Paul and Priscilla Gray Value-Added Internships: Summer 2009

The Americas

United States: Kentucky

Tracey Hayse ('11 Course 1) will spend this summer helping a local water and sewage commission in Eastern Kentucky to identify and act on measures to improve its waste treatment methods. She also hopes to raise awareness of the health and environmental impacts of poor waste treatment in the local communities.

Ecuador

Anna Waldman-Brown ('11 Course 8, 21) will help the Kallari Chocolate Cooperative in Ecuador to strengthen their business and organic certification processes. Anna is President of the Lab for Chocolate Science at MIT.

Nicaragua

Lisa Schlecht ('10 Course 2) will travel to Managua, Nicaragua on behalf of the MIT-based organization Innovations for International Health (IIH). Lisa will work with physicians, students, academics, and healthcare professionals to implement biomedical kits that help people to innovate health devices suitable to local needs and resources.

Africa

Katie Pesce ('10 Course 2) will travel to Cameroon this summer to help the African Centre for Renewable Energies and Sustainable Technologies (ARCREST) to design and construct a wind pump to supply water for irrigation and domestic use. Mary Masterman ('11 Course 5) will work with ACREST to investigate the potential for manufacturing and disseminating other low-cost irrigation pump technologies that are suitable to the local context. Cecilia Scot ('10, Course 2) will help ACREST to develop their funding strategies for locally appropriate energy production and energy efficient devices.

India

Mehul Jain (G Course 1) will travel to India this summer to assess the household water treatment systems (HWTS) that are promoted by aid organizations. He will examine the correlation between unsuccessful scaling up of the HWTS technologies and the economic, social, and cultural preferences of the communities and make recommendations to water aid agencies to enable them to better serve their target communities.

Asia

Ruben Alonzo ('11 Course 18 and Course 14) will be working with the Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning (DSIL) in Bangkok, Thailand, to create new curriculum and learning models using StarLOGO and other learner-centered math software.

Alice Yu ('11, Course 15) will be working as a Public Relations and Marketing Intern at the Beijing office of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR). She will help INBAR to hone its communication materials and spread awareness of its programs.

For more information on these Interns, contact Alison Hynd, Fellowships and Internships Coordinator.

Posted on May 12, 2009