Rebeca Hwang

Social Networks and Water Provision to the Poor

Social Networks and Water Provision to the Poor

This is my doctoral thesis project. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to collect data on 600 organizations that provide water in Argentina. Social network analysis is used to understand how the structure of the network to which thes...

• Startup type: Social Enterprise
• Status: Active

Rebeca Hwang was born in Seoul, Korea, raised in Argentina and received her education in the USA. Because of her multicultural upbringing, she has developed a wide range of interests and skills. Formally trained as a chemical, civil and environmental engineer at MIT, Cambridge, she discovered that her real passion was to find solutions to pressing problems in the world, particularly those related to improving access to safe water by poor communities in developing countries. During her undergraduate years, she participated in a number of initiatives and competitions that promoted sustainable solutions to developmental problems, one of which generated US patents 6 929 236, 6 935190 and 6 929235. The IP was donated to an NGO, Design that Matters, which took the technology to New Zealand, where a local businessman manufactured a 15 cent clamp that makes cholera treatment much more accessible to the millions of patients ever year [Read more]. Her teams were honored to win the 1K award at the 50K MIT business competition with a proposal to generate chlorine locally in Haiti, and the IDEAS competition by designing a project to improve ceramic filer technology in Nicaragua. She also received a grant from the Lemelson Foundation.

Rebeca has always been keen in science: she was a gold medal for the National Chemistry Olympiad, a bronze medal for the National Physics Olympiad, and the first prize a national cancer research contest in Argentina. Rebeca was ranked first out of 2500 students five years in a row at the Colegio National de Buenos Aires secondary school. She has demonstrated leadership skills by serving as the president of the Club Argentino at MIT for several semesters, and by representing the second generation Korean students at the Korean Science and Engineering Association. She was also involved in Thinkcycle and Design that Matters, both initiatives that attempted to match real local needs with sustainable solutions.

Rebeca has significant fieldwork experience in Latin America and India. She is currently pursuing her PhD degree in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University. Her thesis topic is based on the role of social network structures on the performance of water cooperatives in Argentina. Her research was recently featured in CNET. Rebeca is seeking to integrate institutional approaches and entrepreneurial principles to increase the efficiency and improve distributional effect of water management in Latin America. Rebeca currently leads the BASES Social e-challenge competition and is the Judging Chair and member of the Board of Directors for the California Clean Tech Open Competition. She has recently been invited to be a Senior Advisor for the MIT 100K Clean Energy Prize. Avid runner, rugby player, enthusiastic dancer and passionate reader, Rebeca enjoys traveling and practicing her Spanish, Italian, French and Korean language skills.

Employer:	Universidad Tres de Febrero, Argentina
Position:	Consultant
Time period:	June 2007 - August 2007
Description:	Designed and implemented a comprehensive survey of 7000 organizations.

Employer:	California Clean Tech Open competition
Position:	Judging Chair and member of the Executive Council
Time period:	January 2006 - December 2007
Description:	This competition awards over $500K to the best business plans with a focus on clean technology. As part of the founding team, contributed to the design of the competition, its strategic positioning and partnerships, timeline and initial recruiting & handling of contestants. Designed judging process and developed judging criteria, as well as recruited and managed the entire judging pool.

Employer:	Youth Mentorship Program
Position:	Founder
Time period:	January 2006 - December 2007
Description:	Founded a mentorship program for high school students in Argentina to contribute to cutting edge research being conducted in the US and Europe. Organized the Argentina branch for YBD, a program for young entrepreneurs that are matched to MBA students at Oxford and Stanford.

Employer:	Intellectual Ventures
Position:	Consultant
Time period:	June 2005 - August 2005
Description:	Evaluated and reported on new cutting-edge technologies and invention ideas. Researched for and participated in invention sessions and patent-drafting for a wide range of areas: clean tech, biotech and biomedical, consumer products, IT, technologies for developing countries, etc.

Employer:	Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Position:	Teaching Assistant
Time period:	December 2004 - February 2005
Description:	TA for Technology Implementation for Sustainable Development in Developing countries.

Employer:	BASES Social e-challenge at Stanford
Position:	VP
Time period:	January 2004 - December 2007
Description:	Lead a business competition in which $50K is awarded to the best social and environmental ventures. During this leadership, increased cash prize from 20K to 50K. Established key partnerships with MIT, IIT, India, Oxford University, and University of North Carolina. Designed and organized a pilot social e-challenge pilot in Egypt for Summer ’07.

Employer:	TIAX (former Arthur D. Little)
Position:	Consultant
Time period:	March 2003 - August 2003
Description:	Developed models to forecast economic and technical feasibility of fuel cell technology for vehicle and other portable applications.

Employer:	MIT, Department of Chemical Engineering
Position:	Teaching Assistant
Time period:	September 2002 - November 2002
Description:	Assist teaching for senior design class Integrated Chemical Engineering (ICE).

Employer:	Procter & Gamble
Position:	Work experience
Time period:	June 2002 - August 2002
Description:	Designed applications of sensor technology in automatic dosing equipment for energy & water efficient devices.

Employer:	Hikal Chemicals
Position:	Work experience
Time period:	June 2001 - August 2001
Description:	Designed a system that increased the purity of mono-chloroacetone from 92% to 97%.

Employer:	MIT
Position:	Laboratory Experience
Time period:	March 1999 - May 2001
Description:	o Media Lab at MIT - Nanomedia Group - Prof. Joe Jacobson (Fall 2000-Spring 2001 ) o Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT - Prof. Trevor Darrel (Summer 2000) o Synthetic Organometallic Chemistry Lab - Prof. Stephen Lippard (Summer-Fall 1999) o Brain and Cognitive Sciences Lab - Prof. Matthew Wilson (Spring 1999)

Employer:	Pure Water for Nicaragua
Position:	Leader
Time period:	December 2002
Description:	Lead 5 students designing, implementing and monitoring water purification for poor households in three rural villages in Nicaragua.

Employer:	Thinkcycle at MIT
Position:	Leadership experience
Time period:	December 2001
Description:	This project aims to recycle “design concepts” to focus on solving problems in the developing world. Lead negotiations with IITs in India and settled the ground for collaboration.

University:	Stanford University
Time period:	2003 - 2008
Degree:	Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, PhD

University:	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Time period:	2002 - 2003
Degree:	Civil and Environmental Engineering, MEng

University:	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Time period:	1998 - 2002
Degree:	Chemical Engineering, BSc

Patents:

US Patents 6 929 236, 6 935190 and 6 929235

Sports:	Swimming, Skydiving, Rugby, White Water Rafting
Hobbies:	Dancing, Fiction, Traveling
Clubs:	BASES, California Clean Tech Open President of the Argentine Club at MIT, 2001-2002. Organized a tango concert to benefit hospitals.
Awards:	• IDEAS Competition at MIT. Winner. Awarded Lemelson Fundation Grant, 2002 • 1 K Business Competition at MIT. First prize ($1000), 2001 • Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, 1997. Ranked 1st of 2000 students (for 5 consecutive years). 1st and 3rd Prizes in National Chemistry and Physics Olympiads, 1st Prize National Cancer Research Contest.