EPICS in IEEE, an Academic Actions program, celebrated its fifteenth anniversary final 12 months. The Engineering Tasks in Neighborhood 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 initiatives, participating greater than 900 college students and 1,400 volunteers and IEEE members together with proposal reviewers, mentors, and challenge assist individuals.
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 College of New Haven engineering faculty, in Connecticut. Beneath her management, the EPICS program streamlined processes for amassing information and boosted storytelling efforts as an example the influence of its actions. Proposal purposes practically doubled, and authorised initiatives elevated by 44 %.
“Throughout my three years as committee chair, I’ve liked seeing so many college students worldwide have the chance to have interaction with their group and really think about the wants of their challenge stakeholders,” Gillespie says. “There are such a lot of methods during which these optimistic experiences can trickle by way of 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 development 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 faculty on the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá. Wightman, who has been an energetic committee member, helped lead an EPICS challenge himself.
“EPICS in IEEE represents a bridge between engineering concept and group wants,” Wightman says. “It brings these two realities collectively for humanitarian functions and helps polish an engineering scholar’s educational expertise in order that they’re not solely expertise specialists 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 around the globe prepared to place their power and data towards bettering the well-being of individuals.”
The next initiatives, all funded final 12 months, showcase the passion and dedication of scholars to create and deploy options to assist folks.
A scarcity of entry to skilled academics and high quality instructional applications threatens college students’ improvement, particularly in rural areas with poor infrastructure and restricted sources. A workforce from the Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how (MUET) in Jamshoro, Pakistan, addressed such challenges with its Augmented Actuality 3D System for Interactive Studying in Rural Elementary Colleges challenge. It reached lots of of pupils in underserved areas with a digital, sustainable, and hands-on studying platform that engages college students and academics alike. The workforce acquired a$4,115 grant to design and deploy their prototype.
“Many rural areas lack entry to certified educators and trendy educating sources,” says Sameer Qazi, an IEEE scholar member and a MUET senior. “Our challenge seeks to bridge that hole by offering an interactive and immersive studying system that delivers an revolutionary instructional expertise with a deal with science, artwork, and historical past.”
The workforce 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 challenge workforce
The challenge concerned 9 college students and two school supervisors from the college’s digital engineering division. Every member contributed to one of many three challenge modules: content material improvement, energy administration, and the show system. Qazi was challenge lead for the show system module.
The workforce partnered with the Quick Rural Improvement Program, a corporation devoted to remodeling underprivileged areas and driving sustainable improvement in rural components of Pakistan’s Sindh province. The partnership helped make sure the workforce’s answer was aligned with group wants and could possibly be extra seamlessly built-in into the goal faculties’ 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 around the globe prepared to place their power and data towards bettering the well-being of individuals.” —Pedro Wightman
“From funding to mentorship, EPICS in IEEE offered us with important assist that allowed us to convey this challenge from idea to actuality,” Qazi says. “I encourage anybody contemplating an EPICS challenge to grab the chance. It’s an opportunity to make a tangible influence on society whereas rising as an engineer and chief.”
Photo voltaic-powered greenhouse
A artistic workforce of scholars from BridgeValley Neighborhood and Technical Faculty in South Charleston, W.Va., used its $3,200 grant to determine their Photo voltaic PV–Powered Sensible Sustainable Greenhouse challenge. It’s designed to optimize plant development by sustaining ideally suited circumstances and conserving power by way of distant monitoring. The workforce 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 information monitoring. Different elements included monitoring cost controllers, soil-moisture sensors, solenoid valves, movement meters, temperature and humidity sensors, a 356-millimeter fan, and a Wi-Fi module with information logging capabilities.
“We selected to work with Café Appalachia as a result of they’d an curiosity in sustainable greenhouse practices and provided house for the system,” says workforce lead Joshua “Youngil” Kim, an IEEE member. “Their dedication to giving again to their group and addressing local weather change aligned with our targets.” Kim, a former BridgeValley educator, now could be an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Charleston Southern College, in South Carolina.
The workforce expressed gratitude for the funding from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, an EPICS in IEEE companion.
“EPICS’ assist of this greenhouse challenge has been instrumental in permitting us to contribute to our group and provide instructional alternatives to our college students,” Kim says. “Due to EPICS in IEEE’s generosity and dedication to fostering instructional development, it’s been a precious expertise for everybody concerned.”
To be taught extra about EPICS initiatives or to submit a challenge proposal, be a part of the mailing listing and obtain month-to-month updates.
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