economics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, bioengineering, civil and environmental
engineering, information management, public health, and business.
At the inaugural seminar, DIL researcher Gaetano Borriello, Professor
of Computer Science & Engineering at University of Washington,
addressed a packed audience on the functions and features of Open
Data Kit (ODK), a suite of software developed by his research group.
ODK is an open-source toolkit that simplifies survey design and
deployment, enabling users to build forms and analyze, transfer, and
share data on various platforms. ODK is being used by thousands of
people in field settings around the world, to capture information about
the needs and wants of communities and individual consumers.
The DevEng seminars have created a forum where faculty and
practitioners with extensive applied expertise can engage with
intellectually curious students, who bring their own innovative ideas.
DIL researcher Gaetano Borriello discussing the
Open Data Kit (ODK) during a Research in Action
seminar.
“We’re all coming together to this with different perspectives, different backgrounds, different biases,” said
UC Berkeley Bioengineering Professor Dan Fletcher during a seminar on CellScope, a smartphone-enabled
microscope technology used for remote diagnosis in developing countries. CellScope, a DIL demonstration
project, uses consumer technology to extend access to health care; it is being used to detect corneal diseases
in Thailand, tuberculosis in Vietnam, oral cancer in India, and to image blood parasites in Cameroon.
The speaker series has helped to build momentum toward the launch of the Designated Emphasis in
Development Engineering (Dev Eng), a new interdisciplinary PhD minor available to UC Berkeley doctoral
students this Fall.
Co-directed by Agogino and Clair Brown, Professor of Economics, the DE
rests on the belief that the most powerful advances in development can be
propelled through interdisciplinary collaboration and analysis of
development solutions. Brown said, “The goal of a Designated Emphasis in
Development Engineering is to facilitate and formalize an intellectual
community to use advanced science, economics, and technology for
potential solutions to complex global issues.”
Alice Agogino serves as the Chair of the
Designated Emphasis in Development
Engineering.
Courses for the Designated Emphasis in Development Engineering will begin
this Fall and the Research in Action series will continue Spring 2015. To
learn more about the Designated Emphasis in Development Engineering,
visit deveng.berkeley.edu.
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