Contact Us
Khanjan Mehta
Program Director
213U Hammond Building
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 863-4426
khanjan@engr.psu.edu
HESE Sponsorship Opportunities
Rachel Dzombak (Senior, Bioengineering) has been working on the Mashavu project since January 2010.
She was a part of the assessment team that developed systemic assessment methodology. In 2011, she took over as the lead on the concept of operations for Mashavu while developing an example-centric design tool to help engineers design biomedical devices for resource-poor contexts. Rachel is now helping develop a new class related to HESE ethics and grassroots diplomacy. Rachel's diverse contributions to learning, research and entrepreneurship epitomize a HESE Change Agent. She is thankful to Merck, a private donor, the Schreyer Honors College and the Bioengineering department for supporting her.
Jeff Lackey & Steve Suffian (BS, Electrical Engineering, 2010) are the inaugural HESE Fellows.
Steve and Jeff traveled to Kenya for five months in Spring 2011 to lay the groundwork for launching two Mashavu kiosks across six locations in Kenya. Steve and Jeff were financially supported by a $5,000 award won by the Mashavu team at the Global Idea to Product Competition at the University of Texas, Austin. Roma Amin (Pre-Medicine, 2011) and Colin Andrews (BS, Biomedical Engineering, 2012) represented the Mashavu team at the Global I2P competition.
Joe Moroney (Sophomore, Biomedical Engineering) & Rosie Qin (BS, Biology, 2011) have been working on the Mashavu Telemedicine System. Joe (and Anthony Ricco) designed an early-stage prototype of a $10 dermascope which they field-tested in Kenya in the summer.
Rosie was the lead on a study of the reliability of the Mashavu Telemedicine System and discovered that the system was highly reliable at giving appropriate advice to patients in remote communities. Joe and Rosie were both supported by the Change Agent Scholarship sponsored by a private donor as well as travel funding awarded by the Schreyer Honors College.
Tara Sulewski (PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering) has actively participated in several HESE ventures including Mashavu, iSPACES and Essential Design.
Tara led the team that developed a systemic assessment methodology for complex technology-based ventures in developing countries. A Change Agent Scholarship sponsored by Merck enabled her to travel to East Africa to conduct fieldwork for the project(s) and validate the methodology.
Min Pack (Senior, ESM) has led the design of low-cost greenhouses for sustenance farmers and small agro-businesses.
A 2011 Change Agent Scholarship sponsored by Merck enabled Min to travel to Tanzania to build two more greenhouses. The greenhouses are now ready for large-scale dissemination in East Africa and will lead to improved livelihoods for farmers and entrepreneurs and foster food security in semi-arid and arid regions.
HESE Change Agent Scholarships
HESE Change Agents are expected to demonstrate exemplary leadership and scholarship during their tenure at Penn State. Each year, approximately sixty students travel to partnering communities across the globe. In May 2011, 55 students traveled to Kenya, Tanzania, Nicaragua and India for an intense three-week engagement experience. The total travel costs are about $3,000 per student. With support from competitive grants, corporate sponsors and private donors, HESE is able to offer Change Agent Scholarships of $200 to $1,000 to students that demonstrate potential for substantial impact. HESE Change Agents must meet at least one of the following requirements by the end of the Fall semester following their fieldwork.
- Entrepreneurship:Change Agents must pro-actively champion an entrepreneurial venture within the HESE program. They must go above and beyond expectations to advance/realize the venture and demonstrate sustainable impact.
- Innovative Design and Research:Change Agents must advance the body of knowledge related to humanitarian engineering and social entrepreneurship. They must be co-authors on at least one peer-reviewed publication related to their work with the HESE program.
- Changing the Conversation:Change Agents must strive to change the perception of engineering to a care-giving profession that is intricately connected to global health, happiness and safety. They must clearly demonstrate leadership and impact in public dialog with a specific focus on engaging, recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented groups.
HESE Fellows
HESE Fellows are current students or recent graduates who have been actively involved with at least one HESE venture over a year. These carefully screened students have exhibited exemplary leadership and scholarship and are given the opportunity to return to the partnering community for 4-6 months to continue work on their venture. HESE Fellows are integral to strengthening community relationships and local partnerships. They further develop and launch the venture, monitor its progress and work with diverse stakeholders to resolve the myriad issues that might emerge. HESE Fellows can be current students taking a leave of absence for a semester orrecent graduates that want to advance their venture before returning to graduate school / starting their professional careers. The HESE program considers the fellows as global leaders and entrepreneurs of the future that epitomize our philosophy of converging concepts, disciplines, cultures and countries towards a freer, fairer, friendlier and more sustainable world. HESE Fellows work in developing communities for 4-6 months and need about $5,000 in match-up funds to enable their engagement.
Specific Event and Venture Support
Annual Global Milking the Rhino: Innovative Solutions Showcase This global showcase invites students to develop appropriate, innovative and sustainable solutions to empower indigenous communities to leverage wildlife and natural resources for self-determined development in Africa.
One-year pilot testing of the Mashavu Telemedicine System is underway in Kenya in collaboration with UNIDO and the Kenyan Ministry of Health. There are two kiosks across six locations that receive 8-15 patients on a daily basis. We are seeking sponsors to expand the pilot-testing from 6 to 20 locations in Spring/Summer 2012.
Over the last three years, our team has collaborated with diverse Kenyan and Tanzanian entities to design, prototype, and field-test affordable greenhouses designed for small agro-enterprises and sustenance farmers. Greenhouses in East Africa cost $1,500-$2,000 while our designs cost $200. We are seeking sponsors for a series of workshops, to be held in Summer 2012, to disseminate this technology to entrepreneurs in East Africa.
Industry Partners
