October saw the launch of our “Give A Glove” campaign, an effort to send the women at our partner shea cooperatives in Ghana heat-resistant gloves. Recent user research data let us know that many women at our partner cooperatives experience injuries and burns to their hands and forearms during the roasting process. These risks are just one of the many reasons why the design of an improved roaster is so critical, but the timeline of iterative design makes a temporary intervention necessary now. Together with our invaluable donors, we are sending gloves to the cooperatives to protect the women’s hands and forearms while they roast shea. For more information and ways to give, visit www.burndesignlab.org/give-a-glove.

         In staffing news, BDL said farewell to Gavin Ray, our Materials Engineering Fellow for his move to Minnesota. Gavin led the ELS project and contributed greatly to BDL’s mission during his fellowship. But, this summer BDL was fortunate to welcome an additional intern, Isabella Stepanek, to our staff. 

Isabella is a third-year mechanical engineering major at Northeastern University in Boston. Originally from Florida, Izzy has taken full advantage of the beautiful PNW in order to bike, hike, and camp this summer and fall. Outside of work and school she enjoys playing with her dog, building model rocketry, and attending concerts. “My time at Burn thus far has been incredible rewarding,” Izzy shared. “I’m excited to see what else I accomplish in the next few months.”  Izzy assisted on the N95 project and currently leads the ELS project.