Social Impact

ICTD grad Joanne Reid competes in second Winter Olympics Biathlon

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 21:19:55 +0000

ICTD grad Joanne Reid competes in second Winter Olympics Biathlon Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/31/2022 - 14:19

When the 2022 Olympic Games open in Beijing, China on Friday, an ATLAS graduate will be among the U.S. athletes, competing for her second time against the best of the best.

Joanne Reid (ICTD '17) will compete in the biathlon, a winter sport that combines rifle sharpshooting with Nordic skiing. The mentally and physically challenging sport is wildly popular in Europe, but less known in the United States.

It's Reid's second time competing in this sport in the Olympics. One month after receiving a graduate degree in Information and Communication Technology for Development (renamed Social Impact) from CU ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute, Reid was named to the 2018 US Winter Olympic team for biathlon and later competed with Team USA in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Since then Reid has placed in World Championships held in Poklijuka, Slovenia (2021); Antholz, Italy (2020) and Ostersund, Sweden (2019). She also placed in the IBU (International Biathlon Union) World Cup in Antholz, Italy (2022) as part of a relay team; the 2022 IBU Cup (Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia) and the 2019 US Biathlon National Championships (Jericho, Vermont).

Reid isn’t the first Winter Olympian in her family—far from it. Her mother, Beth (Heiden) Reid, and her uncle, Eric Heiden, both competed in speed skating in Lake Placid in 1980. While Beth came away with a bronze, Eric won five gold medals, which remains the most gold medals won by any Winter Olympian at a single edition of the games.

Competing on the CU Buffs ski team 2010–13, Reid distinguished herself in Nordic skiing as the 2013 NCAA freestyle champion. She didn’t take up biathlon until 2015, inspired when her grandfather passed down his biathlon rifle to her. Three years later, she qualified for the olympics team.

Reid focused the culminating project of her ATLAS graduate work on sport—specifically, on the challenges faced by today's female athletes who compete and train in an ever-present media and social media spotlight.

When the 2022 Olympic Games open in Beijing, China on Friday, ATLAS graduate Joanne Reid (ICTD '17) will be among the U.S. athletes, competing against the best of the best in the biathlon, a winter sport that combines rifle sharpshooting with Nordic skiing.

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Alumna Kari Santos (MS-ICTD '17) found her passion through Social Impact track

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 19:18:24 +0000

Alumna Kari Santos (MS-ICTD '17) found her passion through Social Impact track Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/29/2021 - 12:18

Kari Santos holds an MS in Information and Communication Technology for Development (the track was later renamed Social Impact) from ATLAS Institute's Creative Technology and Design master's program. Before getting her graduate degree, she worked as a software engineer for more than 20 years. In this interview with re:think Magazine, a thought leadership magazine from the National Center for Women in Info Tech (NCWIT), Santos shares how her ICTD experience shaped her future of teaching computer science to the next generation. While in the MS program, she created a summer coding camp for middle-school girls, especially those from low-income families, which then paved the way for a master's practicuum focusing on code and curriculum for teaching computer science to girls. Santos continues to teach computer science through OutSchool, an online teaching platform.

Read the full interview

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ICTD and Babatunde Adegoke featured in CU ��«��Ƶ engineering magazine

Anonymous — Mon, 06 May 2019 18:43:26 +0000

ICTD and Babatunde Adegoke featured in CU ��«��Ƶ engineering magazine Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/06/2019 - 12:43

“I have the ability to choose whatever courses I want. I am able to find answers to all the questions that I have. So when I am designing technology solutions to problems now, I have better tools to do that.”

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ICTD alumna teaches micro:bit lessons to students in Botswana

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 22:48:54 +0000

ICTD alumna teaches micro:bit lessons to students in Botswana Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/04/2018 - 16:48

Kari Santos, ICTD alumna and member of the Laboratory for Playful Computation, lends a hand as Letang Sefako (left) and Ketletseeng Sedumago (middle) drill holes to add a hinged door to the peanut roaster they built in Kaputura, Botswana in August 2018. The peanut roasting business was one of eight enterprises that were developed during IDDS Botswana 2018.

Kari Santos, ATLAS community partner, Information & Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) alumna and member of the Laboratory for Playful Computation, participated in IDDS Botswana 2018, a four-week, hands-on summit hosted in Botswana from July 15 to August 13. The summit's goal was to provide tangible solutions that improve the livelihoods of community members in villages in Botswana through strengthening local innovation ecosystems.

During the project, Kari worked with four residents from D'Kar and Kaputura villages to design and build a portable wood-burning peanut roaster. Kari's team built the roaster, experimented with roasting and flavoring techniques, conducted taste tests in Kapatura and developed a business plan for the peanut business, including marketing, supply chains and distribution.

"The IDDS summit taught me how to work with an incredibly diverse group of individuals and how to quickly iterate through the design cycle and create a business that can continue past the summit," Kari says.

Kari also worked with a local teacher, mentoring him in computer science teaching methods that engage and interest children ages 8 to 14. As part of the collaboration, she taught a group of his students how to use micro:bits, fully programmable computers that are roughly half the size of a credit card.

IDDS's theme, “improving rural community livelihoods in Botswana,” focuses on co-creating grassroots technologies and innovations, while supporting business models that will be adopted by the rural community members to enhance and sustain their livelihoods.

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Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 00:09:04 +0000

Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/06/2017 - 17:09

If you think computer science education is just learning to write code, think again.

At ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute, researchers in the Laboratory for Playful Computation (LPC) have developed technology that enables middle-school students to quickly create networks, connect devices, invent apps and design wearable technologies.

No previous programming or hardware experience required.

“We’ve developed the first tools specifically designed to empower youth to create and experiment with networked technologies,” says Ben Shapiro, LPC director and an assistant professor at ATLAS. “We’re reimagining the tools and skills learned in computer science education to match the computer science of today.”

To explain, Shapiro points to Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent personal assistant: In order to control lights, thermostats, garage doors and sprinklers with voice commands, Amazon’s data center communicates with the device’s online interface, and a message is transmitted to the device in your home.

“These types of interconnected devices are an integral part of young people’s lives,” Shapiro says. “We’re developing tools that help students understand how they work and to literally invent new technologies.”

The central component in the toolkit is BlockyTalky, a programming environment designed to make it easy for novice programmers to make interactive, networked physical computing devices and software systems. Kids as young as 10 have used it to rapidly build a wide range of projects, from medication dispensers for grandparents to computer music systems.

Originally focused on physical computing via the Raspberry PI, Shapiro and graduate student Kari Santos, have extended MIT’s App Inventor—a free, intuitive programming environment that allows the uninitiated to build smartphone apps—and the BBC micro:bit, a credit card-sized microprocessor laden with sensors to be part of the BlockyTalky ecosystem.

Connecting these technologies makes it possible for kids to create apps that connect to devices they can wear, bury inside toys, and even attach to their pets.

For Kari Santos, being part of the BlockyTalky team is helping her pursue her passion of teaching middle school girls electronics and coding and see them turn ideas into reality in a matter of hours. During her five-day Girls on Fire coding camp at ATLAS in July, Santos, an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) graduate student with 25 years of software engineering experience, saw one team create a mobile app that controls LEDs on a dog collar via Bluetooth using voice commands. The system also tracks the dog’s steps, and the lights flash when the dog jumps.

The two girls who designed the app were ages 10 and 13.

Girls in a second camp created a “wedding party” out of colorful pipe cleaners, felt and styrofoam cups, and with the help of micro:bits and BlockyTalky, three girls wrote code so their cell phones could control LED wedding lights, a cat’s wagging tail and music for the ceremony.

“By designing technologies and programming different devices to talk to each other, these girls developed a sophisticated understanding of how networked technologies function,” says Santos. “People often talk about ‘the cloud’ without really understanding what it is. After building their own networks for Girls on Fire, students get it, and they'll always think differently about their interconnected digital environment.”

The Laboratory for Playful Computation has developed technology that enables middle-school students to quickly create networks, connect devices, invent apps and design wearable technology.

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Who needs safe water?

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 21:36:06 +0000

Who needs safe water? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/27/2017 - 14:36

After growing up drinking water from community water filtration stations in Pakistan, Mustafa Naseem discovered in his research just how often the water from these sources can be compromised. Each year, around 41,000 children in Pakistan die from diarrhea caused by contaminated water supplies. Now, as Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) Expert in Residence at CU ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute, Naseem has set his sights on changing that.

In September, Naseem and a team from the Information Technology University (ITU) in Lahore, Pakistan, were jointly awarded $374,000 from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) to design a low-cost, modular water quality testing and metering system to be installed and tested at 20 Punjab filtration plants over a three-year period.

“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to contribute to a water-related issue in Pakistan,” said Naseem. “Many people there have limited access to clean drinking water. It’s an issue close to my heart.”

The project, which also provides support for a graduate student to oversee implementation, was selected from more than 200 eligible applications submitted to the Pakistan-United States Science & Technology Cooperation program in 2017. Under the program, which was established in 2005, the governments of Pakistan and the United States cooperate in science, technology, engineering and education for mutual benefit. The program is implemented by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. and the HEC in Pakistan.

Safety

To improve water quality monitoring, Naseem’s team will design a low-cost, automated, modular water testing unit equipped with sensors that monitor free-chlorine, turbidity, Ph and total dissolved solids. The system will be connected to the Internet via cellular data networks, allowing results to be uploaded regularly to the municipal water authority’s servers, where automated alerts can warn technicians when levels exceed parameters.

Naseem, who investigated water technologies in Lahore over a three-year period, says improvements in the frequency and method of water quality testing can have a big impact on public health. They are also necessary to meet guidelines established by the World Health Organization.

Presently, water monitoring is performed just once a month, and errors can occur during sampling and testing. In addition, systems rely on filters that should be changed at intervals based on how much water has passed through the filter; however, there’s often no mechanism for measuring water volume.

“Between the monthly tests, no one knows the quality of the water,” he said. “Even if samples are collected and stored properly, the laboratory performs well and the plant workers act on laboratory recommendations, there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Distribution

In addition to tackling water safety, their project aims to solve another major challenge: distributing water more equitably. Naseem explains that water dispensing stations in Lahore and other cities have limited supplies and sometimes run dry. However, no limits are placed on how much each family can take. As a result, wealthier households that fetch large amounts of water by truck place a greater burden on the system than poorer households that collect their water by hand.

The team at ITU, led by Tauseef Tauqeer, head of the Electrical Engineering Department and an associate professor, will focus on this problem by continuing work on an automated dispensing unit originally developed by students in a design lab that Naseem mentored in 2014. Named the Water ATM, the system would use government-issued RFID cards to identify users and limit how much water is dispensed based on household size.

During the third year, the team will look towards commercialization so that a local industry partner can scale-up the technology they’ve developed.

A fringe benefit of this technology is that it could enable water dispensing stations to remain open 24-hours a day, cutting down on the long lines that currently form during daylight hours.

Beyond technology

Naseem explains that the work of creating remote water sensing units is complex, but it’s not their biggest challenge. Success depends on designing a system that communities want to embrace, he says. “Sensitivity to social and cultural concerns is critical,” says Naseem. “And giving the community a voice is also key.” If the rationing system upsets enough powerful people accustomed to unlimited water supplies, they could have the whole program shut down. Similarly, if the technology is going to be adopted, it must be reliable and easy to use.

Another concern is what to do when water supplies exceed safety parameters. It’s not a straightforward matter, explains Naseem. While the water company will have the ability to shut down plants from afar, that would create another set of problems: “Even if the water is not at the required safety levels, it may be the only source of drinking water for a community,” says Naseem. “It’s a community-run filtration plant, and the residents need to have some amount of say as to what happens.”

One option is to install digital signs that display the current safety level of water coming out of the faucet. When it’s unsafe, residents could continue to draw water, but the signs would let them know they need to boil or further treat it before drinking.

“Information and Communication Technology for Development is not just about technology; it’s about these ethical considerations. You have to make difficult decisions,” says Naseem. “When I enter these communities, there’s so much desperation and there’s so much love. We are sending students to vulnerable places, and there is a danger of their having a savior complex. I want to make sure students realize that there is beauty and knowledge we can rely on in these communities.”

If successful, the team could have an immediate impact on the region. Their key partner, the government-run Punjab Saaf Pani Company, plans to install 1,500 water filtration plants across Punjab in the next five years. If their plans to subsequently commercialize the technology are successful, their reach could be much greater—an inexpensive, early-warning water safety system could improve the public health of countless communities around the world.

Mustafa Naseem and a team from the Information Technology University (ITU) in Lahore, Pakistan, design a low-cost, modular water quality testing and metering system to be installed and tested at 20 Punjab filtration plants over a three-year period.

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“Girls on Fire” ignites students’ coding passion

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 17:23:46 +0000

“Girls on Fire” ignites students’ coding passion Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/08/2017 - 11:23

Dressed in a black bowtie, a purple and blue-haired groom sings to his bride. The groom’s curly-haired bride then sweetly sings back while guests politely listen.

Under the wedding arch, lit by blinking rainbow lights, a white cat wags his tail as he reads the couple their vows: “Do you, Fred, take Celery as your wife?”

“I had the idea to have a fake, funny wedding, and everyone got super excited and made their own characters,” says Marley Santos, 13, an eighth-grader from Casey Middle School.

Marley and 11 other students are participating in Girls on Fire, a five-day camp that teaches middle school girls, especially those from low-income families, to write code and work with electronics. Held at CU ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute, the event is sponsored by the ATLAS Laboratory for Playful Computation (LPC), the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the National Science Foundation, and CU Science Discovery program.

With the help of BBC Micro:bits—pocket-sized microcontrollers designed to make programming fun and easy for the uninitiated—three girls wrote the code that connects their cellphones to the LED lights, the cat’s tail and the sound for the couple’s songs. They also created the bride, groom and wedding party from styrofoam cups decorated with colorful pipe cleaners, felt and various accessories.

Kari Santos, an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) graduate student with 25 years of software engineering experience, developed the class in partnership with Ben Shapiro, director of the LPC. Santos, who is also Marley’s mother, wants to give young girls the opportunity to enter science and technology. She started programming in high school after a teacher encouraged her to sign up for a one-week Intro to Engineering program for women at Carnegie Mellon University.

After that she decided to become an engineer, says Santos. “But certainly all through college and at every job, I was a minority. For many of my college classes, it was all men and me.”

In the first year of Girls on Fire, Santos taught programming with micro:bits separately from programming phone apps using App Inventor. Since then, she’s written software that connects the technologies over Bluetooth, making the process more seamless. One of the “wedding programmers,” 12-year-old Anastasia Martinez, said she didn’t know anything about coding before she attended Girls on Fire, and she didn’t think she would enjoy the camp.

“My brother was into programming and programming just didn’t sound interesting to me,” Anastasia says. “My mom encouraged me to go to Girls on Fire. I ended up liking it. I learned a lot, and I am ready to learn more."

At Girls on Fire summer camp, ICTD Graduate Student Kari Santos teaches middle school girls to write code and work with electronics.

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Filming polar bears in the distant North

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 18:00:00 +0000

Filming polar bears in the distant North Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/15/2016 - 11:00

ATLAS graduate student Barbara MacFerrin recently travelled to the Hudson Bay to film polar bears for CIRES.

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Social Impact

ICTD grad Joanne Reid competes in second Winter Olympics Biathlon

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Alumna Kari Santos (MS-ICTD '17) found her passion through Social Impact track

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ICTD and Babatunde Adegoke featured in CU ��«����Ƶ engineering magazine

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ICTD alumna teaches micro:bit lessons to students in Botswana

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Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code

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Who needs safe water?

Safety

Distribution

Beyond technology

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“Girls on Fire” ignites students’ coding passion

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Filming polar bears in the distant North

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ICTD and Babatunde Adegoke featured in CU ��«��Ƶ engineering magazine