Graduate student Daven Amin says he likes the idea of integrating technology in novel places. Last summer he did just that, spending two months in Ghana creating an electronic survey of poor fishermen as part of a sustainable fisheries management project being implemented there. After he spent long hours designing the survey in the Ghanaian offices of the URI Coastal Resources Center, he then conducted field tests of the survey using Android tablets and helped train local staff to administer it.

“Fish make up 60 percent of the animal protein in the Ghanaian diet, but the fishery there is poorly regulated and on the verge of collapse,” Daven said. “The goal of the program is to rebuild fish stocks, in part through responsible fishing practices, and that involves getting input from the fishermen.”

Because of his unique background combining statistics and software development, the URI Department of Computer Science and Statistics asked Daven to design the baseline survey and ensure it would be statistically valid. But it wasn’t easy—partly because of the unreliable electricity supply.

“It was very common to have 12 hours of electricity and 12—or even 24—hours of no electricity,” Daven said. “It was difficult to come up with the tools to administer an electronic survey in an environment where even charging your phone is a challenge. A lot of the infrastructure I take for granted wasn’t available there.”

After returning to the U.S., Daven felt a new appreciation for paved roads, reliable electricity and tap water. But he also appreciated the experience of working with a team committed to improving the economy and the coastal ecosystem in a developing nation.