Alexander Moseson, an assistant teaching professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, was awarded first place in International Humanitarian Short-Video Contest at the 2012 Global Humanitarian Technology Conference.
Moseson’s video Technology Seeding: Thailand (adventure cut) documents the work of Drexel Thai Harvest , an inter-disciplinary organization of students and faculty focused on developing and implementing sustainable farming technologies in the Bo Klua district of Thailand.
Moseson’s experience in sustainable development was advanced by working with James Tangorra, PhD, an assitant professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics department, on a project to develop lathes in Africa. Tangorra later became co-leader of the Thai Harvest project.
Drexel Thai Harvest was founded in 2009 after Moseson visited the region and noticed the day-to-day challenges the villagers faced in trying to farm one of Thailand’s most rugged regions. He saw an opportunity for Drexel students to help, having assisted James Tangorra, PhD, an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics department, to lead a project to develop lathes in Africa. Tangorra and Moseson thus collaborated again to lead Thai Harvest.
Through a partnership with the Sustainable Development Research Foundation, a Thai charitable organization, Thai Harvest develops farming technologies that work for people socially, economically, and environmentally.
Innovation is at the heart of Thai Harvest’s mission. Aside from collaboratively designing tools with villagers and teaching even more villagers how to build them, Thai Harvest empowers the Thai people to develop their own solutions to improve their everyday lives.
Moseson’s video chronicles the experiences of the second Thai Harvest team during their 2011 visit to Bo Klua. His four minute “adventure cut” details their 12 day effort to adapt to new cultural experiences and build relationships with the villagers while teaching them to construct a rice planter. Moseson also produced a two minute version of the video.
Moseson received the short video award at a reception on October 24th, 2012 during IEEE’s Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in Seattle.
“I am thrilled to accept this award on behalf of all those who made the video possible, especially our partners in Bo Klua,” Moseson said.
Drexel Thai Harvest will return to Bo Klua this summer with a new team of students who plan to make improvements to their rice planter based on suggestions from the farmers and develop sustainable solutions to improving water quality in the villages.