Heider Professors Garner International Recognition

Mission Trip Inspires Faculty to Create BLUEBOX Project

While on a church mission trip to Africa in 2015, associate professor of economics Charles Braymen, PhD, CFA, was trying to install educational software in six less-than state-of-the-art computers at a school in Northern Tanzania. A task that should have taken a few hours took over two days – and only two computers were functioning a week later. Frequently during the process, Braymen and his co-workers thought, “There must be a better way.”

So, Braymen returned home and began to search for existing solutions. When he couldn’t find one, he solicited the help of fellow Heider College of Business colleague Dustin Ormond, PhD, assistant professor of business intelligence and analytics. The two professors partnered with Creighton’s Radlab to create a completely new solution. The result of their collective efforts is The BlueBox Project.

Numerous regions of the world do not have access to current educational materials. Full classrooms of children frequently share a handful of textbooks or simply rely on notes taken from a chalkboard. Often, available textbooks can only be viewed at a library after class, with students taking turns accessing information. Many times these textbooks are outdated.

Electronic information is equally sporadic. Internet connections are spotty, and power outages render functioning wireless devices useless.

But what isn’t lacking, even among the remotest of populations, are cell phones.

The BlueBox Project capitalizes on this fact to address the aforementioned concerns. The BlueBox is a simple composite box that houses an inexpensive mini-computer capable of disseminating open-source educational materials to anyone with a cell phone. In areas without electricity, a solar version can be deployed with USB ports to charge tablets and other wireless devices.

Included in The BlueBox Project is a research component that can track which informational resources are used the most by a school or community, thus providing an opportunity to tailor future software installments to meet the needs of those using BlueBox.

Award-Winning Ingenuity

The potential impact of The BlueBox Project is staggering, and thus the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has recognized Braymen and Ormond by highlighting the project as a 2019 Innovation That Inspires. The professors traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, in April to attend the AACSB International Conference and Annual Meeting (ICAM), where they presented their project to those in attendance and received their honor.

“The other Innovation That Inspires projects were very interesting and would be amazing resources to help aid us in teaching and research. Some of these required millions in capital to implement,” says Ormond. “Seeing our project amidst these other projects was incredible. As attendees came around, I thoroughly enjoyed answering questions and seeing the excitement in others about the prospects of The BlueBox project.