Regular readers of this blog know that I am in deep admiration for those researchers who are using their skills to tackle the seemingly intractable problems that plague so many-especially poverty and extreme poverty.
I am in awe of researchers such as Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug who was widely considered the father of the “green revolution,” the wonderful work at MSU helping to tackle food scarcity in Flint with the Flint Eats app and other creative uses of technology such as the Michigan State University research teaching farmers in East Africa using video technology.
Now we can add Oakland University researcher, Jon Carroll to the list of researchers using technology to solve the problem of poverty in Africa. Dr. Carroll is using drones to create very precise images of water and chlorophyll in the plants which can then lead to precise, hyper-localized solutions for crop yield leading to a very sustainable agricultural model.
In the excellent article by OU News, Dr. Carroll talks about the impact that this research experience had on him.
He states, “This was a very different kind of project because I was surrounded by the people who were going to be affected by this research.”
Questions for Discussion
- Why is sustainable agriculture important to Jon Carroll?
- How did he use the drone technology to improve crop yields?
- What are some of the solutions he might recommend to farmers?
- Why was this experience so memorable for him?
- How else could you imagine using the drone technology to help the farmers in Africa?
Wide Open Research 
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