The Mexico Innovation Fund aims to deepen ties between Harvard and Mexican academia in order to address some of the most important issues facing Mexico. The Fund was established through the generous contributions of Harvard alumni and friends in Mexico and is designed to address three focus areas, to be chosen and changed each year. This year's areas were Sustainable Urban and Regional Development, Science, Technology, and Education, and Empowered Citizenship, State Capacity, and the Rule of Law. DRLCAS is pleased to announce the following students are recipients of this year's MIF Grants.
Marine Denolle, from the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, received a grant for her project "Monitoring Seismic Hazards in Mexico City using Grillo, a Low-Cost Earthquake Early Warning System." Grillo aims to provide a low-cost and effective alarm system for early earthquake warning. Denolle's project will produce and install 250 Grillo sensors in Mexico City, resulting in one of the world's most dense urban seismic networks.
Diane Davis, at the Graduate School of Design, received a grant for her project "Educating and Empowering Citizens to Improve Security and Rule of Law in Mexico City." Her project will use a range of methodologies, metrics and IT instruments to assess citizen knowledge and perceptions of the rule of law, attitudes toward law, and the behavior of state authorities in complying with legal norms.
Karestan Koenen, a the School of Public Health, received a grant for her project "Building Technological Solutions and Expanding Capacity in Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research and Clinical Assessment in Mexico." In an effort to remedy the relative lack of neuropsychiatric research on populations of non-European descent, her project will provide research skills training and contribute to research innovations in neuropsychiatric genetics research in Mexico.