Terrascope is a student-run class offered to MIT freshmen that focuses on solving complex world problems through the collaboration of students, faculty, and alumni. In the class, freshmen gain insight on how scientists and engineers employ multidisciplinary approaches when faced with seemingly impossible problems, while also learning about the different systems of their earth and their relative impacts upon the human population. Terrascope teaches students to become more adept in researching methods and raises their awareness about the vast resources available at MIT.
This year, the mission for the class of 2014 (Mission 2014) is to determine “How Do We Feed the Planet?” Although the human race currently produces enough food to feed everyone on the planet (Leathers & Foster, 2009, p.133), approximately 925 million people worldwide remain acutely or chronically undernourished (Sibrain, 2010). Our task involves identifying the reasons behind this paradox and diagnosing the root causes of world hunger.
This semester we have worked to create a solution, which we have presented here on this website, that addresses the current global food security problem within a timeline of 100 years. Through our research, we have gained insight into the reality of the complexity of the world’s current situation and a respective understanding of the fragile nature of the world’s food system.
We would like to thank all the alumni mentors, undergraduate teaching fellows (UTFs), Terrascope faculty and staff for their dedication to the project and for their constant support and constructive criticism throughout the past few months. Through your guidance, we have obtained a true appreciation for what it takes to perform quality research and present a qualified, innovative solution.
As Atul Gawande states in Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance:
“Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.”
We know that we cannot definitively prove that our solution is the best solution, or even that it's a viable solution. We can only attest that we spent two months developing this solution and immersing ourselves in research. We've learned a lot about group dynamics and solving complex problems. However, most importantly, we learned that in order to solve a complex problem, one has to start. Some of us now intend to learn more about the problem through our trip to India this spring, the Terrascope classes in the spring, or pursuing a major related to this subject matter.
We hope you enjoy our website!
To learn more about Terrascope, please check out the website: http://web.mit.edu/terrascope/www/index.html
Mission 2014 Class
Almas Abdulla
Bruce Arensen
Zachary Balgobin
Maria Cassidy
Derek Chang
Tim Chu
Charlotte Clark
Erica Du
Ryan Friedrich
Jessica Fujimori
Anuhya Ghorakavi
Sara Goheen
Paula Gonzalez
Charles Gordon
Gaelen Guzman
Jesika Haria
Samantha Hartzell
Esther Jang
Henna Jethani
Pramod Kandel
Miho Kitagawa
Johnathan Kongoletos
Zainab Lasisi
Jiahui Liang
Jennifer Liu
Yinong Liu
Nancy Lu
Evan Lynch
Kathryn Materna
Bryan Mejia-Sosa
Nell Meosky
Tejas Navaratna
Ovie Orieka
Adrian Orozco
Anvisha Pai
Sidhant Pai
Sidhanth Rao
Abby Rice
Priyanka Saha
Linda Seymour
Sasilada Sirirungruang
Kelly Snyder
Laura Stilwell
Pratiksha Thaker
Minh Tue Vo Thanh
David Wise
Erika Ye
Ioana Zelko
Hazel Zengeni
Xinyi Zhang
Leo Zhou
Undergraduate Teaching Fellows
Zachary Barryte
Adam Bockelie
Nikita Consul
Yangbo Du
Tracey Hayse
Elise Hens
Charlotte Herhold
Alex Jordan
Julia Kimmerly
Lauren Kuntz
Ruaridh Macdonald
Laura Matloff
Mentors
Burl Amsbury
Lowell Anderson
Bob Bates
Sheldon W. Buck
Stephen Estes-Smargiassi
Yolanda Fan
Tom Farrell
Bob Gurnitz
Hal Gustin
Todd Harland-White
Joshua Helferich
Paul D. Jacobson
Sara Kaplan
Bhupendra Khetani
Alfredo Kniazzeh
Sujeesh Krishnan
Keith MacKay
Joshua Merrill
Christine Ng
Jorge Phillips
Peter Ralston
Johnny Yang
TA
Seth Burgess
Professor
Sam Bowring
Administrators
Debra Aczel
Ari Epstein
Gawande, Atul. (2007). Better: A Surgeon's Note on Performance. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Leathers, H., & Foster, P. (2009). The world food problem: toward ending undernutrition in the third world. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc.
Sibrain, R. (2010). Millenium Development Goals Indicators: Series Metadata. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx?IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=566