DANIELLE ADAMS
I’m Danielle Adams and I completed my bachelor’s degree in Aero-Astro in 2005. I’m a second year Masters candidate in both Aero-Astro and the Technology and Policy Program. For my Master’s research, I’m exploring the conditions under which technology that relies on satellites can be used to meet needs in developing countries. I’m particularly interested in how such technology might be applied in Africa. However, my interest in Africa extends far beyond my research; it comes from years of volunteerism in both the eastern and southern areas of the continent. I first visited Africa in 2001 when I volunteered with an agency that serves homeless children in Kenya. That summer I taught reading and math lessons to young girls from the Nairobi slums. I was able to return to Kenya in 2002 and 2004 and do tutoring in math and science with some of the same children. In 2005, with the urging
On a visit to South Africa, Aero-Astro master’s candidate Danielle Adams discusses joint projects for MIT students and their University of Pretoria colleagues with UP School of Engineering Chairman Josua Meyer (right). Joining Adams are (from left) Aero-Astro Head Professor Wesley Harris, UP Mechanical Engineering Professor Stephan Heyns, and MIT Lecturer Peter Young. (William Litant photograph)
of department head Professor Wesley Harris, I started working on behalf of AeroAstro to foster a relationship between our department and the University of Pretoria. In particular, our department collaborates with the UP Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. We are developing plans to establish a student exchange, student community service internships, and faculty research collaborations with this university. In June 2006 I traveled with a team of six others from MIT to the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. There, we conducted a week-long communications seminar for a class of fourth year mechanical engineering students. The focus of the training was to give them confidence in technical presentations.
Aero-Astro students
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