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AguaClara research teams design water treatment processes that improve water quality for resource poor communities. However it is the Public Relations team that makes sure that their accomplishments are appreciated and recognized widely by potential members, clients, or stakeholders both on campus and beyond. In addition, the PR team works to convince new students to join the team while fostering teamwork in the lab.
The Public Relations team also works on posting updates to AguaClara social media accounts, recruiting new team members, creating subteam spotlights, managing merchandise sales, and creating documents for managing money transactions within the Public Relations team. The more public awareness and support AguaClara has both on and off campus, the more impact AguaClara’s research will have towards providing safe water to communities in need of safe drinking water.
Spring 2016:
Current Semester - Fall 2016:
Research Advisor: Erika Axe (ena7)
Team Member: Andrew Kang (ak694)
This semester Public Relations team aimed to increase awareness on Campus about AguaClara through multiple projects and to build relationships with alumni. AguaClara Public Relations team recognized the importance of spreading the news about AguaClara's work on campus. This semester, the Public Relations team achieved the two goals by focusing on five main areas: events, social media and newsletter, funding opportunities, merchandise, and special project.
Public Relations team attended multiple events, which allowed the Public Relations team to promote the team’s research and talents. The Public Relations Team also hosted two AguaClara events this semester: the open house and AguaClara fundraiser with Cafe Pacific. In terms of social media and publications, the Public Relations team continued to actively utilize these channels to reach audiences and market AguaClara. This semester, the Public Relations team used the weekly member spotlights to connect with the Facebook audience and increase media attention. The newsletter helped with consistent communication with AguaClara alumni. This semester, AguaClara applied for Student Activities Funding Commission (SAFC) funding as a new endeavor, which proved to be worthwhile.
For merchandise, the Public Relations Team was responsible for organizing the sales and distribution of team polos, sticker, and T-shirts, which showcased the AguaClara logo and increases public recognition of AguaClara. Lastly, the Public Relations team took on a new special project to offer headshots sessions for the AguaClara team. The motivation for this headshot session was to add personal photos to the individual wiki pages in order to increase personalization. These headshots moreover allowed members’ personal uses for professional development as well, such as updating LinkedIn profile photos.
This was an exciting semester for the Public Relations team and the team hops to improve and create new events to share about the meaningful efforts of AguaClara to provide safe drinking water to communities in need.
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Past semesters:
This semester Public Relations is focusing its work on a number of different projects and efforts to improve publicity on a campus and nation-wide level.
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The PR team also worked on posting updates to AguaClara social media accounts, recruiting new team members, creating subteam spotlights, managing merchandise sales, and creating documents for managing money transactions within the Public Relations team. The more public awareness and support AguaClara has both on and off campus, the more impact AguaClara’s research will have towards providing safe water to communities in need of safe drinking water.
Spring 2015:
The PR team this semester has focused its efforts on gaining larger campus recognition and raising inter-team communication within AguaClara.
The foremost project that the team undertook this semester was the creation of a promotional video, featuring various pictures and collages created and edited using iMovie, for entry into the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Engineering For You Video Competition. Of the various grand challenges identified by the NAE, "providing access to clean water" and "restoring and improving urban infrastructure" were notable areas for which AguaClara's efforts resounded deeply. The video was uploaded to YouTube and submitted, and as of Mid-April the team has been notified that the video is moving onto the next round of judging. The grand prize for the competition is $25,000, and there are also other opportunities to win $5,000 for videos in each competition category. The final results of the competition will be announced in the Fall of 2015. The PR team also encouraged other technical subteams to apply for the Odebrecht Award and Sustainability Challenge, which carries a large potential prize for the students, faculty, and university/institution involved.
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