Robbie Schaefer worked for a telecom company after college and was bored and miserable. His father asked “well what do you want to do?” His answer was he wanted to sing and follow his heart and go to Africa. He went to a school in Uganda where everybody was happy to see him but the grumpy security guard. He taught the children to sing “The Sound of Music” which they wanted to sing over and over; and Robbie noticed the security guard with a smile looking in the class room from outside the window. He created a non-profit “One Voice”. The kids sang to raise $’s to build a new school. The kids also painted pictures of hearts to raise $’s for 13 children to have heart surgery. Robbie later went to India on a similar project and taught the children to sing “Voi – Ya – Ya’ “We are following the path to your heart”.

Carla Dove is the program manager of the Feather Identification Lab in the Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History.  The Air Line Industry uses her services to analyze causes of plane crashes involving birds.  For instance, what kind of bird brought down the American Air Lines Boeing passenger jet that crash landed in the Hudson River minutes after taking off from JFK?  Was it a 3 lb bird or 6 lb?  It turned out to be a 6 lb bird migrating from Canada. The Boeing Jet could handle a 3 lb bird in both engines but not a larger bird.  Carla’s current research involves establishing techniques in a newly developing field within ornithology which applies forensic methodologies to determine species of birds from fragmentary evidence.  The most important application of  this work is to aviation safety, where bird identification data is used to design safer engines and windscreens, predict bird movements, and improve bird habitat management around airfields.

Spatial Collective is a tech firm that uses Geographic Information Systems for community development in slums of Nairobi.  Through data collection and visualization, Spatial supports communities to identify available resources and apply this knowledge in development  initiatives.  For instance, Nirobi slums did not appear or Google Maps; so Spatial using GPS readings mapped the slum areas, identifying roads, churches and schools.  Spatial works with a myriad of actors, including local residents, governments, small businesses and research institutions.  Of Nairobi’s 3M people, 1.5M live as squatters on Government land with open drain toilets, dirty water, and no waste collection.  Because of the vigilante problem, robbers are shot on the spot.  Slum residents steal electricity and 95% have cell phones and use Facebook and Twitter.  Spatial offers business management for health, education, waste management, water, sanitation projects, and crime reporting.  Their funding is from Gates, NGO’s and others.