The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently invited Dr. Farrah Gafford Cambrice, an assistant professor of Sociology at Prairie View A&M University, to participate on a panel during the 2018 U.S. Ignite Application Summit in Kansas City, Missouri. Her job was to talk about her role in PVAMU’s Smart and Connected Rural Communities Planning Grant.
“The NSF invited the mayor of Prairie View, David Allen, and myself to the summit to talk about the importance of community-based research and partnerships. It was great to be a part of, especially with PVAMU being the only HBCU represented on the panel,” said Cambrice.
Cambrice serves as a co-principal investigator on the project, which originated with Dr. Cajetan Akujuobi, principal investigator and vice president of Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs at PVAMU. Other members of the multi-disciplinary team include Dr. Pamela Obiomon, Dr. Noel Estwick, Dr. Jerrel Moore, and Sociology students Chastity Fields, Khirah Wallace Gayle, and Nakia Wilson, who have been attending meetings to assist the researchers.
“The goal of this NSF-funded planning grant is to develop a framework to enable the initiation of targeted technologies to make the City of Prairie View a smart and connected community,” said Cambrice. “Prairie View suffers from limited access to medical services, limited internet services, aging infrastructure, and the city is subject to flooding, via extreme weather events. Smart technologies could significantly improve the lives of these rural residents.”
And, as a sociologist, Cambrice’s primary focus is the residents.
“Through community meetings, focus groups, and surveys, we are letting residents tell us what their needs and desires are, because, in this project, community engagement is critical. We have to hear the voices of the residents and understand their needs before we introduce smart technologies. I cannot express how important it is for social scientists to be a part of this technology-based and STEM-focused research. We bring the human factor into focus because it really is all about improving the quality of life for Prairie View residents.”
Before joining the Smart and Connected Rural Communities Planning Grant effort, Cambrice collaborated with a team of scholars from Tulane University and the University of New Orleans who were interested in the recovery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The research group was awarded one of 18 National Science Foundation Urban Long-Term Area Exploratory (ULTRA-Ex) grants to study the impact of trauma on urban biophysical, ecological, and social diversity using the study area of post-Katrina New Orleans.
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-This story by Marchita Shilo originally appeared in Academic Insights.