EPICS in IEEE, an Educational Activities program, celebrated its 15th anniversary final 12 months. The Engineering Projects in Community Service initiative gives nonprofit organizations with expertise to enhance and ship companies to their group whereas broadening undergraduate EE college students’ hands-on expertise with engineering-related matters.
This system reached new heights final 12 months by distributing greater than US $226,000 to 39 tasks, partaking greater than 900 college students and 1,400 volunteers and IEEE members together with proposal reviewers, mentors, and venture assist contributors.
The standout 12 months caps Stephanie Gillespie’s three-year time period as chair of the EPICS in IEEE committee. An IEEE member, she is an affiliate dean on the University of New Haven engineering college, in Connecticut. Underneath her management, the EPICS program streamlined processes for accumulating knowledge and boosted storytelling efforts for example the impression of its actions. Proposal functions practically doubled, and authorised tasks elevated by 44 p.c.
“Throughout my three years as committee chair, I’ve cherished seeing so many college students worldwide have the chance to have interaction with their group and actually contemplate the wants of their venture stakeholders,” Gillespie says. “There are such a lot of methods through which these optimistic experiences can trickle by their skilled and private lives.
“New management will convey new concepts, and I’m excited for the way forward for EPICS in IEEE and the continued progress of this excellent program.”
Pedro Wightman is that this 12 months’s committee chair. He’s an IEEE senior member and an affiliate professor within the engineering school on the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá. Wightman, who has been an lively committee member, helped lead an EPICS venture himself.
“EPICS in IEEE represents a bridge between engineering idea and group wants,” Wightman says. “It brings these two realities collectively for humanitarian functions and helps polish an engineering scholar’s tutorial expertise in order that they’re not solely expertise consultants however people first.
“I hope this system continues to develop and strengthen, as a result of there’s a lot want on the market but in addition so many younger engineers all over the world keen to place their power and data towards enhancing the well-being of individuals.”
The next tasks, all funded final 12 months, showcase the passion and dedication of scholars to create and deploy options to assist individuals.
An absence of entry to educated lecturers and high quality instructional applications threatens college students’ improvement, particularly in rural areas with poor infrastructure and restricted assets. A group from the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) in Jamshoro, Pakistan, addressed such challenges with its Augmented Reality 3D System for Interactive Learning in Rural Elementary Schools venture. It reached tons of of pupils in underserved areas with a digital, sustainable, and hands-on studying platform that engages college students and lecturers alike. The group acquired a$4,115 grant to design and deploy their prototype.
“Many rural areas lack entry to certified educators and trendy educating assets,” says Sameer Qazi, an IEEE scholar member and a MUET senior. “Our venture seeks to bridge that hole by offering an interactive and immersive studying system that delivers an progressive instructional expertise with a give attention to science, artwork, and historical past.”
The group from Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how, in Jamshoro, Pakistan, assembles its augmented-reality prototype of its distance studying system. Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how EPICS in IEEE venture group
The venture concerned 9 college students and two school supervisors from the college’s digital engineering division. Every member contributed to one of many three venture modules: content material improvement, power administration, and the show system. Qazi was venture lead for the show system module.
The group partnered with the Fast Rural Development Program, a corporation devoted to reworking underprivileged areas and driving sustainable development in rural components of Pakistan’s Sindh province. The partnership helped make sure the group’s answer was aligned with group wants and might be extra seamlessly built-in into the goal colleges’ curriculum.
“I hope this system continues to develop and strengthen, as a result of there’s a lot want on the market but in addition so many younger engineers all over the world keen to place their power and data towards enhancing the well-being of individuals.” —Pedro Wightman
“From funding to mentorship, EPICS in IEEE supplied us with important assist that allowed us to convey this venture from idea to actuality,” Qazi says. “I encourage anybody contemplating an EPICS venture to grab the chance. It’s an opportunity to make a tangible impression on society whereas rising as an engineer and chief.”
Photo voltaic-powered greenhouse
A artistic group of scholars from BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston, W.Va., used its $3,200 grant to determine their Solar PV–Powered Smart Sustainable Greenhouse venture. It’s designed to optimize plant progress by sustaining preferrred circumstances and conserving power by remote monitoring. The group used Arduino and different applied sciences, and it partnered with Café Appalachia, an eco-friendly nonprofit with its personal farms.
The group developed a greenhouse system that includes solar-powered lithium-ion batteries, good irrigation, fan management, and IoT integration for real-time knowledge monitoring. Different parts included monitoring cost controllers, soil-moisture sensors, solenoid valves, stream meters, temperature and humidity sensors, a 356-millimeter fan, and a Wi-Fi module with knowledge logging capabilities.
“We selected to work with Café Appalachia as a result of that they had an curiosity in sustainable greenhouse practices and provided house for the system,” says group lead Joshua “Youngil” Kim, an IEEE member. “Their dedication to giving again to their group and addressing climate change aligned with our objectives.” Kim, a former BridgeValley educator, now could be an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Charleston Southern University, in South Carolina.
The group expressed gratitude for the funding from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, an EPICS in IEEE companion.
“EPICS’ assist of this greenhouse venture has been instrumental in permitting us to contribute to our group and supply instructional alternatives to our college students,” Kim says. “Because of EPICS in IEEE’s generosity and dedication to fostering instructional progress, it’s been a priceless expertise for everybody concerned.”
To study extra about EPICS tasks or to submit a venture proposal, be part of the mailing list and obtain month-to-month updates.
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