Xiomara is a civil engineer with an academic background, a minor in environmental and sanitation engineering, and diverse work experience in Bolivia. She graduated from Universidad Mayor de San Andres, where she completed an undergraduate degree project in software development for normal concrete design based on three standards.
In late 2018, she started working as an intern with Engineers In Action (EIA), an organization headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Eswatini. During her internship, she developed design and construction plans for school restrooms before transitioning to a project manager role from 2020 to 2023 where her work focused on water and sanitation projects in collaboration mainly with EWB chapters and teams from universities of USA.
Her work with EIA provided her with valuable insights into the behavior of rural communities and their interaction with local and foreign engineers, learning about various pre-feasibility methods to determine the viability of projects, and emphasizing the importance of stakeholder inclusion and collaboration.
One of her most influential experiences was working alongside UIUC engineers dedicated to contextual engineering, including Dr. Witmer. This collaboration allowed her to deepen her understanding of the importance of contextual engineering and witness firsthand the impact it can have on the success of a project. She applied these lessons to her own work, ensuring that projects were developed with consideration for the community’s needs and input, ultimately developing solutions that are beneficial for everyone involved.
Always curious to discover new techniques for approaching communities and learning more about different cultures, Xiomara is open to learning additional contextual engineering techniques to contribute to all stages of a project, dedicated to expanding her knowledge and expertise to better serve the needs of the communities she works with.
Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where her research project focuses on designing a water storage system for livestock use in the dry season in Bodaway Gap, a chapter of the Navajo Nation. Strong contextual engineering study is required for working with indigenous populations, and in this project, stakeholders must be included in the entire design and decision-making stage to ensure the most appropriate and sustainable solution is implemented.
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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.
