For reference, a similar research group that already has a logo is change.washington.edu (not that we want the same motif for a logo). An ideal logo would represent the theme of the group - appropriate technology for emerging regions.

Non-profits in our industry include:
http://www.inveneo.org/ (primarily wireless)
http://catapultdesign.org/ (primarily mechanical design)
http://wecaresolar.com (solar) has a good logo because it works as a favicon, evokes both the sun and motherhood. nice use of colors. (i.e. just 3 main fill colors and an outline)

We have listed several example projects - wireless telemedicine for healthcare, shared computing for educational games, videos on mobile phones for educating village health care workers, efficient solar power. mostly this is to get across that we do a variety of different information technology projects. Therefore: the logo should not evoke just wireless or just education, but somehow evoke "technology".

i know the easiest way to evoke "developing regions" is a globe, a circle is probably fine too. care.org uses hands in a circle? (don't copy that please).

This might be cheesy but I like the way First Pres Church of Berkeley has integrated the campanile into their logo:
http://www.fpcberkeley.org/
-md

Another group member responds:

#3 3, clean would prefer globe not centered on the us/atlantic,
#4 1, TIER is unreadable on background, note earlier comment about
globe and region centricity
#5 2, 1s and 0s are interesting, but no symbolic meaning in graphic,
all caps and relative size of letters to graphic is a bit imposting
#6 2, Effect of TI overlap doesn't quite work. Not sure what the
arrows and the circle is supposed to evoke - ultimately would need a
white background instead of a gradiant gray
#7 3, slick, a little light - hard to read from a distance (i.e. on a poster)
#8 2, potentially interesting, bit the i is a bit lost
#9 3, interesting effort, but we would prefer not to have a logo so
focused on wireless
#10 3, see #9 also need a white/transparent background for logo, or a
clear outline? #9 is more readable
#11, 3, too cluttered
#12, 2, not excited by the digital font and the key things
#13, 4, the courier capital letters bother me, but the 1s and 0s
running across the world is entertaining
#14, 3, um colorful hand is sure to catch people's attention. worth
discussion. but not with wireless thingy
#15, 4, I like the choice of rainbow/blue, not sure about the hand
(the right hand), but want to consider it as something original and
interesting...
#16, 4, clean, neutral globe, very readable - although the blue is a bit fuzzy
#17, 4, interesting, although as a logo it is a bit intimidating and
complicated. it's really pretty though. I don't like the font of the
capital letters. And am concerned that it is not actually readable in
general.
#18, 2, the cogs are off center and well.. not very pretty
#19, 4, clean, clear (although I don't know how I feel about the
ring/rotation thing)
#20, 5, looks strangely a little like the citris logo or something
else. well it looks logo-like, which is nice. personally i also like
orange, bu that's just6 and arbitrary preference. Also for 19 and 20,
i like this font.
#21, 3, interesting and modern, no meaning. not enamored with colors.
(mustard yellow?)
#22, 4, square format of lower two is interesting, depends on how
important a word vs graphic based logo is to the rest of the group; i
think this is one of the best of the font designs, concerned that it
might be hard to read (e.g. bier vs tier)
#23, 4, two designs in one? graphics are easy to read, but i'm
concerned that this might look too "cute" - it might be more
appropriate if we were doing exclusively educational software
#24, 3, i think this design appeals to engineers, with the
power-swoosh and the name... it's functional and it gets the job done.
although personally I think it looks a bit not-logo-like and too
simple for what we're aiming for.

Feedback from a group member:

If we have a globe (or other icon) it would be good to have a logo where the text of "TIER" (or "tier") can also be used standalone without the image. Also with regard to a globe it would be preferable if it showed as many emerging regions as possible -- for example it's possible to get pretty much all of Africa and South Asia in the same view. Liberties could potentially be taken with reality to fit more ares in the same view - see the "Island of Europe" in #4 for an example. ;) Maybe we should decide how much we do or don't want a globe in the logo. It could always be used to dot a lower-case "i".

I agree that it shouldn't just be antenna/tower-focused. I'm not really wowed by any of the typefaces.

#8 is interesting but too hard to read. I kind of like the binary 1s and 0s of 13 & 5, but not against an arbitrary sphere (and they may not be that useful in any form at typical logo resolutions we might be dealing with, where you couldn't make out that they are 1s and 0s?).

I like the style/colors of #7 but it doesn't feel very "logo"-like. No imagery but it would look pretty professional on a business card.

I want to note that the group will be voting on their favorite, so my feedback isn't always going to be right.