The reason I enrolled in this course is because I want to make a change on the issues of environmental injustice and be able to witness these issues first hand in other countries.  I took a course in environmental studies for the first time last semester and it was the most eye opening class I have ever taken.  The class wasn’t just about the science behind environmental issues, it was about how these issues are affecting specific individuals and communities.  I suddenly became more interested in using my knowledge and skills to help fight environmental injustice.  I knew several people that were a part of the GSIF program last year and they recommended I check out the different projects.  That’s when I came across the Community Engagement and Environmental Initiative project.  It was exactly what I was looking for and really sparked my interests. so I applied!  Not only would I be able to utilize my mathematical skills to help on the project, but would get great hands on experience working with a team and applying what I know to help make an impact.  The class really appealed to me because I think it’s so important to understand the issues going on around the world.  Going to college at Lehigh can be like living in a bubble where the outside world feels closed off.  I want to broaden my knowledge of the world.  There are so many issues and problems that many people including myself don’t know are going on and I think it’s important to be exposed to those issues.  My goal is to learn as much as I can from this course and take it with me as I work on my project.

I am a mathematics major which is probably not one of the common majors taking this course.  The math courses I take are very theoretical and abstract and I get asked all the time what can you do with a math degree? Learning math is training the mind to think in a specific way and process information in a certain way, not just about the theories.  I’m really hoping that this course will help broaden my ways of thinking.  I want to connect my mathematical mind to something that is concrete and real.  This class will definitely help me apply what I’ve learned in class to real projects, but the project will help me understand the deeper meaning behind learning what I am in class.  Many mathematical theories and models were discovered by people with a real world problem and needing to use math to solve it.  This project will help me learn how to take a problem in real life and figure out a way to break it down and use math to solve it.  Mathematical discoveries are still being made because there are still problems out there in the real world that need mathematical solutions.  I will become a better math student by understanding what really goes into why mathematicians study the topics they do to help solve the worlds problems.

Having over one billion people in the world that do not have access to eyeglasses that need them is a devastating issue that needs to be addressed.  There seems to be multiple issues with this problem with the main ones being the access to an eye doctor and having the money to afford glasses and obtain eye care.  Because these issues are happening in developing countries it is harder to address them.  The goal here is to be able to provide eye care to people who can’t afford it and looking for a solution to help developing countries improve the quality of life for their citizens.  A solution to this issue is to help educate people in these countries about how to access themselves if they potentially need eye glasses.  If there was a standard eye test that people could conduct themselves without having to take a visit to the doctor it would help bring awareness to people that they need to take the steps to try and get glasses.  There could be a do it yourself eye exam that would help people indicate how their eye sight is.  For example, it could be to take the letters they have you read at the doctors and put them at a certain distance and try to read them on your own.  The next step to this solution would be to figure out a way to create affordable eye glasses for the people that can’t afford to get eye glasses.  This is trickier because glasses are designed specifically for certain individuals and the lenses are not cheap to make.  There could be a program for people that are able to afford glasses to donate their old glasses after they renew their prescription and then those glasses can be given to someone with the same prescription that can’t afford to buy them.