U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick visited the State of Rhode Island and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on August 6 and 7, 2020.

During her visit to Rhode Island, Deputy Administrator Glick toured Edesia, a non-profit social enterprise that supplies USAID with high-energy nutrition supplements to help treat malnutrition around the world, especially in emergency and humanitarian settings.  She met with Edesia Founder and Chief Executive Officer Navyn Salem and discussed Edesia's new initiatives to improve packaging and identify new product formulations.

On August 6, Deputy Administrator Glick also met with USAID Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge innovator, Little Sparrows, to learn more about and their work combatting infant jaundice.  Little Sparrows developed two portable innovations that help diagnose (Bili-Ruler) and provide neonatal phototherapy treatment (Bili-Hut) to newborns suffering from severe jaundice.  The purpose of this meeting was to learn first-hand how an innovation team and new partner for USAID can help USAID achieve its global health goals of preventing child deaths, as well as to understand the catalytic impact that our Grand Challenges for Development, like Saving Lives at Birth, have had for their development.

On August 7, Deputy Administrator Glick visited the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and met with Assistant Director Dr. Melissa Choi and other members of Lincoln Lab's leadership and technical teams.  They discussed some of the ongoing partnerships between USAID and Lincoln Laboratory including  innovative pilot projects to track humanitarian aid and the use of solar-powered recycling to reduce packaging waste. They discussed potential opportunities for further collaboration.

Also on August 7, the Deputy Administrator met Altiostar Networks, Inc.'s President and CEO, Ashraf Dahod, to discuss how USAID can collaborate with Altiostar and other firms in the open radio and access network (RAN) industry, as well as organizations like the Open RAN Policy Coalition, to promote trusted 5G and digital networks in emerging market countries.