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students measuring a spring

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.


** Illinois Innovators Podcast **

Follow this link: Ann-Perry Witmer on Contextual Engineering