Tech is everywhere in our modern world. We live with screens and gadgets and artificial integrations that offer assistance with everything from our shopping preferences to our spelling and grammar.
We are all likely grappling with the various implications of an AI-rich world—namely questions of privacy, sustainability, and more. Still, tech is growing rapidly, and we can’t deny that if we can center our tech innovations around improving our quality of life in real ways, tech can be an asset that might help us to live longer, healthier lives.
Last year, as a part of the HBCU Week Now initiative, SCETV joined in once again to highlight a South Carolina HCBU that uses innovation to improve the world. A brainchild of our partners at Maryland Public Television, HBCU Week Now is a programming effort that seeks to celebrate the rich legacy and innovation happening at our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
When I first heard of the “smart home” being developed by scholars at South Carolina’s oldest HBCU, Claflin University (CU), I immediately knew that this was the story I wanted to add to the bevy of great films being produced by the other partners in the HBCU Week Now cohort. I wanted to know: What had inspired this investment in a tech-forward home that monitors a person’s health in rural Orangeburg?
I sat down with Claflin’s President, Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack, Math and Computer Science Chair, Dr. Katrina Liles, and Senior Computer Programming major, Shamaria Stroman, to find out not only the why of South Carolina’s only smart home on a college campus, but also, how the brilliant team at CU has employed tech to help combat the health disparities running rampant in many rural areas in the nation.
The resulting film highlights how the smart home fulfills Dr. Warmack’s vision to “lead the nation in combating healthcare disparities in African American and other minority communities" and how this tech-forward dwelling stands in a continuum of innovation at Claflin since it was founded in 1869. We explore their plans to launch SmartHOME as a health center to provide primary care for the local and campus communities. The facility will offer community residents access to trained medical practitioners to diagnose and treat common health issues and medical problems. President Dr. Warmack envisions a space that promotes healthy communities, increases technology and healthcare literacy, and inspires students to help build a sustainable, healthier, and higher standard of life for everyone.
Since its premiere on the HBCU Week Now YouTube channel in November, the brief film has garnered over 145 thousand views! We invite you now to join in and watch the film too!
