The feedback from both our academic experts and stakeholders allowed us incorporate feedback into our proposed implementation of our on-site device. To begin, our project starts in the lab where our team puts together the reagents and device that will later be shipped and given to the target consumer. In the lab, our focus was to ensure that the device would be easily portable and simple to understand. Dr. Pardee’s help with freeze-drying our reagents to ensure the LAMP reagents would not have to be transported at low-temperatures thus helps this goal of easy transportation. Furthermore, Dr. Tanner’s advice to use a colormetric result to either confirm or deny the presence of oak wilt is intuitive and does not require any additional materials for the stakeholder.

Our stakeholders Dr. Smith and Ms. DisGasparro provided the recommendation that our device to be targeted towards government surveillance agencies that are monitoring oak wilt, rather than directly to homeowners. This proposed implementation makes the most sense for our project since currently the greatest effort towards monitoring oak wilt is conducted by the government. If homeowners believe that their oak tree may be infected by the disease, they would be able to contact the government which could use our device to then confirm or deny the presence of oak wilt. Furthermore, it is more likely for the government to commit the monetary resources and personnel to purchase and utilize this device, rather than homeowners.

The next step in our proposed implementation process is for it to be used in-field. Dr. Dillon provided valuable insight in this component and suggested for us to make the device as simple as possible for anyone with a non-scientific background to use. Having the device be simple to use and understand also helps prevent user-error from impacting the results.

Finally, the last step in our implementation process is either confirm or deny the presence of oak wilt. Current detection methods involve taking a sample from the suspected infected tree and sending the sample to a lab where oak wilt is either identified from PCR techniques or culturing. This process may take up to one week, and therefore for our device to be helpful and improve current surveillance effects, our device needs to give results in a shorter time frame. With the use of our on-field device using LAMP, results should be visible in one hour.