During high school, I was always involved with community service through my church and non-profits and I simply loved it, but the solutions we presented were temporary solutions meant to help people go through a tough time. Through GSIF, I hope I can begin to experience implementing long term solutions that change the way some people go through their daily struggles. A lot of the research done nowadays is put on the shelves of universities and is forgotten about; however, from what I’ve seen from this program, the research being done by students is published in acclaimed journals and contributes to the advancement of the field.
My career interests are centered around academia and research, for now. Taking this class will help me get involved with different research projects and will add an element of distinction to my resume. The experience of working with a team in a fast-paced environment fosters many qualities, such as teamwork, patience, empathy, and time management, that are crucial for modern-day engineers and scientists to acclimate to our rapidly evolving world. As a freshman, I think this is a great start for me to do research and get involved with the fast-paced college environment. It will also be a great opportunity to nurture my time management skills, as I am taking 17 credits, part of another research project, and part of the formula SAE team.
As a computer engineer, the smart cities in the Kazakhstan project should offer me insight on topics such as the effect of computing on society which I am interested in. I am excited about this program and hope I live up to the expectations given to us.
The scarcity of eyeglasses in some areas has led to over one billion people having impaired vision, which is almost 1/7 of the world population. This issue should be considered a major health problem that should be addressed with practical solutions. An initial thought I had was manufacturing the eyeglasses in the country to avoid excessive transportation fees and foreign taxation. While it may seem like a viable solution, it has many fundamental problems. For example, one injection molding device, which needs professional training to be used efficiently, to manufacture the eye lenses would cost at least 30000$, such devices cannot be bought by entrepreneurs in developing countries. Also, the level of proficiency required to run a factory like this one needs employees with a lot of experience and higher education, leading to higher employment costs.
A practical solution would be the donation and reuse of existing eyeglasses. Every eye clinic, hospital, and pharmacy will have a system where the donor fills out a form and the glasses are given unique code. The institution would be responsible for storing these glasses until employee visits, which should be every 30 or so glasses, depending on the storage area available. These glasses are then sent to the main facility where they are sterilized and stored by visual acuity. A selected number of individuals will be responsible for allocating location in dire need for the donations, and based on this data, the eyeglasses will be distributed. An endeavor like this cannot start without enormous amounts of donations and will not prosper unless a donor base is established. This solution seems like a viable solution, but it depends on the donation of glasses and guarantees that almost everyone in need will be served secondhand glasses, rendering it as a temporary or complementary solution, however not a permanent solution.
Another solution that I’ve read about is the purchase of a lot of glasses from Chinese manufactures for 0.5$ a piece and sell them for cheap prices and profit from them. This solution follows custom import tradition and creates jobs in a developing country. The simplicity of this solution will allow anyone to start this business. This solution contributes to the economy of houses involved and will create a new entrepreneurial spirit that is essential to the development of such countries.
Afterthought, I would suggest that we go to the country and implement the finals solution, in addition to teaching the public about this practice so the knowledge doesn’t stay within. The donation of eyeglasses should be implemented as a complement to the final solution because it is not a permanent solution and should not be depended on by the public.