See how the Verizon and CGI U 2021 Social Innovation Challenge team finalists are developing innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including health equity, climate justice, and educational opportunity
Since 2008, Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) has brought together thousands of students to develop innovative solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. This year, in support of students driving change through technology, CGI U and Verizon partnered on the 2021 Social Innovation Challenge. This program encouraged teams of current undergraduate students, graduate students, and CGI U alumni to develop technology-based solutions — including those leveraging the power of Verizon 5G — to address significant societal challenges related to education, health equity, and climate justice while diversifying the next generation of social entrepreneurs.
This collaboration is part of CGI U’s commitment to provide student leaders and innovators with funding, mentorship, training, and networking opportunities throughout the year. It also highlights Verizon’s commitment to support the development of technology-based solutions for social change. This partnership with CGI U is part of Citizen Verizon, Verizon’s responsible business plan for economic, environmental, and social advancement.
Last month, the Clinton Foundation and Verizon announced the 13 team finalists who are receiving a total of $350,000 in grant funding, hands-on entrepreneurial training from accelerator partner VentureWell, and the opportunity to pitch their solutions to win an additional $20,000 each in seed funding and sponsorship in continued VentureWell programming.
These innovative projects tap into a wide range of emerging technologies — such as virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence — to address critical challenges in health equity, climate justice, and educational opportunity. These teams represent 22 institutions of higher education, including four members of the CGI University Network, and are made up of both members of the CGI U Class of 2021 and distinguished CGI U alumni.
Using augmented reality to help people learn new languages
Research shows that people learn new languages more effectively through physical activity –both retaining words and helping process full sentences. To assist, Danny Villanueva, Jason Gonzalez, and Kevin Villanueva of the University of California, Santa Barbara created Squawk –an app that uses augmented reality to create an immersive visual and auditory environment where people can learn new languages.
As first-generation Latinx students, the Squawk team began their academic careers as English language learners. Their personal connection to those trying to learn a new language led them to develop this innovative app that creates associations with everyday objects and words suspended in a virtual space through augmented reality. By walking around the physical world day-to-day and seeing words above the objects, people can more easily create associations that speed up learning, improve comprehension, and ultimately, make learning a new language a more engaging journey.
“For many, language is not just a hobby, it is a survival skill. We hope to be able to use the powerful immersion of cutting-edge technology, such as augmented reality, in order to speed up the process and quality of language learning.”
Improving health care through innovative new monitoring masks
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global health care system, hospitals became overwhelmed, overcrowded, and susceptible to the spread of the virus. Moreover, long wait times in emergency departments, in particular, led to inconsistent vital monitoring — often impacting people of color more frequently.
In response, Longsha Liu, Kristen Ong, and Julia Isakov of Cornell University are developing VitalMask, a physical face mask with a gasket seal that protects against the spread of viral particles while also providing continuous monitoring and displaying of patient vitals. The VitalMask sensors detect patient body temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate, and oxygenated blood percentages to allow for more accurate, consistent monitoring during patient wait times. The VitalMask will also be reusable, which will create an affordable, sustainable, and more equitable vital monitoring tool.
“Healthcare Equity is an important area of focus for us, as we consider healthcare to be a right that should be easily accessible and effective for everyone. Moreover, people of color often have their pain levels under measured, and if mis-triaged to the waiting room, they will not have their vitals checked again for hours in a crowded waiting room. We believe cost-effective continuous monitoring is the solution for this problem for anyone, anywhere.”
Using AI-based lip-reading to help aphonic individuals
Following lifesaving airway interventions, patients are frequently left without the ability to speak. This can leave these individuals unable to communicate their health care needs, leading to negative effects on their wellbeing and overall quality of life.
To help improve communication for individuals in hospital settings who are unable to speak, Manasa Chinta, Cedric Clyburn, and Nga Nguyen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established LiRA. Using an AI-based lip-reading voice restoration software that can detect facial movements, the LiRA app translates videos of aphonic individuals communicating into audio. The team was also awarded support from CGI U’s COVID-19 Student Action Fund. This app aims to help give these individuals a voice, specifically targeting urban hospitals where 97 percent of these procedures occur — with a goal of improving more than 250,000 lives in the next three years.
“Loss of voice is not just a physical disability, but an issue that can significantly affect someone’s quality of life and their wellbeing. In addition, for the 106 percent more cases of aphonia across the US in the past decade, it’s a growing concern with limited 21st-century solutions. LiRA’s goal is to develop next-generation voice restoration software using artificial intelligence to empower the aphonic.”
Creating digital connections for farmers in Malawi and beyond
Smallholder farmers in Malawi are beset by the effects of climate change, which has led to underproduction and food insecurity. Abel Mkulama and Oasys Okubo of the University of California, Santa Cruz have developed SANKOFA_precision, a program that uses technology to monitor key metrics like soil health, moisture content, and nutrient levels, while also charting data over time to help farmers make informed decisions.
SANKOFA_precision will develop their data and digital farm management tools and launch a pilot project to test this approach, with the goal of piloting in Lilongwe, Malawi, and later expanding to California to help farmers save water and use remote sensing technologies to fight severe climates. To help reach more farmers and address their critical needs, the program will also be assisted by the Clinton Development Initiative, a Clinton Foundation initiative that works across several African nations, including Malawi.
“The project was inspired by Abel’s personal experience growing up on a rural farm in Northern Malawi. He witnessed and experienced the growing impact of climate change, including changes in rain seasonality, frequent dry spells, and crop pests and diseases. SANKOFA _precision wants to provide agricultural data and digital farm management tools to assist smallholder farmers in making informed decisions and increase their climate resilience.”
Using virtual reality (VR) technology to open career opportunities
Many young people are limited in their career paths because they lack access to financial support or technology to consider certain professional trajectories. To address these gaps in education and opportunity due to unequal access, Brittany Stewart and Anthony Dohman have launched Kazi!Kazi!, a VR platform to help students explore a wide range of career pathways through simulations with topic experts. Stewart and Dohman attend Howard University, which served as the host campus for the CGI U 2021 annual meeting.
Using cell phones, computers, and gaming consoles, Kazi!Kazi! allows students to experience a day in the life of various careers in virtual settings and interact with professionals from a number of industries. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Kazi!Kazi! recognized the need for equitable, educational opportunities — and by connecting students with a diverse range of topic experts and professionals, they aim to expand the tech gap across sectors.
“We share a passion for providing equitable educational solutions for low-income students of color, specifically Black students. During the beginning of the transition of the pandemic, we became concerned with the academic advancement of students who are normally forgotten in the education system and the tech gap between Black and non-Black students. Kazi!Kazi! is software that will help us continue to break education barriers in a virtual space”
