Agenda: USAID LASER PULSE Research for Development Learning Summit
All times in ET
8:00 – 8:45 AM
Check-in, Breakfast and Networking
8:45 – 9:10 AM
Opening Remarks
Yuehwern Yih, Academic Director, LASER PULSE and Professor, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
Keynote Address
Mohamed Abdel-Kader, Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director of the Innovation, Technology, and Research Hub, USAID
9:15 – 9:45 AM
LASER PULSE Overview
Pallavi Gupta, Program Director, LASER PULSE, Purdue University
9:45 – 10:30 AM
Food Security and Nutrition Panel
Moderator: Betty Bugusu, Technical Director, LASER PULSE, Purdue University
Panelists:
Margaret Henning, Senior Learning Advisor with USAID Ethiopia
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Youth Empowerment through Livelihood Transformation in Agro-Pastoral Areas of East and West Hararghe Zones, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia
Kizito Nishimwe, Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Rwanda
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Technology Tools for Building Resilience of Dairy Farms and Improving Dairy Production in Rwanda
Patrick Ketiem, Institute Director, KALRO, Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute Katumani
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Building Sustainable Resilient Supply Chains: A model of Youth Input Resellers in Kenya
Gerald (Jerry) Shively, Associate Dean and Director, International Programs in Agriculture, Professor of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Applied Nutrition Research Capacity Building (ANRCB) in Laos
10:30 – 11:00 AM
Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:45 AM
Education Panel
Moderator: Leulsegged Kasa, Research Project Manager, LASER PULSE, Purdue University
Panelists:
Leah Maxson, Senior Inclusive Education Advisor, Center for Education, Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation, USAID
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education in Cambodia, Nepal, Malawi
Abdirisak Dalmar, Founder and President, Somali Research and Development Institute (SORDI)
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Baseline Evaluation of Somalia’s Accelerated Quality Learning Program (Bar ama Baro – “Teach of Learn”)
Valerie Karr, Founding Partner & President, Inclusive Development Partners (IDP) and Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education in Cambodia, Nepal, Malawi
Julius Ssentongo, Public Health Physician, Director Operations and Director Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab at the ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), Makerere University, College of Health Sciences, School of Public Health
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Tusome: Case Study of Kenya’s Early Grade Reading Program and the Journey to Self-Reliance
11:45 – 12:45 PM
Lunch Break
12:45 – 1:30 PM
Economic Growth and Private Sector Engagement Panel
Moderator: Ross Meyers, Research Project Manager, LASER PULSE, Purdue University
Panelists:
Tatiana M. Pulido, Senior Director of Evidence, Learning, and Data, Private Sector Engagement Hub, USAID
Susan Rae Ross, Senior Private Sector Engagement Advisor, USAID
Yuehwern Yih, Academic Director, LASER PULSE and Professor, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
Affiliated LASER PULSE Project(s):
1:30 – 2:15 PM
Lessons from LASER Experience
Moderator: Brent Wells, Team Lead LASER PULSE, USAID | Senior Strategic Lead and Program Officer, Research Division Innovation, Technology & Research Hub (ITR), USAID, Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI)
Panelists:
Arvind Raman, PI and Director, LASER PULSE | John A. Edwardson Dean of Purdue University’s College of Engineering and the Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Tony Castleman, Director of Agriculture, Water, Microfinance; Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning at Catholic Relief Services
Roy William Mayega, Makerere University Consortium Lead, LASER PULSE, Deputy Chief of Party, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), Lecturer, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Makerere University
Teshome Alemneh, Indiana University Consortium Lead, LASER PULSE | Associate Vice President for International Research and Development, and the Director of the Office of International Development at Indiana University (IU)
Michael Sweikar, University of Notre Dame Consortium Lead, LASER PULSE | Executive Director and Keough School Term Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Notre Dame
Yuehwern Yih, Academic Director, LASER PULSE and Professor, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University
2:15 – 2:45 PM
Coffee Break
2:45 – 3:30 PM
LASER Engagement with Minority Serving Institutions
Moderator: Corrie Willson (Sutherland), Program Analyst III, Research Division, Innovation, Technology & Research Hub (ITR), USAID, Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI)
Panelists:
Dana Alzouma, Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Coordinator, USAID
Eurica Huggins Axum, Director of the USAID Donald M. Payne Fellowship Program at Howard University
- Additional information on Payne Fellowship Program
Majed El-Dweik, Vice President of Research and Economic Development, Alabama Agricultural & Mechanical University
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: The impact of traditional practice on the quality and safety of post-production handling in the milk value-chain in Rwanda
Godfrey Ejimakor, Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education, North Carolina A&T State University
- Affiliated LASER PULSE Project: Using Nature-Based Solutions to Improve the Productivity of Maize Growers in Zambia
3:30-3:50 PM
Closing Remarks
Brent Wells, Team Lead LASER PULSE, USAID | Senior Strategic Lead and Program Officer, Research Division Innovation, Technology & Research Hub (ITR), USAID, Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI)
Thanks and Closing
Pallavi Gupta, Program Director, LASER PULSE, Purdue University
4:00 – 5:00 PM
