Disaster Mesh, a social corporation that aids disaster relief efforts through the use of a wireless mesh network, won third place in the Verizon Powerful Answers Award, a multi-million dollar challenge for entrepreneurs, companies, and innovators worldwide to provide innovative solutions in transportation, emergency response, and Internet of Things.

 

The Disaster Mesh network is comprised of several small devices (“seeds”) deployed to disaster zones via airdrop. Disaster survivors will then be able to connect to the network established by the seeds, allowing them to communicate with relief organizations and with each other.

 

Disaster Mesh was co-founded in the summer of 2014 by Karla Dana, Katelyn Dunn, and Margaux Giles, who met at Singularity University in Silicon Valley and joined forces over a shared passion for using technology for social good. As thirdplace winners, the team earned a $250,000 grant to further develop Disaster Mesh.

 

The students also presented their invention at the Italian Maker Faire in Rome and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Design4Disasters” competition.

 

Dunn is in her senior year of high school, Giles is at Stanford University, and Dana is currently studying in Costa Rica as a first-year student in LIU Global, a university that combines full-time immersion into foreign cultures with structured classroom instruction, field study, internships, and community service. Students in LIU Global study in eight or more countries on four continents during their eight semesters of study, graduating with a BA in global studies.

 

“Karla Dana embodies the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that LIU Global fosters in its students,” notes LIU president Dr. Kimberly R. Cline. “Our students and graduates are an unmatched community of independent thinkers and global leaders who follow their passions, become global citizens, and change the world.”