Conservation Impacts on the Global Scale

I really enjoyed Jessica Jackley's presentation on her company, Kiva. Her manner of presentation and the subject matter were really great to listen to. I enjoyed that she brought in humor in her speech and discussed some of the troubles she encountered on the way to creating her company. There were a lot of key moments that stuck with me during the talk. I thought her point of view on economics particularly resonated with me, in that she felt that she wanted to help others but saw economics as a selfish industry and not suited to her goals, something that I had felt in the past before. As I'm taking economics, I've been seeing increasingly how economics can be used to help others ethically, which is something Jackley noted in her talk too as she interacted with students at Stanford studying economics. Jackley's presentation reminded me of Masauko Chipembere's talk in that they were both open to talking about their failures they experienced along the way to their ...

I came out with a lot to think about after Joseph Jok and Alepho Deng's visit to Poly during a high school assembly and an afterschool event. Unfortunately, since Judy Bernstein, the co-author of Disturbed in their Nests , was unable to attend these events, Joseph Jok helped Alepho introduce information on Sudanese history that gave an effective description of politics and geography during the events of the Sudanese Civil War. I found this section of the event particularly important for my understanding of the subsequent description that Alepho gave of his experiences in Sudan as well as cementing the events described by Alepho both in the talk and Disturbed in their Nests  in a greater historical context. Before anything, I want to express my admiration for the fortitude of Alepho in talking to us. I am aware that Alepho during the day talked to the middle school, the high school, interested students at lunch, and gave a presentation after school, which must have been extrem...

I just wanted to talk briefly about the Qingjiang Biota and its significance to biological research. I personally think biology is a more global subject than many people might think. It brings researchers to a variety of different places to study living or extinct animals. I've seen this with friends and researchers alike: Diego Blanco's taken his interests in biology to Peru and the postdoctoral researcher I've worked with for research on developmental biology has studied hemichordates, or a type of worm, loosely speaking, in other parts of the United States (since housing on the California coast has destroyed environments that would have suited hemichordates well). In my research at the Bronner Lab, researchers all over the world from South Africa to Japan came to work with lamprey (a rare model for studying evolution). I was able to talk with Tetsuto Miyashita, a researcher studying the evolution of the jawed vertebrates, about paleontology and I got to thinking how ...

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Chipembere's talk yesterday. Like the presenters, I wasn't sure in which direction he would go, as he could discuss his activism in permaculture, musical career, work to better communities in Malawi, or even experience at Poly. The most resounding idea that came from his presentation was his description of continued effort to be a global citizen. Mr. Chipembere was open and honest about his experiences to getting to know his heritage, which I could totally relate to. He was born to Malawian nationals and grew up in LA without having learned much of his heritage. I myself have not been able to explore China much and even though I've grown up in a Chinese household, learned the language, and talked to immigrant relatives, I still feel a separation from my roots, so to speak. Mr. Chipembere told an intensely personal story of his path towards global scholarship, which he described as a process. He wasn't afraid to discuss his failings in the proces...

I haven't finished Disturbed in Their Nests yet, but I'm really enjoying this book! Alepho's look at the world is fascinating, as well as how this book was written. From what I know, Disturbed in their Nests is a sequel of sorts to They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, another book written in part by Alepho Deng, covering his adaptation to San Diego. This is something I haven't seen before: in books that covered relocation such as Never Fall Down and First they Killed my Father , albeit in different conditions, talk little about life in America and its contrast to Cambodia. Disturbed in their Nests discusses thoroughly the perspective of a refugee or a foreigner, more broadly, and their adaptation to a new life in San Diego. This is something I felt was missing from other global-oriented books to read, not just the details of a struggle for survival, but the struggle for adaptation. Another interesting narrative choice taken by Alepho and Judy Bernstein was the cho...

Attending the screening of Brave Girl Rising was truly a distinct experience from the other GIP events I've attended, including Kalyanee Mam's screening of her documentary. Martha Adams described her efforts to create a film as something different from a documentary, and after watching her film, I certainly agree with her. Brave Girl Rising is framed through poetry and through visuals, the latter of which may not be as immediately apparent.                   I found it an interesting creative decision to use a verbal medium to describe visuals, but I can see the value behind the poetic language used to describe the setting and the experiences of Nasro, the focus of the film. As someone interested in art and by extension how it's used in the story-telling process, I paid attention to the environment that Brave Girl Rising was filmed in, which I remember being described in text as "not quite beautiful," yet I feel that creative efforts were...

I've been looking at another idea for a Capstone Project that right now, seems a lot more viable. I'd like to organize a panel discussion based on sustainability which would draw on researchers from the Resnick Institute at Caltech. I'm interested in inviting 3-4 speakers who would potentially talk about reducing waste in the way of transportation, the electrical grid, and electricity storage. Currently, I'm in touch with Dr. Neil Fromer, the executive director of the Resnick Institute to find potential speakers for this event. I'm excited about this idea and I'll keep the blog up to date on later developments on this projects.