Hello! My name is Laura Marsiglio, and I am a junior in the Integrated Engineering and Arts & Sciences program here at Lehigh. My concentrations are in Materials Science & Engineering, Environmental Studies, and Economics. I have rather diverse interests, and programs like IDEAS and GSIF allow me to integrate my passions in unconventional ways. I believe that my varied academic background allows me to approach problem solving with a unique perspective because I understand the technical aspects, as well as the potential for societal and environmental impact.

My kindergarten science fair project was entitled “What Kind of Birdseed Do Birds Like Best”, and my passions for science and the environment have only grown from there. When exploring colleges, I was interested in engineering, even though I wasn’t quite sure what engineering really entailed. When I toured Lehigh, the IDEAS program stood out to me as an opportunity to pursue my passions, but also earn a technical engineering degree. Throughout my journey here at Lehigh, I’ve come to understand that engineering is really just a way of thinking. I’ve been able to develop this engineering mindset and now hope to apply it to bigger issues our society is facing.

As a part of the PlasTech Ventures team, I hope to further develop my technical engineering skills, as well as broaden my world view. I enrolled in GSIF because I feel we have a lot to learn when we leave our comfort zones. We have so much to learn from people different than ourselves, and I think GSIF is unique in that it allows students to do work that will impact global communities. This project will allow students and faculty from opposite sides of the planet to join forces and tackle the plastic waste and recycling problems that perplex global communities, while empowering local ones.

I think this class will benefit me as a student because often times in the classroom, we are only presented with problems to which the solution is already known. The nature of this GSIF project will force me to compile all of my previous learning to address a problem the whole world is looking to solve because plastic waste is not a problem unique to the United States or the Philippines.

“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.”

When beginning to solve a problem like this, there are so many things to consider. As someone who has worn glasses for over half of my life, I understand how difficult it would be to survive without them; however, this empathy isn’t a solution. My first thought when I read this was a program run by an organization in my hometown that collects used glasses. Once people get new frames, or a new prescription, and no longer have a use for their old pair, they can donate them to this program. This would alleviate some of the cost, but then the problem of distribution must be addressed. The glasses must be shipped from the United States, or another country, to Kenya and other developing countries. Funds for this could potentially be provided by a non-profit, but this could present issues in the long term. From there, those in need must be identified and provided with the appropriate prescription. Training locals to recognize the symptoms of those who are in need of glasses would provide some jobs, and help with autonomization of the program. Education would be an essential step in truly solving this problem. The saying “give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime” is really applicable to many of the big problems our world faces today. By involving local clinics and establishing programs to perform routine vision checks, these communities can become self-sufficient in their handling of the problem. A more long term solution may require an inexpensive and easy way to manufacture glasses at clinics, eliminating the need for donations and shipping costs. Problems like this are multi-faceted and hard to “solve” at first glance, but it is important to start somewhere.