{"536211":{"#nid":"536211","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Alumni Spotlight: Taylor Poulos: ISyE Background Offers Practical, Scalable Solution to an Enormous Global Sanitation Problem","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETaylor Poulos, a newly graduated alumna of the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering (ISyE), will be joining UBS Investment Bank as an equity derivatives analyst this summer. Poulous enjoys the financial aspects of industrial engineering and has had an interest in trading stock since she was a young girl.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring her time at Georgia Tech, Poulos also had a passion for volunteering for the nonprofit organization, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.wishforwash.org\u0022\u003EWish for WASH\u003C\/a\u003E. The nonprofit was started by Jasmine Burton, a fellow Georgia Tech graduate, who won the 2014 Georgia Tech Inventure Prize Competition for the SafiChoo mobile toilet. (\u201cSafiChoo\u201d means \u201cclean toilet\u201d in Kiswahili.) Wish for WASH \u201cdevelops user-friendly toilet systems that are also cost-effective\u201d for developing countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this interview, which took place prior to Poulos\u2019 graduation, she discusses \u2013 among other topics \u2013 her work for Wish for WASH, and how her ISyE training helped her improve the nonprofit\u2019s business development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u2019re about to graduate. Why did you select Georgia Tech for your college experience, and ISyE as your major?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI decided to come to Georgia Tech because I really wanted to do engineering. Being an in-state student, Georgia Tech was a really great option, and it gave me so many opportunities, such as studying abroad and internships. I chose ISyE because I thought it would be a great way to gain exposure to engineering but still have a wide variety of options for internships and future career opportunities. The opportunity to study abroad in Beijing and Singapore with ISyE was also a major selling point.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou have considerable internship experience with financial analysis, and you\u2019ll be pursuing a career in this field after graduation. What interests you most about this area?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy interest in the stock market has really fueled my general interest in finance. I love trading stocks, which I have done since I was quite young. In fact, I bought my first shares of a mutual fund when I was nine years old.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are you looking forward to most about your new job in NYC with UBS Investment Bank as an equity derivatives analyst?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI love the pace of the market. The stock market is really a compilation of world events, and there is a living, breathing art behind it that I find thrilling. Every day on the UBS trading floor during my internship last summer was a unique experience. I love that I can walk into work where things can change at a moment\u2019s notice. More specifically, I enjoy equity derivatives because they provide a very technical way to express opinions on the market. I feel incredibly grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work full-time doing something I love.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOther than Wish for WASH, of all your extracurricular activities, which has been the most significant for you, and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy time spent on Freshman Council was the most significant for my college career aside from Wish for WASH. The opportunity to be a part of that organization was really important for me, because it helped me to see that there is more to life than just schoolwork. Freshman Council really helped me to embrace equally important aspects in college: finding passions in life and forming lifelong friendships. I was fortunate enough to be an advisor for another council after my own experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPlease briefly explain Wish for WASH\u2019s mission. \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWish for WASH aims to develop user-friendly toilet systems that are also cost-effective. Wish for WASH really seeks to help better the human condition through improved sanitation for the 2.5 billion people who do not have access to adequate sanitation around the world. These sanitation issues disproportionally affect women, so part of improving sanitary conditions will be to improve the lives of women around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your role at Wish for WASH?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI work primarily on business development for Wish for WASH \u2013 I am working to help find a sustainable business solution as Wish for WASH hopes to expand. It\u2019s a very challenging project, as there are very limited resources and specific cultural norms, aid availability, and established systems unique to each potential market. There is no \u201cone size fits all\u201d solution to improve the sanitation needs for 2.5 billion people all over the world when no two situations or markets are the same. If it were easy, it would have been done already!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDescribe your trip to Zambia with Wish for WASH: Why was it important for you to go, and what did you do while there?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring my trip to Zambia, I assisted with the first phase of the beta test of the latest SafiChoo toilet design in a peri-urban community in Lusaka. During my time there, the Wish for WASH team oversaw the retrofitting\/cleaning of the current pit as well as the construction and installation of the SafiChoo toilet. We met with various stakeholders including toilet users, engineers, construction workers, and local fecal collection agencies to discuss possible further implementation of the toilet. We really aimed to gain information on the feasibility of implementing this system on a larger scale.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Zambia, I was mostly interested in learning as much as possible regarding the availability of funding and the market in order to find the best way to create a sustainable business model. Until I went to Zambia, I did not fully understand the difficulty in implementing a revolutionary toilet design halfway across the world, in a community with few resources and established systems and cultural norms that are so different from ours here in the U.S. It was an incredibly worthwhile time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAside from working, we also went on safaris, were able to pet rhinos and cheetahs, and visited local markets. All in all, it made for a very exciting trip!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow is Wish for WASH piloting the latest SafiChoo toilet design in Zambia?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs mentioned earlier, Wish for WASH is working with a local community in Lusaka, Zambia. The organization is aiming to see how well the SafiChoo system meets user preferences and needs, test the feasibility of manufacturing and implementation, and evaluate the scalability of our system in this and other markets. We are testing the design for usability while also evaluation potential future costs, revenue streams, and production methodologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAgain, this is largely a test of both the design feasibility and usability, and a test to see how the toilet performs in the marketplace, as well as gauging how expensive and feasible it would be to implement this on a larger scale in this community (and others and in different contexts elsewhere).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat does your IE background enable you to do for the organization that you might not otherwise be able to do?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy ISyE knowledge and background has helped me to approach this problem from a very practical, straightforward approach. While I may not be able to contribute as much to the design of the toilet, I am able to help Wish for WASH develop a sustainable business model and evaluate how to practically grow Wish for Wash as a business. I prefer to look at the problem from more of a logistics and business perspective.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlso, given my finance background, I am interested in determining how to get funding continuously so that this is not a one-time charity donation but rather a means of helping people help themselves. All perspectives are valuable and in the context of such a complex problem, making an interdisciplinary approach necessary. My particular ISyE background gives me a unique and valuable perspective in terms of developing a practical, scalable solution to an enormous global sanitation problem.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETaylor Poulos, a newly graduated alumna of the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering (ISyE), will be joining UBS Investment Bank as an equity derivatives analyst this summer. During her time at Georgia Tech, Poulos also had a passion for volunteering for the nonprofit organization, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.wishforwash.org\u0022\u003EWish for WASH\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Taylor Poulos, a newly graduated alumna of the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026 Systems Engineering (ISyE), will be joining UBS Investment Bank as an equity derivatives analyst this summer. During her time at Georgia Tech, Poulos also had a passion for volu"}],"uid":"28766","created_gmt":"2016-05-13 15:36:22","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:39","author":"Shelley Wunder-Smith","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"536141":{"id":"536141","type":"image","title":"Taylor Poulos, ISyE alumna, works with Wish for WASH on the organization\u0027s business development.","body":null,"created":"1463590800","gmt_created":"2016-05-18 17:00:00","changed":"1475895322","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:22","alt":"Taylor Poulos, ISyE alumna, works with Wish for WASH on the organization\u0027s business development.","file":{"fid":"88818","name":"taylor_poulos_headshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/taylor_poulos_headshot_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/taylor_poulos_headshot_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":20360,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/taylor_poulos_headshot_0.jpg?itok=a_ktrfoE"}},"536201":{"id":"536201","type":"image","title":"Taylor Poulos with friends from Wish for WASH","body":null,"created":"1463590800","gmt_created":"2016-05-18 17:00:00","changed":"1475895322","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:22","alt":"Taylor Poulos with friends from Wish for WASH","file":{"fid":"88824","name":"zambia_3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zambia_3_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zambia_3_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2009505,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/zambia_3_0.jpg?itok=-rJjDJd1"}},"536171":{"id":"536171","type":"image","title":"A Georgia Tech team working with Wish for WASH in Zambia","body":null,"created":"1463590800","gmt_created":"2016-05-18 17:00:00","changed":"1475895322","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:22","alt":"A Georgia Tech team working with Wish for WASH in Zambia","file":{"fid":"88821","name":"zambia_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zambia_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/zambia_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2080810,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/zambia_2_0.jpg?itok=-T-i9Zhq"}}},"media_ids":["536141","536201","536171"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2694","name":"alumna"},{"id":"9908","name":"financial services"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"170274","name":"SafiChoo"},{"id":"169391","name":"sanitation"},{"id":"170275","name":"Taylor Poulos"},{"id":"128761","name":"Wish for WASH"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404.385.4745\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["shelley.wunder-smith@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}