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Food for Thought: Agave Fibers from Plant to Pad

Exploring frugal science, sustainable materials, and innovations addressing period poverty
The Food for Thought series features student-focused events with speakers from a variety of disciplines discussing topics related to global development.

Event Details:

Tuesday, February 25, 2025
5:30pm - 6:30pm PST

Location

Gunn SIEPR Building

This event is open to:

Students

Kenyan entrepreneur and innovator, Alex Odundo, will share his plant fiber research in collaboration with the Prakash Lab (Stanford University, Bioengineering). Together, they have developed a sustainable solution to period poverty by harnessing the untapped potential of Agave Sisalana (sisal), a drought-resistant plant native to Kenya. Their partnership focuses on developing innovative tools and methods to transform sisal fibers into absorbent, biodegradable fluff for use in sanitary pads. This work will culminate in a small, self-sustaining manufacturing facility in Kenya that can be replicated in other parts of the world to increase access to affordable and quality menstrual products.

This event will explore how local innovation, global collaboration, and sustainable practices can disrupt the traditional hygiene product market, reduce waste, and provide a long-term solution to period poverty that is rooted in the communities they serve.

This Food for Thought event is co-hosted by the Stanford King Center on Global Development and the Stanford Humanities Center research workshop, Fiber Optics, in partnership with the Prakash Lab, Center for African Studies, and the Department of African and African American Studies.

A light dinner will be served.

About the Speakers:

Alex Odundo, Innovator at SIFA Machinery Enterprises

Alex Odundo

Alex Odundo is a Kenyan engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable materials and agricultural technology. With a focus on frugal science and sustainability, he has developed innovative machinery for processing agave fiber – a renewable, biodegradable resource – into eco-friendly products. Odundo’s work addresses critical issues in the Global South, including period poverty and sustainable agriculture, by creating affordable, scalable technologies that empower local communities. His collaborations, such as with Stanford's Prakash Lab, bridge global development and materials science to drive sustainable solutions in underserved regions.

Anton Molina, Director of Open Source Ecosystem at b.next

Anton Molina

Anton Molina is the Director of Open Source Ecosystem at b.next, the open core synthetic cell company based in San Francisco. He completed his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University with Prof. Manu Prakash. His work brings together material engineering and open innovation practices to develop transformational technologies. Previous projects include transforming agave fibers into absorbent materials for use in menstrual hygiene products, hacking cotton candy machines to produce air filtration materials for pandemic preparedness, and studying the physics of evaporation to understand the dynamics of 2D crystalline materials.

Anesta Kothari, Research Associate at Prakash Lab

Anesta Kothari

Anesta Kothari is a new research associate within the department of bioengineering at Stanford University. She recently received a Master in Design Engineering degree from Harvard University (Graduate School of Design and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), where she focused her design on issues regarding human and environmental health. Her thesis project aimed toward a low-cost platform technology that can analyze the human gut microbiome from fecal samples to help with drug modulation. Her interests engage simple machines, smart materials, and novel sciences that support preventive health approaches. She believes health is the single common denominator in all beings and she is passionate about pursuing projects that have real-world implications in the field.

Manu Prakash, Faculty Affiliate at the King Center on Global Development

Manu Prakash

Manu Prakash is an associate professor of bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Medicine, and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. At Stanford, Prakash is also a member of the core leadership team of the Center for Innovation in Global Health and a board member of the Jasper Ridge Reserve. In his research, Prakash takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how computation is embodied in biological matter. Broadly, he invents new tools for studying non-model organisms with significant focus on life in the ocean.

About the Moderator:

Jacob Hellman, Lecturer at Stanford University

Jacob Hellman

Jacob Hellman is a Lecturer in the Program in Science, Technology and Society (STS) at Stanford, where he teaches classes about the values that get embedded in innovation and science. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at York University in Toronto. He has also lectured in Sociology and in Communication at the University of California, San Diego. His research examines how financial technologies generate forms of social belonging, beyond their ostensibly economic function. His book manuscript is about the popularization of amateur venture capital (“angel”) investing. Prior to entering a PhD program in Communication at UC San Diego, he worked in energy conservation for low-income housing.

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