Guest Lecturer Biographies
NOVEMBER
4pm Thursday, November 4 2004, Downs
107
David Kaisel
Sustainable Sciences Institute
Pulling rabbits from a hat:
Challenges of applying novel health technologies for developing world needs
Using the example of our point-of-care assay development project, I will
briefly explore the following topics:
-the need to take a multidisciplinary systems approach to product definition
and development
-ensuring that market need drives technology development, rather than
vice-versa
-the challenges and benefits of finding a common language for multidisciplinary
projects
-the difficulties of developing complex/novel technologies in a non-profit
environment
4pm Tuesday, November
9 2004, Thomas 206
"International Development - A report from the trenches. Some thoughts on how to make it work."
Michael Rosberg
Author of The Power of Greed
Why do so many international development projects fail? Is it because poor
regions are inherently corrupt, or is it because developers and donors do not
properly take into account how local survival mechanisms work? In a lively and
provocative analysis of community development, Michael Rosberg
challenges the received wisdom of international developers, suggesting that in
order for development to be successful it must speak directly to the
self-interest of individuals in targeted communities. In an accessible, personal
work, the author navigates the thickets of theory and ideology to arrive at
pragmatic strategies that demonstrate that when an individual's self-interest
is creatively and appropriately engaged, the greater good of the community can
be well served.
Dr. Rosberg
has worked as a high school teacher in Colombia and Canada, a Develop Project
Officer for the Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO) and Director of
Development Programmes for the International
Department of the Canadian Co-operative Association. He has done development project consulting
work for Government of Canada and for non-governmental and multi-lateral
development organizations in
4pm Thursday, November 18 2004,
Iqbal Quadir
Grameen Phone
In the Hands of People
Information and communications technologies can foster much needed broad-based
economic development in poor countries. They are opening up new possibilities
for empowering a large number of people. One example is the spread of mobile
phones in my native
GrameenPhone was established in late 1996 and started
building a new cellular network and providing services to the public soon
thereafter. To date, GrameenPhone has built the
largest cellular network in the country with investments approaching $500
million and a subscriber base of nearly two million. Its rural program is
already available in more than 40,000 villages where 55,000 micro-entrepreneurs
retail telephone services, providing telephone access to more than 50 million.
These micro-entrepreneurs make after costs $2 per day in profits, nearly twice
the per capita income in
This project sees poor people as contributors, not targets for aid. Citizens
are not just receiving but producing services. Their involvement lowers costs
while improving their own knowledge and skills. Their increase in productivity
and improvement in knowledge and skills are, I believe, what we mean by
development.
OCTOBER
Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday is the
founder of Light Up The World (“LUTW”), a
Canadian humanitarian initiative whose chief goal is to assist the poor in the
developing world to obtain affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly White
Light Emitting Diode (“WLED”) based home lighting powered by
renewable energy sources.
Since inception LUTW has
provided near permanent lighting to more than 3,500 homes in numerous countries
including Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Bolivia and Mexico. Around 20,000 people have been impacted directly
and possibly as many more indirectly. LUTW projects have brought tangible gains
to communities enhancing their health and safety, fostering local education,
developing an economic infrastructure and protecting the environment.
Dr. Irvine-Halliday will be speaking as part of the 2004 ESW-Caltech
Speaker Series on October 7th, 2004 at 4pm in Noyes 153. For more information see http://esw.caltech.edu/
David Goodstein is Vice Provost,
Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, and Frank J. Gilloon
Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor at Caltech. He recently authored
the book Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil,
which will be available for purchase and signing at this event.
Professor Goodstein is scheduled to give a
talk as part of the Ernest C. Watson Lecture Series on October 13th
at 7:30pm in the Beckman Auditorium. For more information click here.
On the evening of October 28th,
Art Center College of Design and the Toyota Motor Corporation Endowed Lecture
Series host an evening at
In 1999 Time magazine recognized him
as a 'Hero for the Planet', stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a
unified philosophy that in demonstrable and practical ways is changing the
design of the world."
The evening will begin with tours of
6:30pm-7:30pm - Docent tours of Art Center
7:30pm-9:00pm - Lecture, with reception afterward