SI-RITEA 2024 Grant Recipients
In the SI-RITEA program’s inaugural year, the Schiller Institute awarded 10 projects totaling over $285K. Projects addressed water purification, climate resilience and wellbeing, children’s health, new partnerships with local organizations, and more.
Promoting Community Climate Resilience and Wellbeing in Northern Kenya through Peace Education
PI: Avneet Hira, Assistant Professor, Engineering Department
Project Brief:
In partnership with Garissa University (GaU) in Northern Kenya, which serves approximately 61% of Kenya’s geographic area, this research project is situated at the convergence of climate resilience and wellbeing. We will use a multidisciplinary peace education approach to co-design and build local capacity for climate resiliency with our collaborators at GaU. Garissa County has experienced severe environmental challenges, such as drought, resource conflict, and related shocks to pastoral livelihoods.
The goals of the project are:
- Developing solutions at the nexus of local conflict, climate, environmental resource competition, and livelihood resilience in Northern Kenya by leveraging indigenous knowledge and expertise
- Improving civil society engagement through mechanisms for cooperative learning to address critical community needs, such as resource competition and livelihood resilience
- Building local capacity for climate resiliency among community members through training in peace education
The project partnership team comprises experts in Environmental Studies and Agriculture (Dr. Mohamed at GaU), Resilient Systems (Dr. Henriques at James Madison University) and Human-Centered Engineering and Design Education (Dr. Hira at Boston College).
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Examining the Impact of Prolonged Droughts and Erratic Rainfall Events on the Health and Well-being of Youths (15-24 years) in Uganda.
PI: William Byansi, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Collaborator(s):
Praveen Kumar, Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Project Brief:
In sub-Saharan Africa, most of the population is under 35 years old and faces significant challenges such as poverty, poor mental health, climate change, and extreme weather events. Climate change has increased occurrences of extreme weather events like heatwaves, floods, droughts, and unpredictable rainfall patterns in the region. These events, directly and indirectly, affect food and water security, leading to higher poverty rates and adverse mental health outcomes. While studies from other regions have found associations between climate change and mental health issues, there is a lack of research specifically focused on sub-Saharan Africa.
This proposed study addresses this gap by examining the impact of drought and erratic rainfall on youth's health and well-being in Uganda. The study has three main aims: (1) qualitatively explore the immediate and long-term mental health responses of youth to successive drought and erratic rainfall, (2) examine the association between droughts, erratic rainfall, and mental health challenges among youth, and (3) identify factors that moderate the effects of climate change on mental health outcomes. The study will involve 30 qualitative interviews with youths and local leaders. Additionally, the team will leverage existing infrastructure and relationships at Uganda's African Medical and Behavioral Sciences Organization (AMBSO) to conduct a cross-sectional survey among 522 youths.
Overall, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the impact of climate change on the mental health of youth in Uganda and the first step towards seeking additional funding to contribute to the development of contextually relevant interventions in the region.
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Ceramic Water Filters for Household Water Purification in Limited-Resource Settings
PI: Ali Salifu, Assistant Professor, Engineering Department
Project Brief
Many people in limited-resource communities, especially in rural areas in the Global South, do not have access to safe drinking water. For instance, about 11% of the population of Ghana does not have access to safe drinking water and relies on contaminated surface water and groundwater sources, which pose serious public health risks. This project aims to develop the next generation of ceramic water filters that concurrently remove bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and heavy chemicals from water in a way that addresses the potential barriers to implementation, namely: the cost of ownership and the rate at which the filters break. In the first part of the project, we will select low-cost and/or locally available resources (e.g., clay, hydroxyapatite, alumina, iron oxide, kaolin) for the filter design with the goal of maximizing the removal efficiencies of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and heavy chemicals. In the second part, we will optimize the proportions of additives that will maximize the mechanical properties of filters (e.g., fracture toughness) while achieving high filtration performance exceeding the WHO benchmarks. The successful development of low-cost ceramic water filters with high filtration performance and fracture resistance would facilitate their deployment to provide clean water (SDG #6) and improve the health and well-being (SDG #3) of people in limited-resource communities.
Partnering with Boston Public Schools to Inspire the Next Generation of Geoscientists Through the Stories of the Earth
PI: Ethan Baxter, Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences Department
Collaborator(s):
Kate McNeill, Professor, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society Department
Partner Organization:
Boston Public Schools
Project Brief:
The geosciences are the least diverse of all STEM fields. In addition, the geosciences continue to be plagued by historically and culturally ingrained stigmas that conspire to push science minded youth, and especially youth from traditionally underrepresented communities, away from the geosciences. These problems hurt the geosciences and in turn hurt our global society where the geosciences are critically important to solving many of today’s most pressing environmental issues (e.g. climate change, environmental sustainability, resource depletion, critical minerals and metals, water, energy, etc).
Every Rock Has A Story (ERHAS) is a growing collection of inspiring and educational YouTube videos for kids. We will create 8-10 new episodes with the overarching theme of “Life’s Relationship with the Earth” aligned with grades 2-5 NGSS curriculum. These episodes will show children the diverse faces of real geoscientists, doing diverse geoscience in exciting locations, and sharing their own diverse stories about the Earth and our place within it. We will directly deliver ERHAS by piloting a new curricular partnership with the Boston Public Schools (BPS) throughout the 2023-2024 academic year. With BPS, we will develop and undertake formal evaluation and assessment surveys of the effectiveness of ERHAS in meeting its goal to inspire diverse kids about geoscience and to help them see themselves as scientists.
Environmental History of the Lower Neponset River
PI: Conevery Bolton Valencius, Professor, History Department
Partner Organizations:
Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA)
The Institute for New England Native American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston
Project Brief:
This project will research the environmental history of the lower Neponset River in partnership with the Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) and the Institute for New England Native American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The specific outcome will be a map-based historical timeline hosted on the NepRWA website. A broader aim is further collaboration about New England’s industrial rivers with community partners and across academic disciplines.
The Neponset River empties into Boston Harbor at Dorchester. Thousands of Massachusetts commuters cross the lower Neponset daily on the MBTA Red Line and Interstate 93. Some may know it was declared a federal Superfund site in March 2022. Few recognize that its watermills provided weapons of war between Natives and English settlers and powered American industry, or that its chocolate manufacturing tied New England to Southern slavery. Few know of the factories that dumped pollutants in the river, and fewer still know that its golden salt marshes are endangered by the rising seawaters of our changing climate.
Making the history of the lower Neponset River publicly available will call attention to this troubled but rich local resource and provide a basis for understanding climate-driven challenges to the river and the communities through which it flows.
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PEDI-OUTCOMES: PEDIatric Observational study to Understand post-TB Treatment Completion Morbidity including Environmental and Spatial links
PI: Brittney van de Water, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing
Collaborator(s):
Bryan Ranger, Assistant Professor, Engineering Department
Philip Landrigan, Professor, Biology Department & Director, Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good
Project Brief:
Our aim in this study is to elucidate the effect of personal air pollutant exposure on children’s development of tuberculosis (TB) and post TB lung disease (PTLD) in rural South Africa, a high TB prevalence setting, by prospectively collecting and analyzing data on TB clinical history, air pollutant exposure, lung functioning, and quality of life. Each year, more than 1.1 million children globally develop TB and one quarter of them die, despite TB being treatable for more than 70 years. However, if TB is diagnosed and treated appropriately, mortality can be <1%. Therefore, the burden of TB morbidity and post TB lung disease is poorly quantified in children, but is likely high given that between 60 and 90% of adults who survive TB experience PTLD. There is an urgent need for strategies to better identify, screen, diagnose, treat, and care for children during and after TB treatment. Additionally, poor air quality is another major issue among children in sub-Saharan Africa, also damaging children’s lungs and further increasing risk of developing TB. Therefore, again, we aim to understand the effect of air pollution exposure on childhood development of TB and PTLD in children.
Addressing Social issues through Cross-sector Partnership: Co-Designing a Youth Leadership Initiative with the Chelsea Children’s Cabinet
PI: Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership & Higher Education Department
Collaborator(s):
Betty Lai, Associate Professor, Counseling, Developmental & Educational Psychology Department
Partner Organization:
Chelsea Children’s Cabinet
Project Brief:
Youth well-being is at risk in our country. Our work investigates how cross-sector partners, across different agencies and community organizations, conceptualize and act to enhance youth wellbeing through a Children’s Cabinet in Chelsea. With generous support from Boston College, including SIGECS funding from the Schiller Institute, our research team has worked closely with community partners to facilitate the Children’s Cabinet since its inception in March of 2021. Our team serves as core members of the Cabinet’s leadership team to plan and document the process of building cross-sector infrastructure to support youth in Chelsea. Thus far, we have helped the Cabinet facilitate opportunities to hear from youth on key factors in their well being and incorporate youth leadership in community problem solving. The next phase of work will engage youth directly in the cabinet by establishing a Youth Leadership Institute. In collaboration with our community partners, we will explore these questions: 1. What leadership and inquiry experiences can we co-design with youth to involve them in addressing youth wellbeing and addressing social issues in Chelsea? 2. How does our participatory design process meaningfully engage youth in the Children’s Cabinet’s cross-sector efforts to increase youth wellbeing in Chelsea?
A strategic partnership: Creating a Collaboratory for Environmental Science
PI: Mike Barnett, Professor, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society Department
Collaborator(s):
Avneet Hira, Assistant Professor, Engineering Department
Helen Zhang, Senior Research Associate, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society Department
Partner Organization:
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Project Brief:
Our proposed work is that it includes a deep engagement with the community through both a local community organization and the local school district. This work will establish a firm partnership with CRMII, which aligns well with BC and the Schiller institute’s mission around liberal arts and science and technology education. The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation (CRMII) is a history museum dedicated to educating the public around how technological innovation emerged in Massachusetts and paved the way for the industrial revolution. Our diverse team will (1) Create interactive public displays where data visuals, created by the youth, will be shared with the public, (2) Utilize and implement a near-peer mentoring model to support youth in not only learning science but in developing a sense of purpose and identity around STEM, and (3) Support youth in creating a social media presence including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube where youth will leverage media to complement and communicate their work.
Children’s Third-Party Intervention across Urban and Rural Contexts in the Global South
PI: Katie McAuliffe, Associate Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience Department
Project Brief:
Positive peer relationships are a predictor of health and wellbeing in children and adolescents. Consequently, interventions to promote positive peer relationships and to deter antisocial behavior among peers are a clear priority for developmental work. A major limitation of existing work in this area is that it has largely neglected child populations in the Global South. As a consequence, current models of peer social relationship maintenance and the interventions that stem from them are not necessarily relevant for the diverse cultural contexts of the Global South. Here we propose a study that will help address this important gap by examining (1) peer responses to antisocial behavior (third-party intervention), (2) children's understanding of how choice influences others’ decisions to behave pro- or anti-socially and (3) children’s spontaneous honesty in urban and rural settings in India. We will work with 6 to 15-year-olds in schools in two areas in Odisha, India to conduct this multifaceted research project.
Understanding Just Transition in Bangladesh: Does Shift to Improved Brick Kilns lead to Well-being of Brick Workers?
PI: Praveen Kumar, Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Project Brief:
Brick kilns are one of the leading sources of air pollution in Bangladesh emitting carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and other pollutants. The Government of Bangladesh has recognized in its Nationally Determined Contributions (2021) that reforming the brick industry is vital for fulfilling its emission-reduction commitments. It proposes to ban pollution-intensive technologies like Fixed Chimney Kilns (FCKs) in favor of relatively improved technologies like Vertical Shaft Brick Kilns (VSBKs). Current research on brick kilns has largely focused on brick kiln technology transition. However, a key question persists – What are the consequences of transitioning to improved brick manufacturing for thousands of vulnerable low-income unskilled workers employed by the industry? The overall objective of this study is to examine the social and economic well-being of brick kiln workers in the wake of the recent push to transition to improved brick kiln technologies in Dhaka. The study examines the following specific aims: Is there a significant difference in access to decent work standards, financial well-being, and social networks of informal daily wage workers, who are employed in improved brick kilns relative to those in traditional kilns? The study also examines if the local air quality significantly improves by transitioning to improved brick kilns.