List five compelling takeaways from the Art of the Start:
-It’s not about the money your venture will make, it’s about the value it brings to the society and the world through the increasing quality of life
-Have your mission statement be specific and simple, three to four key terms.
-Don’t ask people to do something that you wouldn’t
-Higher people that are better than yourself (i.e. smarter, more proactive, more creative, etc…)
-Have the ability to provide a unique product or service that gives value to the customer

Articulate your value propositions for your diverse customer segments:
We want Almaty residents to improve their quality of life by limiting air pollution causes. We want them to breathe fresh air. Changing the current mindset about the effects of poor air quality in Almaty could potentially save people from obtaining respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Fewer people diagnosed means less money spent on hospital bills and medical costs. Currently, there is little to nothing being done for the people who are at risk in Almaty. Through our guidelines, we give a starting place for people to begin living healthier lives. This project also seeks to change the habits of the people of Almaty so that their daily routines do not put their health at risk. Finally, all our information will be accessible online.

Discuss your Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market. List all your assumptions and hypotheses:
Almaty had 1,863,000 residents in 2019. We can assume that the residents with health conditions, children, parents, and the elderly will have heard or been influenced by our efforts to minimize exposure to pollution. If our group can create a solid product and service, then we can have it become profitable in some way in the future. Since we don’t have a product with value in money on it we can’t assume our total addressable market.

1.) Summarize and report out on the results of the SKS exercise. (start, keep, stop)

2 things we want to start doing as a team:
–>Delegating tasks effectively according to each team member’s strengths and weaknesses. Having a record of what tasks are completed, in progress, and upcoming.
–> Generating fresh ideas and not being reluctant to share them with each other even if they seem minor. Have SMART tasks and goals.
2 things we want to keep doing as a team:
–>Keep committing time outside of the classroom to be able to collaborate
–>Keep being open-minded with constructive criticism on ideas and not being afraid of changing the direction of the project
2 things we want to stop doing as a team:
–>Stop assuming everyone knows what you are doing and communicate to the team what is being done and what needs to be done. Also not being afraid to ask for help
–>Stop setting goals and then not upholding them.
2.) Develop a detailed Collaboration Plan for your team clearly articulating your Goals (Small and Big), Roles, Procedures, and Relationships.
Goals:
–>Have a rough draft completed of the paper we are
submitting to the IEE CHTC Conference in Seattle
by mid-April
-Send to Prof. Mehta so that he can review
before submitting
–>Touching base with our connections in Kazakhstan
-Formulating a plan with them
–>Have a model laid out for the website by the end
of April
Roles:
–>Alondra
Implementer, Monitor-evaluator,
–>Hugo
Specialist
–>Josue
Team worker, resource investigator
–>Nathaly
Monitor-evaluator: critically analyze information
before coming to conclusions
–>Completer/finisher: detects errors and omissions;
ensures adherence to deadlines
–>Rebecca
Implementer: actually gets things done; turns
ideas into actual plans
Resource investigator: develop external contacts;
negotiate for the team’s resources
–>Ulan
Shaper: maintains a positive mental attitude;
finds the best ways to overcome challenges facing
the team
Specialist: expert knowledge in a particular area
–>Professor Duvanova
Team worker, coordinator, specialist
Procedures:
Decision Making:
-Majority Rule
-If we are split down the middle, we will use
our advisor as a mediator to help come to a
consensus.
Effective Meetings:
-Setting up goals for each meeting
-Checking in with each other→ Where people are
with their designated tasks, etc.
Splitting up work so that we are being proactive and productive with the time we work on tasks
Creating documents that have everyone’s assigned tasks for the week so we know how to check up on eachother
Communication:
Best time to work: In the mornings, any day of the week, preferably the end of the week
Frequency: Meet at least once a week besides our weekly advisor meetings
Location: Online
Type of Technology: Google Docs and Zoom
Relationships
Make sure to consider everyone’s perspective
Do not get frustrated with each other

3. If we can’t go in the summer what will we do?
Trying to finalize the design/function of our website
Creating online surveys that we can send out to people in Almaty
Formulating algorithms to help organize survey data and determining the best forms of advice
Learning more about the country through partners in Kazakhstan
Good communication with the Kazakhstan students

1.) Does your work require IRB approval?

Our plan to address the air quality issue in Kazakhstan is being developed. We have many different ideas floating around regarding our plan, so we are still working out the specifics. However, based on the rough draft of our plan, we will need IRB approval. One component of our plan is to interview locals regarding the air quality problem in their city. The interviews will allow us to strengthen our approach to the issue by learning about the first-hand experience of living in Almaty with the challenges of dangerous air quality.

We are aware that people are extremely concerned just by scrolling through Facebook pages. For example, there is a Facebook page named, “SMOG ALMATY” which is used as a platform for Almaty locals and allies to discuss their concerns and opinions on the way people in power are handling the air quality issue.

Although we will be receiving a lot of constructed criticism regarding our plan and presentations before abroad fieldwork, the most impactful criticism will come directly from the people of Almaty.

We might also set up a survey that provides feedback for our project. As a result, in order to interview, we need IRB approval. According to the certification that my group completed, we learned that any research that will consist of surveying requires IRB approval to make sure that we protect any revealing information of the participants.

Another idea that we are working towards finalizing are nasal filters. In order for my group to review whether or not our filters are effective and used amongst the Almaty population, it will involve having locals test them out. We might not be the exact group of undergraduate students that will have this filter finalized because of it being a long process of lab work and engineering. However, we recognize that this type of research needs to be reviewed by IRB in order for any of it to be implemented and continued.
If yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy.
If not, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

2.) Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

Introduction slide:
Picture of Almaty’s mountains and introduce team members
1st Slide: (problem/ solution)/ Alondra
Jumps right into the problem with a statistic or two about the severity of the air quality problem in Almaty
Picture of Almaty on a day with bad air quality
State our proposed solution: Detecting -> Transmission -> Public Awareness/ Public Safety
Increasing data collection points
Mappings of specific areas that are suffering more due to air pollution (include image)
Creating an easily accessible server for the population to access data
Giving strategies to minimize exposure to air quality
2nd Slide: Nathaly
List causes of the problem in Almaty
Traffic
Power plant
Coal-burning furnaces
Bad air circulation, cold weather
Sighting health risks from being exposed to air pollution
Cardiovascular disease death rates
3rd Slide: Potential Solutions (ULAN MIRLANOV)
Addressing possible solutions (our ideas of what we came up with or ones other cities have tried implementing)
Public services announcements
Government policy
Increasing greenery
Creating new power plant filters (nasal strips, other)
4th Slide: Details on our solution- Hugo ramos
Showing app we found that isn’t reliable
Providing images of what it looks like
Data and statistics is provides
Including single data points
Improving the quality of data (Account for more air pollutants)
Getting more air quality detecting devices to distribute throughout the city
Including public areas like parks, walkways, schools, neighborhoods…
5th Slide: Existing Kazakhstan Proposed solutions- Josue
Government Regulation
Improve Transportation with efficiency and reliability
Reliable Bike Lanes (Promoting bike riding)
Greenway
Investigate Airflow in city
All long term solutions, no short term
Public announcements on when pollution is high and low
6th Slide: Prototype- Josue
What kinds of air quality testers are we going to use?
Still pending, but have a meeting with an expert on 3/3
Sustainable, maintainable, cheapish
Pollutants we are trying to target
PM 2.5
CO, SO2, NO2
7th Slide: Our overall plan Rebecca Gjini
What are we planning to do with the data
Create understandable models and analyzing the impacts of specific polluted areas
Connecting info to health advice and actable things to do to minimize exposure
Detecting -> Transmission -> Public Awareness/ Public Safety

Potential new slide: Analyzing the information gaps between income classes about their knowledge on the air pollution issues
Do they know what they’re doing that could be causing it
Do they know some of their own actions are adding to the air pollution?
Do they feel helpless?
Do they think someone else is going to fix it
Do they know the actual health outcomes from it