Community Partner Update

In an effort to really understand the context of our project and the specific needs of the community surrounding the dam and the Cape Verdean government, we have decided to make contacting our community partner our highest first priority. Last class we drafted some questions that we would like to ask Eva Verona Cortet during our first phone call. We worked on making the questions very open-ended and gearing them in a way that would give us indicators of what we need to be focusing on in our research. Here are some example questions:

Where is erosion occurring?
At what rate is erosion occurring?

Who is currently in charge of maintaining the dam?
Would you be interested in collaborating with other engineers that we connect with?

After generating questions, we began drafting an email asking Ms. Cortet if she would be available and willing to talk with us about our project. The interesting thing about this project is that, not only are we learning about a whole new type of engineering, but we are also learning how to create a professional relationship from the ground up. Despite a potential language barrier, we are hoping to represent Wellesley well to the international community.