Seminar Series: The LASER Experience, Integrating Research and Practice for Effective Development

LASER (Long-term Assistance and SErvices for Research) PULSE (Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine) is a five-year, $70M program funded through USAID’s Innovation, Technology, and Research Hub in the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation, that delivers research-driven solutions to field-sourced development challenges in USAID  partner countries.

When: June 10, 2021, 12 PM ET

A consortium led by Purdue University, with core partners Catholic Relief Services, Indiana University, Makerere University, and the University of Notre Dame, implements the LASER PULSE program through a growing network of 2,500+ researchers and development practitioners in 61 countries. LASER PULSE collaborates with USAID missions, bureaus, and independent offices and other local stakeholders to identify research needs for critical development challenges, and funds and strengthens capacity of researcher-practitioner teams to co-design solutions that translate into policy and practice.

In this seminar, Arvind Raman from Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University will discuss the “systems engineering” needed to put together such a program, specifically in terms of identification of key development bottleneck challenges where research can help move the needle, integrating development research and practice, and scaling impact.

E4C’s Seminar Series features academic laboratories researching solutions to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. The world’s cutting edge research deserves a platform with a global audience. Join us for presentations of new findings from investigative teams around the globe each month. And researchers, we welcome your applications to take part in the series. Please send an email to research@engineeringforchange.org.

Presenter

Dr. Arvind Raman is the Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on exploiting nonlinear dynamics for innovations in diverse interdisciplinary areas. He is the co-founder of the Shah Family Global Innovation Lab that supports technology development and translation for sustainable development and the PI of the $70M USAID funded LASER PULSE center that catalyzes a global network of universities, government agencies, organizations, and the private sector for practical solutions to development challenges in underdeveloped countries. Dr. Raman secured funding from the NSF, NIH, NASA, NNSA, USAID, philanthropic donors, and several industrial sponsors. He is an ASME fellow, an ASME Gustus Larson Memorial Award recipient, and a NSF CAREER awardee. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, MS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, and a B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He joined Purdue in 2000 and currently serves as the Executive Associate Dean of the Faculty and Staff in the College of Engineering. He also served as Associate Dean for Global Engineering Programs, leading strategic initiatives for global education, research, and engagement in Latin America, Africa, and East Asia.

Moderator

Dr. Jesse Austin-Breneman is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 from MIT. He also holds a S.M. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a B.S. in Ocean Engineering also from MIT. Previous to his academic career, he worked as a development engineer in Peru, working with rural communities on alternative business opportunities and with local doctors’ groups on medical device development. He also spent two years as a high school mathematics teacher in Boston, MA. He currently is the director of the Global Design Laboratory. The group focuses on developing design processes and support tools to help multi-disciplinary design teams think at a systems-level when performing complex system design tasks. This includes investigating the best way to incorporate system-level interactions between stakeholders in emerging markets into the design decision-making process.