Why did you enroll in this course (motivation, prior interests)?

I have never felt as passionate for a program during my time at Lehigh than I have for this. I am not interested in it for the credit or resume aspect of it. On the contrary, the prospect of preparing for this excites me. I don’t mind having 4 hours of class a week, in addition to, related work outside of such classes. I look forward to collaborating with my team members to enact change. Additionally, I am excited for the reflection and analysis phase of the project next fall. I want to learn from this experience and publish our findings to instill other successful projects. This is something I really envision my future self doing and I am certain that I have the skills, work ethic, experience with research, and passion necessary to commit myself to such a project for potentially the rest of my time at Lehigh.

How do you envision this course making you a better student?

When envisioning this fellowship, I see it supporting my personal and professional aspirations in countless ways. First and foremost, it will help me develop the skills necessary to carry out future research projects. To have prepared so intensely and in advance will help me develop a work ethic for long-term projects, something I have yet to do in my college career. It will make me see through with my commitments as this is not something to take lightly or do the bare minimum in. Everything done in this project has a real tangible impact, something I am certain will give me clear direction in my plans after graduation. Additionally, it will allow me to form connections with locals and network throughout a region where I would otherwise have little exposure in. This is something I can potentially continue during the rest of my time at Lehigh. Personally, I see this as aiding the development of my character. It will challenge me and force me to become comfortable being uncomfortable. I will learn how to interact and develop relationships with people with entirely different upbringings than myself.

The World Health Organization estimates that over one billion people who need eyeglasses do not have access to them. The vast majority of these people live in developing countries like Kenya where there is barely one optometrist per one million people. Given the high poverty levels, access to eyeglasses is almost nonexistent. Lack of proper eyeglasses severely impacts people and their livelihoods by decreasing their productivity at work, limiting or eliminating new opportunities, affecting their quality of life, deteriorating their general health and possibly leading to (preventable) blindness. What solution do you propose to address this problem?

One way to address this problem would be to create inexpensive, easy-to-make eyeglass prescriptions that people with limited skillsets can make. This way people in low to middle income countries can produce these glasses within their countries and not pay to export it from elsewhere. Each country could make glasses out of materials that are readily available in their respective countries. For instance, the frames do not need to be made out of wood if there is not a supply of wood within the country. Instead, they could use bamboo to make frames, etc. This will also boost employment opportunities within each country. To compensate for the lack of optometrists, there could be manuals distributed explaining how to test for eyesight, eye conditions, etc. This manual can be duplicated and could be a one-step guide to figure out what eye problems someone has and which glasses to make based on the condition.