Six Global Social Impact Fellowship teams, plus one Sustainable Futures Fellowship team, traveled to Almaty, Kazakhstan from May 16–30 to advance projects focused on a wide range of social sectors including education, health, sustainability, research capacity and technology-driven social impact.
With 30 students and four faculty mentors, Khanjan Mehta, Dhruv Seshadri, Steven McIntosh and Joseph Menicucci, this year’s Kazakhstan fieldwork represented the largest single travel group in the history of Lehigh’s Global Social Impact Fellowship. Two additional faculty mentors, Sean Vassilaros and Kirk Gallion, also supported the Kazakhstan projects.
The projects, Save Tuba, Central Asian Researchers Network (CARN), SaltX, PureSpaces, AgriMed and TremorTrack – worked with partners across Almaty and Kazakhstan, including Almaty Management University, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Shashkin Clinic, local schools, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry professionals.
During two weeks of fieldwork, the teams reached several key milestones. TremorTrack filed an invention disclosure with Lehigh University’s Office of Technology Transfer for its low-cost wearable device designed to help clinicians monitor Parkinson’s symptoms more continuously and objectively. CARN hosted workshops on leveraging AI tools to enhance research productivity and support sustainable development efforts, engaging more than 100 faculty members, graduate students and social innovators from local universities. Save Tuba received approval from the Kazakh Ministry of Education to pilot its application in eight schools across Almaty, and its app is now available for download on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Going forward, GSIF projects and HDSE leadership intensives will happen under the auspices of the nascent Global Impact Collaboratory (GIC), a joint initiative between Lehigh and Almaty Management University. The GIC represents both a culmination and continuation of over eight years of formal partnership between the two universities, focused largely on project- and program-based learning and impact, leadership development, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and innovative solutions to global grand challenges that affect the U.S. and Central Asia.
“We are tremendously excited to build this new level of partnership between our two institutions,” Khanjan Mehta, vice provost for creative inquiry, says. “The Global Impact Collaboratory will create the infrastructure for more students and faculty from Lehigh to bring our strengths in research, experiential education, and entrepreneurship to combine with AlmaU’s strengths in business fields, creativity, and innovation to create something truly special that will bring benefits to both institutions, but more importantly, to the world at large.”
These accomplishments represent only part of the progress made during the fieldwork.Visit Creative Inquiry’s LinkedIn feed to read detailed summaries of each project team’s fieldwork highlights and outcomes.
The photos below capture moments from that work, from partner meetings and school visits to clinical observations, workshops and hands-on testing across Almaty which kicked off the 2026 summer of Impact Fellowship fieldwork.
1. Central Asian Researchers Network - Advancing AI-Driven Research Futures
1. Central Asian Researchers Network - Advancing AI-Driven Research Futures
2. PureSpaces - Transforming Indoor Air Quality for Health
3. Save Tuba - Gamifying Sustainability Education for Kazakhstan's Youngest Learners
4. TremorTrack - Microtremor Detection Device for Early Diagnosis of Neurological Disorders
5. Swello - Taking the Thinking out of Swallowing for Patients with Dysphagia
6. SaltX Reducing Sodium Consumption and Improving Nutritional Labeling
7. Sustainable Futures Fellowship - Kazakhstan
