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On November 22, GreenHouse held their 30th Social Impact Showcase at United College, celebrating the next generation of innovators. GreenHouse is a social impact incubator for students and community members who want to create environmental or social change, with their early-stage business venture ideas.

Richard Myers, principal at United College, speaking at theopening remarks of the fall 2023 GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase.

The University of Waterloo from its inception has been distinguished by a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship that is really unique in this country, said Richard Myers, principal at United College, during his opening remarks.

Waterloo is consistently ranked the top university in Canada for entrepreneurs by Pitchbook University Rankings.

A decade ago, we noticed the outstanding achievements of Waterloos first student incubator, Velocity, which tends to focus on Engineering and Computer Science students. GreenHouse was conceived as a kind of complementary piece to Velocity, focusing on innovation aimed at social or environmental progress. Were pleased to host students from all six Waterloo faculties in equal numbers over the years, where we have made our programming available at zero cost to student participants.

The Social Impact Showcase held two rounds of pitches with 10 student-led startups competing for more than $18,000 in funding. From assistive technologies to community programs, GreenHouse announced the six winning teams who received between $500 to $8,000 in funding to support their sustainable ideas. While Rising SheFarmers was awarded the fall 2023 Peoples Choice and received an additional $1,000 in funding.

University of Waterloo and United College students pitch at the fall 2023 GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase.

Safi $8,000

Waterloo students Miraal Kabir, Martin Turuta and Daria Margarit, created Safi as the worlds first off-the-grid pasteurization monitoring unit to prevent the spread of milk-borne diseases in East Africa.

East Africa has the highest global incidence of ill health and death from heart disease, with 30 per cent of deaths in children under the age of five, explained Kabir, a computer science student and co-founder of Safi.

That is because right now theres no access to safe and quality milk. There are many problems in the dairy supply chain, which is why at Safi, we have patented the worlds first off-the-grid pasteurization control unit aimed towards smallholder farmers and vendors.

In 2023 alone, the Safi team has travelled to Africa twice this year to create a network of creation with more than 100 farmers in a WhatsApp group chat that communicate back and forth with the Safi team to make a product thats catered towards them.

The Safi team previously pitched at the 2021 Concept $5K startup finals and the spring 2023 Social Impact Showcase, where they won and received funding towards their innovative startup. Now, Safi has received the go ahead from the Rwandan dairy supply chain to do a pilot program with the six most sellers (that are all women) in Kenya and Rwanda.

Safi co-founders Martin Turuta (second left), Miraal Kabir, Filip Birger (head of Engineering at Safi) and Daria Margarit receive $8,000 in funding towards expandingSafi, the worlds first off-the-grid pasteurization monitoring unit to prevent the spread of milk-borne diseases in East Africa.

Patient Companion $5,000

Founded by Engineering student Christy Lee, Patient Companion is an easy-to-use solution devised as a communication app between nurses and patients to not only improve patient experience, but also helps reduce stress and burnout for nurses.

When I was volunteering at a hospital and at a long-term care center for two years, I saw a constant number of lights flashing across the hallway, Lee said. With the current nurse call system, the nurses do not know what types of requests the patients are making, and which patients need immediate help.

Lee explained how on average, nurses are assigned between five to nine patients each, where roughly 56 per cent of requests made by patients are non-urgent requests. As a result, 3 per cent of the time nurses would forget to come back after asking what the patient needs, while 10 per cent of requests get cancelled.

Patient Companion allows patients to make specific requests via the Patient Companion app that will then automatically prioritize the requests on the nurses end. While requests for water or blankets can be distributed among personal safety workers, volunteers or other available staff, which will ultimately reduce the workload and stress for nurses.

Patient Companion will also be competing as a finalist team in the fall 2023 Velocity Pitch Competition.

Engineering student, Christy Lee, receives $5,000 in funding towards Patient Companion an easy-to-use solution devised as a communication app between nurses and patients to not only improve patient experience, but also helps reduce stress and burnout for nurses.

Rising SheFarmers $2,000

Founded by masters student, Lydia Madintin Konlan, Rising SheFarmers want to empower rural women in Ghana to get out of poverty through mushroom farming.

I counted a lot of women [in Ghana] who struggle a lot to get access to decent work and employment due to limited access to productive resources, Konlan explained. We decided that the 57 per cent of women who remain having limited access to work can have something to do by producing mushrooms.

Rising SheFarmers has been able to produce a supplier to five women in these five communities across Ghana, produce 1,500 bags of mushrooms to these women and make a huge impact in their lives. The market for mushrooms is growing and Konlan and her team are committed to this transformative journey by making agriculture more sustainable for women to work in.

With the funding, Rising SheFarmers hope to grow their reach from 200 to 300 women and become an incorporation where rural women in Ghana can farm mushrooms for income.

More than 1,600 community members placed their votes for the People's Choice award. WhereRising SheFarmersreceived 54 per cent (900) of the total number of votes, making themthe fall 2023 Peoples Choice award. Konlan received an additional funding of $1,000 to grow Rising SheFarmers.

Raising SheFarmers founder,Lydia Madintin Konlan, receive $2,500 in funding towards empowering rural women in Ghana to get out of poverty through mushroom farming. Konlan also received the People's Choice award with an additional funding of $1,000.

Braille Buddy $1,500

Braille Buddy is designing computer-vision powered braille books to help low-vision individuals learn braille independently. Led by Shaahana Naufal, Julia Turner, Mathurah Ravigulan and Ayla Orucevic, the group of fourth-year systems design engineeringstudents are hoping to address the declining literacy rate among American children who have visual impairments and living in low-income communities.

Weve completed our image classification model, where we essentially take an image of each page of our braille book that is being read and isolate each character into its own images, explained Orucevic, a Faculty of Engineering student.

Then we would feed those images into our machine learning model which converts them into English texts. Were also building out the motion tracking feature, which would allow us to detect the coordinates of finger movement along with paper recognition.

With the Social Impact Fund, Braille Buddy hopes to register their device with the Ontario Assistive Devices program and partner with various school boards and low-vision organizations that the team are already in contact with, to pilot their device in real classroom and make Braille Buddy a reality for many children.

Student venture, Braille Buddy, receive $1,500 Social Impact Fund towards designingcomputer-vision powered braille books to help low-vision individuals learn braille independently.

WhereCafe $1,500

Founded by solo travellers, Carla Castaneda and Wanetha Sudswong (MEng 23), who want to empower other solo female travellers to travel around the world safely by using artificial and authentic intelligence to do the research for you.

WhereCafe has developed a mobile application where solo female travellers can type in their location and destination and the app will find the safest path from A to B. The app also provides multiple safety features to make travelling alone a bit easier. The first feature provides users the ability to set up an automated text (or call someone in their contacts) along the way based on their GPS location. The second feature provides the ability to add a report, where the app will then notify other travellers to avoid or navigate away from the reported area.

Our competitors dont know that it is extremely valuable to hear from our solo female travellers and well be the first to implement safe navigation and crowd sourcing in the same platform, Sudswong said.

Castaneda and Sudswong hopes to tap into the $11.5 billion market that had a record of more than 900 million travellers worldwide in 2022 alone. In the next six months, WhereCafe will start building a community in the Kitchener-Waterloo region for solo female travellers interested in exploring the city.

Student venture, WhereCafe, receive $1,500 Social Impact Fund towards empowering other solo female travellers to travel around the world safely by using artificial and authentic intelligence to do the research for you.

Real Research $500

Real Research is led by Faculty of Science student Ria Menon, whose student-run venture program is providing undergraduate students with more opportunities to get involved in scientific research labs on campus.

During the Spring 2023 term, Real Research saw a 100 per cent recommendation rate from their first cohort (20 students)of the program. Where the applications have doubled in size with a staggering 117 applicants for the fall cycle.

That just demonstrates the need for the Real Research program to fill in the gap that is missing for undergraduate students and research to be connected, said Menon, who looks forward to expanding the Real Research program to help advance the future of research.

Menon previously pitched at the spring 2023 Social Impact Showcase where Real Research received the Peoples Choice award. Since then, Real Research has launched their pilot program, received and incorporated feedback, and allocated additional funding from the Faculty of Science Foundation.

Student venture, Real Research, receive $500 Social Impact Fund towards supporting the student-run venture program in providing undergraduate students with more opportunities to get involved in scientific research labs on campus.

During the Social Impact Showcase, Erin Hogan, GreenHouse Programs Manager, announced that United College and the Faculty of Arts will be launching a new Social Innovation and Impact minor in the Fall 2024 term.

The Social Innovation and Impact minor will open up pathways for existing GreenHouse students and beyond to engage in pitches and projects, while they receive an official academic credit towards their degree. The launch of the new minor program also provides other Waterloo students with the ability to research, design, launch and test social innovations through applied and experiential learning opportunities.

More information to come on the Social Innovation and Impact minor.

Interested in making social or environmental change? Learn more about the GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase that is held each term and get started on your venture idea today by visiting the United College website.

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The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has selected Adam Phillippy, Ph.D. as the founding director of the new Center for Genomics and Data Science Research within the Institutes Intramural Research Program. In this role, he will provide scientific and administrative leadership, foster a collaborative and inclusive research environment and provide mentorship for researchers within the Center.

Since joining NHGRI in 2015, Dr. Phillippy has been an investigator and head of the Genome Informatics Section, where his research group develops and uses computational methods to sequence and analyze genome sequences. As a key leader of the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium, he played a pivotal role in generating the first truly complete human genome sequence, which revealed the presence of over 200 million additional bases of DNA. He is also a major contributor in the international Human Pangenome Reference Consortium, which published the first draft of a human pangenome, a more complete collection of genome sequences that captures more human diversity.

Adams vision for our new Center will uniquely position NHGRI to lead the burgeoning computational genomics and data science fields, said Charles Rotimi, Ph.D., Scientific Director of NHGRIs Intramural Research Program. Adam has established himself as an expert in genome sequence assembly and analysis not only within NIH but in the broader scientific community. I cant think of anyone more qualified and ready for this role.

Previously called the Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, the Center for Genomics and Data Science Research represents a reconfiguration of the research program to meet current challenges and opportunities in using computational strategies to study human and other genomes. As a newly designated center, the program aims to eventually have collaborative connections with other NIH institutes and bring together a larger set of local experts.

Adams vision for our new Center will uniquely position NHGRI to lead the burgeoning computational genomics and data science fields. Adam has established himself as an expert in genome sequence assembly and analysis not only within NIH but in the broader scientific community. I cant think of anyone more qualified and ready for this role.

The new Center will be developing and using cutting-edge computational approaches to analyze genome sequence data and conducting research in basic and applied genomics, comparative genomics, bioinformatics and genomic medicine. The newly established Center and its researchers are highly complementary with other components of NHGRIs Intramural Research Program, further enhancing their collective and collaborative abilities to address a fundamental challenge in genomics: understanding how genomic variants affect genome function in giving rise to phenotype.

As the genomics field becomes increasingly more data-intensive, the development of more powerful computational tools and technologies is necessary for making continued research advances, said Dr. Phillippy. Im excited to lead this incredibly talented and interdisciplinary group of investigators as we bring new knowledge and approaches to genomics research and medicine.

After graduating from Loyola University Maryland with a B.S. in computer science, Dr. Phillippy worked at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) before earning his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining NIH, he worked at the National Bioforensic Analysis Center, where he founded and led a bioinformatics group that developed genomic methods and analyzed DNA sequence data for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Dr. Phillippy has authored and co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed research papers and scientific reviews. He has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the NIH Directors Award. He was also a finalist for the 2022 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal and was named one of the worlds most influential people of 2022 by TIME magazine for his work on completing the human genome sequence.

Dr. Phillippy will begin his appointment as Director of the Center for Genomics and Data Science Research in the near future.

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Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signedAssembly Bill 873, which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year.

Ive seen the impact that misinformation has had in the real world how it affects the way people vote, whether they accept the outcomes of elections, try to overthrow our democracy, said the bills sponsor, Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat from Menlo Park. This is about making sure our young people have the skills they need to navigate this landscape.

The new law comes amid rising public distrust in the media, especially among young people. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that adults under age 30 arenearly as likely to believe informationon social media as they are from national news outlets. Overall, only 7% of adults havea great deal of trust in the media, according to a Gallup poll conducted last year.

Media literacy can help change that, advocates believe, by teaching students how to recognize reliable news sources and the crucial role that media plays in a democracy.

The increase in Holocaust denial, climate change denial, conspiracy theories getting a foothold, and now AI all this shows how important media literacy is for our democracy right now, said Jennifer Ormsby,library services manager for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The 2016 election was a real eye-opener for everyone on the potential harms and dangers of fake news.

AB 873 passed nearly unanimously in the Legislature, underscoring the nonpartisan nature of the topic. Nationwide, Texas, New Jersey and Delaware have also passed strong media literacy laws, and more than a dozen other states are moving in that direction,according to Media Literacy Now, a nonprofit research organization that advocates for media literacy in K-12 schools.

Still, Californias law falls short of Media Literacy Nows recommendations. Californias approach doesnt include funding to train teachers, an advisory committee, input from librarians, surveys or a way to monitor the laws effectiveness.

Keeping the bill simple, though, was a way to help ensure its passage, Berman said. Those features can be implemented later, and he felt it was urgent to pass the law quickly so students can start receiving media literacy education as soon as possible. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024, as the state begins updating its curriculum frameworks, although teachers are encouraged to teach media literacy now.

Bermans law builds on aprevious effort in Californiato bring media literacy to K-12 classrooms. In 2018, Senate Bill 830 required the California Department of Education to provide media literacy resources lesson plans, project ideas, background to the states K-12 teachers. But it didnt make media literacy mandatory.

The new law also overlaps somewhat withCalifornias effort to bring computer science education to all students. The state hopes to expand computer science, which can include aspects of media literacy, to all students, possibly even requiring it to graduate from high school. Newsom recently signedAssembly Bill 1251, which creates a commission to look at ways to recruit more computer science teachers to California classrooms. Berman is also sponsoringAssembly Bill 1054, which would require high schools to offer computer science classes. That bill is currently stalled in the Senate.

Teachers dont need a state law to show students how to be smart media consumers, and some have been doing it for years. Merek Chang, a high school science teacher at Hacienda La Puente Unified in the City of Industry east of Los Angeles, said the pandemic was a wake-up call for him.

During remote learning, he gave students two articles on the origins of the coronavirus. One was an opinion piece from the New York Post, a tabloid, and the other was from a scientific journal. He asked students which they thought was accurate. More than 90% chose the Post piece.

It made me realize that we need to focus on the skills to understand content, as much as we focus on the content itself, Chang said.

He now incorporates media literacy in all aspects of his lesson plans. He relies on theStanford History Education Group, which offers free media literacy resources for teachers, and took part in a KQED media literacy program for teachers.

In addition to teaching students how to evaluate online information, he shows them how to create their own media. Homework assignments include making TikTok-style videos on protein synthesis for mRNA vaccines, for example. Students then present their projects at home or at lunchtime events for families and the community.

The biggest impact, Ive noticed, is that students feel like their voice matters, Chang said.The work isnt just for a grade. They feel like theyre making a difference.

Ormsby, the Los Angeles County librarian, has also been promoting media literacy for years. Librarians generally have been on the forefront of media literacy education, and Californias new law refers to theModern School Library Standardsfor media literacy guidelines.

Ormsby teaches concepts like lateral reading (comparing an online article with other sources to check for accuracy) and reverse imaging (searching online to trace a photo to its original source or checking if its been altered). She also provides lesson plans, resources and book recommendations such as True or False: A CIA analysts guide to spotting fake news and, for elementary students, Killer Underwear Invasion! How to spot fake news, disinformation & conspiracy theories.

Shes happy that the law passed, but would like to see librarians included in the rollout and the curriculum implemented immediately, not waiting until the frameworks are updated.

The gradual implementation of the law was deliberate, since schools are already grappling with so many other state mandates, said Alvin Lee, executive director of Generation Up, a student-led advocacy group that was among the bills sponsors. Hes hoping that local school boards decide to prioritize the issue on their own by funding training for teachers and moving immediately to get media literacy into classrooms.

Disinformation contributes to polarization, which were seeing happen all over the world, said Lee, a junior at Stanford who said its a top issue among his classmates. Media literacy can address that.

In San Francisco Unified, Ricardo Elizalde is a teacher on special assignment who trains elementary teachers in media literacy. His staff gave out 50 copies of Killer Underwear! for teachers to build activities around, and encourages students to make their own media, as well.

Elementary school is the perfect time to introduce the topic, he said.

We get all these media thrown at us from a young age, we have to learn to defend ourselves, Elizalde said. Media literacy is a basic part of being literate. If were just teaching kids how to read, and not think critically about what theyre reading, were doing them a disservice.

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Anyone who has been pregnant or lived with someone who is pregnant knows the kaleidoscope of emotions that can lead up to delivery day and fill the weeks that follow. This major life transition can bring not only giddy excitement but also stress, anxiety and depression. Now two researchers in Marquettes Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Kimberly DAnna-Hernandez, associate professor of psychology, and Dr. Sabirat Rubya, Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute Assistant Professor are working with colleagues across campus to develop new ways to support perinatal mental health.

Their community-oriented research projects are especially needed in Milwaukee, which struggles with wide racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. A parents mental health in pregnancy and beyond can affect a babys health in numerous ways.

Women who experience depression in pregnancy are more likely to give birth to babies who are preterm and babies who are low birth weight. And those are the two biggest risk factors for disease physical or mental, explains DAnna-Hernandez, who directs the Cultural Perinatal Health Laboratory at Marquette. Theyre obviously more likely to have postpartum depression as well, and it interferes with that mother-child bond.

DAnna Hernandez and her collaborators are developing an interdisciplinary prevention program for perinatal depression with three aims: strengthen an existing intervention to make it more culturally responsive, expand the perinatal mental health workforce through training, and form a perinatal mental health collaborative to gather resources and make it easier for new and expecting parents to access support. The project is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act through a $250,000 grant administered by the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The projects principal investigator is Dr. Kavitha Venkateswaran, clinical assistant professor of counseling education and counseling psychology in the College of Education. Dr. Lisa Edwards, professor and director of training for counseling psychology, and Dr. Karen Robinson, associate professor of nursing, are also collaborators.

If we can prevent or reduce mental health concerns during pregnancy, were likely going to start seeing some of those health outcomes improve as well, both for the mother and the child.

Were all very interested in perinatal mental health, particularly in women of color and women from marginalized backgrounds, says DAnna-Hernandez, who brings expertise in behavioral neuroscience and perinatal mental health disparities in Milwaukees Latinx population.

Up to 80 percent of mothers develop whats commonly known as the baby blues during the two weeks after childbirth, and 1 in 7 mothers have this condition progress to postpartum depression. Although it gets less attention, depression during pregnancy is common too, especially for women of color. DAnna-Hernandezs research has found that Mexican and Mexican-American women are three times more likely to experience depression during pregnancy compared with the general population.

Early intervention can be transformational for both expecting parents and babies. After the baby comes, its much harder to develop skills and tools to start making changes in your life. Oftentimes, at that point, the stress is so high and folks are sleep deprived, Venkateswaran notes. If we can prevent or reduce mental health concerns during pregnancy, were likely going to start seeing some of those health outcomes improve as well, both for the mother and the child.

The team plans to adapt and augment an existing perinatal prevention program known as Reach Out, Stay Strong, Essentials for mothers of newborns, or ROSE developed at Michigan State University. The evidence-based program can be delivered by any health care worker, not just mental health clinicians.

To make the program even more accessible, the Marquette researchers plan to add a telehealth option and make the content more culturally relevant for mothers from diverse backgrounds.

The team will involve a doula nurse and physical therapist. And the program will cover issues that can worsen mothers depression and anxiety from breastfeeding to sleep deprivation to pelvic floor issues after childbirth. By making the program more comprehensive, researchers hope to reach more pregnant and expecting moms who may not traditionally think of themselves as needing mental health support.

After the team finishes developing program content, it will gather feedback from clinic partners and community members. Local clinics could use the intervention with expecting parents as early as next summer.By working with partners from this broad, community-based collaborative, DAnna-Hernandez says, we can see what are their concerns, what are the things that they want to know and that we can help to support and amplify together as equal partners.

In computer science, Rubya is working on a project that explores how new and expecting mothers turn to online communities for support. She started by reviewing the literature and interviewing pregnant people and those who had recently given birth.

We learned that social support is really important. They need support from their spouse, their family and friends, and also other peers who have been through similar experiences, says Rubya, co-director of Marquettes Social and Ethical Computing Lab. So, we also wanted to know: What are their sources of social support or what are the barriers?

Online social support, especially when its anonymous, can feel safer for people from marginalized communities, she notes. Women expressed reluctance to seek support for mental health struggles through traditional channels, worrying that if their providers knew about these problems, their children would be taken away from them.

With the help of graduate student Farhat Tasnim Progga, Rubya explored online support communities devoted to postpartum depression on the Reddit, BabyCenter and What to Expect websites. She particularly noticed the power of storytelling, both in relating trauma and sharing successes. But existing online communities have their own challenges: misinformation or conflicting advice, toxic interactions and lack of timely response when someone is facing a mental health crisis.

If I can even reduce the stigma even a little bit, that would be a big success.

Rubya plans to develop an app that will pair storytelling using artificial intelligence to generate personas that resonate with users from different backgrounds with educational content on topics such as babies sleep, breastfeeding and various potential stressors. Her goal is to create content that respects users privacy while delivering more trustworthy and timely support than one might find on a giant message board.

She hopes to have a prototype ready within six months and then will conduct an evaluative study, partnering with DAnna-Hernandez to get feedback from new and expecting parents in Milwaukee. Shes grateful for that anticipated collaboration and for assistance from departmental colleagues who are experts in artificial intelligence. Anytime I need help, I have those colleagues who can help me where I lack that expertise, she says.

Eventually, Rubya would love to see her intervention reach beyond the United States. In her home country of Bangladesh, she notes, families often hide mental health issues instead of seeking treatment. Its a very sensitive topic there, she says. If I can even reduce the stigma even a little bit, that would be a big success.

With an issue as complex as perinatal mental health, interdisciplinary approaches are valuable. That makes the Klingler College well-suited for this type of research, the faculty note. I found the barriers between departments really low, so that makes it great for collaborating, DAnna-Hernandez says. That spirit of really moving everybody forward and particularly doing things for the community that has been a strong piece of what Ive seen in my collaborators in Arts and Sciences.

Rubya echoes that sentiment, and that spirit extends across colleges too. Venkateswaran sees cross-disciplinary-expertise making our work stronger because we all have a different lens and can provide that diverse perspective.

And thats promising for the future of perinatal mental health in Milwaukee and beyond. Says DAnna-Hernandez: I really see this collaborative being just the beginning of where we can go and take this work.

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