Congratulations to CERG member Jason Kandume, whose team has just won a Seeding the Future Global Food System Challenge Seed Grant!
Jason’s research is based in Namibia, where he has applied Contextual Engineering to refine the traditionally labor-intensive production process used by rural women to extract oils from the Kalahari Melon. With this grant, he will compare the chemical characteristics and quality of oils extracted from the melon seeds using a contextualized mechanical design with oils extracted using the traditional process, thus validating a design derived from ancestral knowledge to produce a superior-quality oil.
supporting effectiveness in user-informed engineering design and implementation
The Contextual Engineering Research Group brings together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners to improve the design, operation, and sustainability of infrastructure projects with populations whose unique values, characteristics, knowledge, and behaviors govern technology use. CERG channels our expertise, passion, and creativity toward improving the quality of life particularly for rural societies whose identities and livelihoods are being lost to increasing globalization and attrition of local knowledge. These societies are the basis of many nations’ food security, yet rural residents frequently lack meaningful support and are forced to abandon their agricultural identities and migrate to urban centers, simply so they may obtain basic human services like safe drinking water and improved sanitation.
As the research group has grown, we have expanded our collaborations from international populations to domestic communities and organizations in collaboration with academic, business, and non-profit partners. Along the way, we are building an elite cohort that’s leading the way in understanding the importance of identifying context when developing successful and sustainable societal solutions, regardless of where they’re located. CERG’s courses, research, project implementation, and worldwide collaboration with academic institutions, policymakers, and NGOs are also developing the next generation of global citizens.
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Approved for form University legal counsel SJA 03/18
Schedule 1: Survey Reporting and Deliverables Description
OTM Technology No. 2017-194, titled "Diagnostic Tool for Engineering
Effectiveness in Rural International Societies".
Creator: Ann-Perry Witmer
Brief Description:
The Survey provides a list of 41 questions (rated on 5-point Likert scales)
to evaluate relative influences of critical non-engineering conditions and
guidelines for selection/implementation of technologies within a rural
society. The Survey identifies design and implementation strategies that
enhance engineered infrastructure sustainability and durability.
"Survey Report":
The following information is provided in the Report.
RESULTS
Influence
Community Score
Country Weight
Weighted Score
Cultural
Political
Educational
Technical
Economic
· Column 1 lists the five community influences most likely to affect
design, implementation and acceptance of an engineered infrastructure.
· Column 2 shows the raw scores of each influence for the community, based
upon scores You provided after observing Your client.
· Column 3 draws upon open and free data from World Bank database of World
Development Indicators. Where data are lacking for Your country, those
absences are not included in calculations. Religious composition is
evaluated using open and free Pew Research Center data.
· Column 4 provides a weighted, relative influence score for Your client
community, factoring in national norms to identify the conditions that most
strongly govern your client's approach to an engineered infrastructure.
The following information is also provided: Guidelines for interpreting the
high and low scores of the contextual influences, and Guidelines as to how
to approach the design of the engineering infrastructure.
