.

The competition consisted of two rounds. In round one, the team was asked to create a data organization system that could be used to illustrate relationships between customers and clients. Their initial prototype displayed transaction information, demographics, and other data in a simple interface.

A single team from each of the twelve participating universities was chosen to move on to round two. In round two, Bank of America asked each team to suggest improvements to its current customer rewards system. Bank of America currently offers a one-time, $100 gift to customers that open a credit card at one of their locations.

Unfortunately, one-time gifts do not reward customers for being financially responsible or being active with their budgeting. The Grand Challenges team felt that they could fix this problem by designing a rewards system that focuses on the long-term benefits of financial responsibility and increases a user’s involvement in their Bank of America accounts.

“Other teams seemed to be bogged down by trying to come up with the most accurate solution possible, but our team felt like there wasn't one right answer,” said Ethan Smith, a second-year industrial engineering student and member of the team. “We had no experience in finance or the banking industry—the ideas that we came up with were based on our collective experience with banks. We then chose realistic but innovative solutions based on those experiences.”

Despite the simplicity of their approach, which included intense brain-storming sessions and objective problem-solving techniques, the team was faced with one distinct challenge: finding the time to develop high-quality deliverables while balancing the demanding schedules of ten college students.

Smith credits their success to the team’s collective experience in Grand Challenges.

“Through Grand Challenges, we learned the skills required to work on this competition like teamwork, report writing, and time management,” Smith said. “We worked well together because we all lived together and knew each other last year, but we couldn't have won if it weren't for everyone's dedication to the project. In the end, our hard work paid off. ”

Team members received $5000 each for their individual contribution to the team’s solution. Bank of America also donated $50,000 to Georgia Tech and is considering integrating the team’s solution into their existing rewards system.

Team Members:

• Paul Anderson, 2^nd year, Business Administration
• Sarah Lynn Bowen, 2^nd year, Business Administration
• Misha Desai, 2^nd year, Industrial Engineering
• Courtney Hall, 2^nd year, Industrial Engineering
• Alec Kaye, 2^nd year, Industrial Engineering
• Patrick Kelly, 2^nd year, Business Administration
• Ethan Smith, 2^nd year, Industrial Engineering
• Alex Stelea, 2^nd year, Computer Science
• Elizabeth Waters, 2^nd year, Mechanical Engineering
• Zac Zachow, 2^nd year, Aerospace Engineering

Bank of America Press Release: http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-releases/community/student-team-georgia-institute-technology-wins-bank-america-campus-challeng

For more information, please visit: http://ile.gatech.edu/i2s/index.html

Alex Flohr is a second year Mechanical engineer working on her project titled MEIS. Medical Emergency Information Service develops methods and processes to rapidly provide personal and medical information about a trauma patient to EMS technicians.

Runoff Power Generation consists of Grand Challengers Zachary Zachow, Sarah Jones, Ethan Smith and Colin Kelsall. Runoff Power Generation is designing a system that collects runoff from bridges and stores it in tanks under the roadway. The high head of the water creates a significant amount of pressure, which will be released through a nozzle that will turn a Pelton wheel connected to a generator. The generator will make electricity on demand for use in the surrounding communities.

This year, Grand Challenge’s own second year, Philip Bale, is a member of one of the finalist teams, Haplit. They initially identified a problem within the community of the blind. Team Haplit found that only 8.5% of the blind are able to use Braille, which creates a large barrier to the education of the visually-impaired, a barrier that is further exacerbated by the large deficit of braille teachers and materials that are produced in braille.

In order to combat this, the team developed the Haplit Device, a small gadget that works in conjunction with a Haplit Smart-Device app. An educator can simply type what they want the student to read into the Haplit App, which will then transmit to the Haplit Device the braille translation and display the lines in braille, so that they can be read by the visually-impaired student. The student can respond by writing back in braille on the same device, which will in turn translate and then transmit the alpha-numeric response back to the Haplit App. This method circumvents many of the issues that have long held back the blind community’s higher education process, especially since most comparable devices are extremely complex and expensive.

Team Haplit draw their name from the concept of Haptic Literacy, or reading via the sense of touch. They consist of Philip Bale, a 2^nd year Computer Science major, Chandler Matz, a 2^nd year Computer Engineering major, and Megan Fechter, a 2 year Business Administration major. They will go to the final round of competition on April 1^st 2015.

“We created the Advancing Aspirations Global Scholarship program as a way to personally engage students in the women’s issues of today, shaping innovative and collaborative solutions for tomorrow,” says Elisabeth Marchant, president and CEO of Womenetics. “Womenetics seeks to inspire change that will make a difference in the lives of women and business around the globe,” Marchant continues. “We recognize that companies who actively promote more women to leadership will become the game changers of the 21^st century,” Marchant concludes.

Over 200 applications from more than 170 universities across 36 states were received. The Honorable Melanne Verveer, the first U.S. Ambassador on Global Women’s Issues selected the essay of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Sara Grace Miller as a finalist, receiving $2500. Miller’s essay explored the importance of role models as a mechanism to bridge the confidence gap between men and women in her AAGS entry. With her winnings, she plans to further her studies and advocate for workforce policy on advancing women in the workplace.  

Contestants researched topics exploring the obstacles to creating a truly balanced workplace for the 21^st century, and then composed a 2,500-word focused on solutions. The finalists shared their research on a panel discussion at the symposium alongside trailblazing women leaders in impactful roles, spanning various industries, where the students provided the next generation perspective on women as the competitive advantage in tomorrow’s workplace.

For information and to enter, visit Womenetics.com

About Womenetics

Womenetics provides B2B services that increase access, development and retention of the best female professional talent.  Striving to accelerate women’s career success, Womenetics brings ambitious women together with dynamic leaders; deliver impactful training content and inspiring conferences; and provides avenues for female development—clear solutions to reframe entrenched ideas and reduce gender disparities in the workplace.

About GWI

Global Women’s Initiative is an annual symposium that brings together top female talent, thought leaders and innovators to develop practices and new approaches to harness the powerful impact of women in the workplace. The conference examines new ideas and real-life strategies for increasing individuals’ capabilities that resonate across the enterprise. For more information about the history of the Global Women’s Initiative, visit https://www.womenetics.com/Events/GWI-Symposium