June 25, 2008 - University of Southern California and the Deshpande Foundation Partner to Make Impact in India with Student Ideas

June 24, 2008

Student Teams Will Address Two Major Issues in India:
Clean Water and Oral Cancer Education

LOS ANGELES and BOSTON (June 25, 2008) – What are you doing on your summer vacation? If you are an innovative student from the University of Southern California, the answer might be spending summer in India, providing water treatment measures to mitigate the spread of water-borne diseases, and educating locals on how to prevent oral cancer.

The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation has partnered with the Deshpande Foundation, a leading philanthropic foundation focused on innovation and international development, to pilot summer program for student innovators to develop scalable ideas for improving the quality of life in specific regions of India. The grants will support USC student-led initiatives addressing major challenges in India. This summer the emphasis will be on improving the quality of water, and creating greater awareness of oral cancer.

Through the grants, student teams will receive housing in urban areas, and will be affiliated with some of the 45 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have partnered with the Deshpande Foundation to develop socially innovative projects in India's Northwestern Karnataka region.  The grants will also cover the project development and implementation expenses. When proven successful, scalable and sustainable, the student projects may be funded by Deshpande on a continuing basis.

"Above all else, we were looking for scalable and sustainable solutions to immediate needs, with the potential to impact many lives worldwide. In selecting the winners for this summer program, we sought interdisciplinary student teams that are ready to test a product or idea within a real-life situation today," said Desh Deshpande, from the Deshpande Foundation. "USC has proven to be an outstanding partner, and we look forward to working with their students throughout the summer in India."

"Our partnership with Deshpande Foundation exemplifies innovation – empowering people to make maximum impact with their ideas, for the benefit of society. And providing this kind of unique and ground-breaking opportunity for our students serves our mission completely," said Krisztina "Z" Holly, Vice Provost for Innovation at the University of Southern California, and Executive Director of the USC Stevens Institute for innovation. "Our hope is that this pilot program grows beyond USC, to enable students from universities nationwide to participate."

Team Water

By both providing water treatment measures and educating locals about the preventative aspect of healthcare by emphasizing hygiene and sanitation, this six-student team aims to mitigate the spread of water-borne diseases that are endemic to the Hubli-Dharwad district. The team will also emphasize a worksite-based health education system where, instead of simply being treated and sent away, individuals will be fully-informed and empowered to be responsible for their own health. They will be working with an organization called 'haath mein sehat', or health in their hands (HMS).

According to reports, more than one-third of the population is not currently covered by public health facilities and one-fourth of the households do not have access to clean drinking water.  It is imperative to address the health-related problems arising from poor water quality management because it is the underlying cause of other problems, such as low economic productivity, access to education, and child mortality.

USC student team members include:

• Christine Lee, B.S. Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, and President of Global Medical Brigades-USC
• David Livingston, B.A. International Relations, member GMB-USC
• Kimberly Lewkowitz, B.A. International Relations
• D.J. Strouse, B.S. Biomedical (Electrical) Engineering and member Engineers Without Borders-USC,
• Nanda Surendran, B.E. Mechatronics Engineering, M.S. Biomedical Engineering
• Alexander John, B.S. Environmental Engineering. Vice-President EWB-USC

 Team Oral Cancer

Five USC students will work on a team addressing a specific type oral cancer unique to the Indian sub continent, an epidemic directly linked to the consumption of tobacco products that are common in the diet of rural children.  While research over the past few decades has manifest the widespread and growing nature of the problem, not much information has been published as to how an organization may begin to address education on the community and grass-roots level.

This project will implement a plan that aims to educate, the leadership of a small community for the purposes of minimizing future risks for oral cancer. The lessons learned by this team will serve as the basis for future students working in the region.

The team will work directly with children and teachers in schools, and cancer patients and health care practicioners in clinics and treatment facilities, to educate the community about oral cancer.

USC student team members include:

• Tajdip Sandhu, CLAS Biology, USC Keck School of Medicine
• Crystal Ives, USC Keck School of Medicine
• Mairin Joseph, USC Keck School of Medicine
• Sagar Patel, Biological Sciences, USC Keck School of Medicine
• Jeffrey Loh-Doyle, Biological Sciences and International Relations, USC Keck School of Medicine
  

"We are thrilled to have been selected as the first teams to pilot this exciting program. The opportunity to try out our idea, on the ground in India, could not have happened without Deshpande Foundation and USC," said Christine Lee, from Team Water. "With the support of this program, perhaps our teams will find real-world, viable solutions to a severe problems in India and beyond." 

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 About the USC Stevens institute for Innovation

The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation (http://stevens.usc.edu) is a university-wide resource in the Office of the Provost at the University of Southern California designed to harness and advance the creative thinking and breakthrough research from USC for societal impact.  USC Stevens Institute identifies, nurtures, protects, and transfers to the market the most exciting innovations from USC, and in turn, provides a central connection for industry seeking cutting-edge innovations in which to invest.  Furthermore, USC Stevens Institute develops the innovator as well as innovations, through educational programs, community-building events, and showcase opportunities. 

About the Deshpande Foundation

The Deshpande Foundation is the family foundation of Gururaj ("Desh") and Jaishree Deshpande. Founded in 1996, it is a leading philanthropic foundation in Massachusetts and India, focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and international development. The foundation provides grants to non-profit and non-governmental organizations in the United States and India that: empower people to participate in a global economy; use innovation as means of creating opportunities & solving problems; and improve the quality of life in Northern Karnataka, with a specific emphasis on the Hubli-Dharwad region. In the US, the foundation focuses on the Greater Boston Region.

Media Contact

Elisa Wiefel
University of Southern California
USC Stevens Institute for Innovation
213-821-6063
wiefel@usc.edu

 
Sally Stewart
SA Stewart Communications
(310) 394-8400
sally@sastewart.com