Workers: Susan Jackels
Professor of Chemistry Seattle University
"Chemists tend to be very practical people. Almost everything we learn has a practical application," says Sue Jackels, Professor of Chemistry at Seattle University. So a few years ago when she learned from her colleagues at Jesuit universities in Latin America about a collapse in global coffee prices, she convinced herself that, "as a chemist, I could do something to apply my expertise to help the coffee producers of Nicaragua." As it turns out, she was right.
Science & Sticks Our coffee goes through many different processing stages before it reaches us. Perhaps the most critical of these is fermentation. The coffee beans that we know (and love!) are actually the seeds of a fruit that looks an awful lot like a cherry. After those cherries are harvested, the fleshy red fruit is removed by a hand-operated machine, leaving the bean with a bit of pulp still attached to it. This last bit of material is removed in a fermentation process in which the beans are placed in a tank for several hours and then rinsed. But it has to ferment for just the right amount of time-if it is rinsed too soon or too late, it's not going to make for a very good cup of coffee in the morning. The traditional practice for determining when the fermentation process is done is similar to the way we might test a cake by inserting a toothpick: if it makes a clean hole, leaving no morsels on the toothpick, the cake is done. With coffee, farmers insert a smooth stick into the soaking coffee. If the hole remains when the stick is removed, they stop the fermentation. If the hole fills in, they let the fermentation continue.
Dr. Jackels and her team wanted to instill more scientific rigor in this process. They spent months during the 2004-2005 harvest living in coffee communities where CRS works in Nicaragua, linking the results of coffee tasting, or "cupping," sessions to pH levels and fermentation times. Through their research, they were able to determine the level of pH and fermentation time most likely to lead to good cupping results. In other words, they introduced some science where only sticks had gone before!
Coffee Kits Based on this finding, Dr. Jackels designed a prototype of an inexpensive, appropriate-technology fermentation kit that farmers themselves could use to measure the levels of pH in their coffee to ensure optimal fermentation and coffee quality. The kits cost only about $60 to assemble, plus $10-$15 a year to replenish, and can be easily operated by farmers with little formal education. During the 2005-2006 harvest, she returned to Nicaragua with 100 kits and spent several months instructing members of CRS-supported cooperatives in Nicaragua on how they work. The results: better coffee and more confident farmers!
Dr. Jackels will be returning to Nicaragua soon for the next harvest to fine-tune her findings before looking for a partner to help distribute the coffee kits and fermentation manuals on a broader scale. She believes that tens of thousands of farmers in Nicaragua alone could benefit.
Bringing your Values to the Workplace Dr. Jackels considers herself fortunate. For one thing, she works at Seattle University, whose leadership and Office of Jesuit Identity have worked hard to help integrate the values of our faith into everything the university does, not least of all its scholarship. "Working at a Catholic and Jesuit institution has given me the permission and opportunities to widen my sights," Dr. Jackels says. "I used to have my life as an academician and my life as a faithful Catholic. Both were active but they were not connected. Now they are, and they are moving in the same direction. It's just awesome!"
And Seattle University's strong relationship with CRS provided her with an entrée into coffee-growing communities in Nicaragua. "You don't just arrive in a developing country and say, 'take me to your coffee farmers,'" she explains. In Nicaragua, she was introduced to coffee farmers by CRS staff members, who are well-known and deeply trusted in the communities CRS serves-something that quickly established her as a trusted ally of CRS-supported cooperatives there.
But Dr. Jackels doesn't believe that her experience has to be unique. She thinks more and more people will consider alternative approaches to retirement in the future.
"People are living longer and staying healthy-people with a wealth of experience and talent with a lot to offer. Why not do something really different?" Dr. Jackels asks. She is particularly hopeful that her professional colleagues will integrate their values and their talents: "I believe that science and engineering can improve the world for all people!"