Over the summer, three students from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University participated in a remote internship program with Born Global, a mission-based charity organization that is focused on innovation education to advance a global Bioeconomy. The students who participated in the program were Erin Reda (Pardee ’22), Haneul Shin (Pardee ’23), and Jamie Volosin (Pardee ’22).
During their internship, students worked with the Beirut Biomimics, a group of high school girls in Lebanon studying Biomimicry, to support development of the following projects through online research, expert interviews, sourcing from primary literature, and technology evaluation based on a techno-economic model:
- Alchemist Garden Interactive App: A botanical garden project that will work with young programmers (8th graders) to develop an interactive and entertaining app. The aim is to shows how plants were used in ancient times for healing and rituals and how they are being used today as we move toward natural remedies for preventative public health policies.
- Impossible Lebanon Societal Challenge: An online contest that challenges high school students (Juniors & Seniors) to team up around the themes of Society, Economy, and Environment and use Biomimicry to ask nature how the seemingly impossible problems facing the country can be addressed.
- Food Security through Local Food Tourism: Breaking bread together over long wonderful meals is the tradition of the Lebanese community. This high school student group (Freshman) will be looking at the issue of how COVID- 19 food security issues might create new economic opportunities for local food tourism.
“Through working on the Impossible Lebanon Challenge, I learned about the economic crisis in Lebanon and how it impacts people personally,” Jamie Volosin said of her experience. “I also took Arabic classes with the Saifi Institute, which is currently rebuilding in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion. Over this summer, I formed a strong emotional connection with Lebanon and continuing to learn Arabic has become very important to me.”
The internship provided students with valuable career development and allowed them to work directly with an organization that is trying to make the world a better place, a pillar of the Pardee School’s mission. “I set out to learn more about how organizations like Born Global make change in the world. I was lucky to work directly with the CEO and see how she runs her company,” said Volosin. “Now, I have a better idea of what a career in this field would look like and how these organizations operate.”
The Born Global internship program was organized by Boston University alum Dr. Kimberly Samaha (’89), CEO of Born Global. More information on the internship is available here.
