[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 9, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E746-E747]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 9, 2012

  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ketaki Desai, 
Elizabeth Cullinan, Tim Kelly, and Reginald Cox, four graduate students 
from Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management, 
for their first place finish at the Hult Global Case Challenge.
  Their innovative program, One Laptop Per Child, seeks to provide 
durable, low energy laptops for children in 3rd world countries with 
limited educational resources. This idea garnered the top prize at the 
Hult Challenge, where these CMU grad students were awarded $333,000 to 
encourage and further their initiative.
  The Hult Global Case Challenge, now in its third year, is focused on 
bringing some of the brightest minds in the world together to find ways 
to solve key social challenges. This year, the three categories--
education, energy,

[[Page E747]]

and housing--had hundreds of entrants from over 130 countries around 
the world. Such luminaries as Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace 
Prize judged the final round; and President Bill Clinton handed out the 
top awards for each category. CMU's Ketaki Desai, Elizabeth Cullinan, 
Tim Kelly, and Reginald Cox won first place in the education category.
  One Laptop Per Child seeks to provide greater educational resources 
for children ages 6 through 12 in impoverished areas of the world. OLPC 
has designed laptops with several key features geared towards helping 
these children. They cost significantly less to manufacture than the 
standard laptops we use here in the US; they are pre-loaded with lots 
of educational software, and have wireless internet built in; they are 
low energy, ensuring that even children in communities without 
electricity can use them, then recharge the laptops using solar energy; 
the laptops' screens can be read in sunlight--an important feature 
because so many of these children go to school outside; and, perhaps 
most importantly, these laptops are extremely durable and rugged, 
because, let's face it, kids are going to be kids, no matter where they 
are in the world.
  By providing children with these laptops, One Laptop Per Child hopes 
to broaden children's worldview, and enrich their educational 
experiences, because, as they see it, education is the foundation for 
the other solutions to problems like a lack of shelter or running 
water. Their goal is to donate and distribute 20 million laptops to 
poor children throughout the world over the next 5 years.
  This is just one more example of the innovative work that's being 
done in Pittsburgh, and I am proud to be their representative. 
Congratulations to these grad students and to all the bright minds in 
Pittsburgh working so hard to solve the world's problems. I thank them 
for their dedication.

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