SC Part 2: Global Resolve

During my senior year, I participated in the Global Resolve experience.  Global Resolve is an international service-learning program led by ASU Barrett, that focuses on real-world projects that positively impact communities with need around the world. These projects are conducted by ASU mentors in collaboration with community partners in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean, develop projects that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Ultimately, it focuses on human-centered design in order to properly and effectively support the respective communities.

During this experience, I was involved in a project supporting water conservation efforts in both southeastern Arizona and Hermosillo, Mexico. The semester was structured by initial planning, then a group project site trip, and finally a cumulative report identifying effective water conservation methods. During the initial planning, we researched and identified the main sources of water usage, which overwhelmingly concluded to agriculture, which is responsible for around 70% of water usage. After deciding to focus on agriculture, we analyzed local water technology and policy, to see if any system efficiency improvements could be made. Next, we met with the Hermosillo team at Tec de Monterrey over zoom to discuss our potential plan and inventory the team's skills. During Spring break, the ASU team visited the site at Hermosillo, spending 4 nights working with the local officials and university to identify the multiple local perspectives on Sonora's water crisis. Finally, we will conclude by providing a comprehensive report analyzing the effective water conservation methods from the site, to inform water policy decision-makers in the future. Specifically, my contributions centered around the methodology aspect of the report, analyzing the information gathered during the trip, and subsequently identifying the specific strategies that have proven successful in both regions. Furthermore, by using publicized water data, I developed correlations using Python in order to identify common trends.

This experience aligns with the theme of Security as it focuses on ensuring water usage is sustainable for future generations, as conflict often tends to follow with resource scarcity. In fact, the United Nations estimates that at least 40% of conflict is caused by competition of natural resources, indicating the problem may only become worse if water were to become more limited. Thus, by identifying methods to ensure long-term access to water, conflict over resource competition can be limited. This experience also involves engineering, as it utilized my Computer Science background to analyze water retention data to determine inefficiencies or potentially higher usage days, and correlating any potential causes. Attached below is our initial project plan.

Global Resolve will assist me in my professional career as it provided experience to group project and teamwork, both locally and internationally. This was especially helpful, as there may be group projects in the future of my career where I won't have similar contextual backgrounds as others I have to work with, but understanding how to first inventory the group's skills and then collaborating to use them is vital, yet difficult with direct experience. This experience also bolstered my adaptability and complex problem-solving skills, as I had to collaborate with diverse perspectives towards a common goal. Furthermore, it reinforced the importance of cultural awareness and proper intercultural interaction, both of which are necessary for professional collaboration.