Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
Michael Sanders
Friday, March 27, 2009
Inside Education & Training
New England tech students pitch in globally
By Lynette F. Cornell, Mass High Tech Intern
MHT's Doug Banks: 10 Women to Watch in tech
MHT's Galen Moore: Charities score with online fundraising
MHT managing editor Rodney Brown on NECN: 22 tech companies give back to community
Students at some local colleges and universities are taking their science and technology education overseas to help communities in developing countries. Through programs at five New England schools, students are designing and constructing quality-of-life solutions that range from prosthetic legs to water distribution and filtration systems.
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Program: Village Empowerment Project in Peru
Task: Improve living conditions in Peruvian villages
The Rev. Paul Soper wanted to help the people in Peru when he and a group of six University of Massachusetts Lowell students traveled to the South American country. They spent two weeks asking villagers how they could help. Back in the U.S., they developed a plan, and one year later, a group of engineers returned.
They began at a clinic, installing a water purification system, emergency lighting, and a radio communication system. Twelve years after the initial contact, there are 85 equipment installations in 47 villages.
Groups of students travel to Peru to conduct equipment maintenance and to develop new projects using local materials.
They’ve also installed ham radios, which are the only means of communications for many villages. John Duffy, the director of the project, said that many lives have been saved by using the radios for emergency communication.
“They can’t believe we keep coming back,” he said.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Program: Global Perspective Program
Task: Create location-specific solutions worldwide
At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, all juniors are required to complete a project that is aimed at helping them understand how technology affects societies. Many of them choose to expand their knowledge of the world by conducting their project overseas. They go in groups of four, working on a project that incorporates the knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom.
In Cape Town, South Africa, two years ago, students designed and implemented a rainwater collection system for a village without running water. To clean their clothes, the women of the village would travel to a distant water source and bring back the water in buckets.
Using local materials, the students created a system that would capture rainwater, and channel it into a nearby central location.
They enlisted the help of locals in digging trenches and pouring concrete to create a stable base for the structure. The total time from design to implementation was seven weeks.
The students had to adapt to “Africa time,” where “‘Now’ means in a few days and ‘now now’ means sometime soon,” said Lauren Alex, one of the students involved. Another student, Jessy Cusack, said the spotty electricity made using power tools difficult.
University of Vermont
Program: Ecological Sugar Project
Task: Bring efficient sugar processing technology to Honduras
Serving others is sweet for University of Vermont students involved in the school’s Ecological Sugar Project. Led by Daniel Baker, an assistant professor of Community Development and Applied Economics, students take a taste of Vermont to villagers in Honduras by educating local sugar producers on modern sugar technology.
The students aim to reduce the environmental impact of commonly used sugar-processing techniques. In an area where wood is scarce, the sugar makers resort to burning rubber tires to run their inefficient sugar evaporators.
Nine years ago Baker began the project, designing multiple prototypes for an evaporator. He took the technology that he, as a sugar producer himself, used for processing maple sap and adapted it for cane syrup.
Now he and his students are improving on the project, returning each summer to measure the impact their efforts have made. They test the efficiency of the evaporators, calculating the ratio of raw goods, fuel and labor to final product quantities.
For Baker, the program is instrumental in shaping how students perceive technology and the world.
“It helps students move from a romantic view on how change is created,” Baker said.
Harvard College
Program: Engineers Without Borders student chapter
Task: Provide clean water in the Dominican Republic
For the villagers of Constanza in the Dominican Republic, another sip of water means another chance at catching a water-borne disease. Although most of them have running water, the pipes that transport the water to their homes are contaminated with e.coli and coliform bacteria.
Looking to improve the water conditions are the students of Harvard College’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Founded in Spring 2007, the group has been actively formulating suitable solutions.
During an assessment trip in November 2007, they discovered that the water people had stored in their homes and that came through the pipes was badly contaminated.
To combat the problem, the students took a two-pronged approach. For the current water distribution system, they are designing a solution that involves fixing the village’s broken sand filter, incorporating a chlorination system, and cleaning the contaminated pipes.
For the villagers without running water, the students have developed an affordable means of drilling wells. So far, the response has been positive.
“They’re excited about what we are trying to do,” said Dana Lazarus, the group’s president.
Northeastern University
Program: Engineers Without Borders student chapter
Task: Delivering fresh water to remote Honduran and Ugandan villages
For the people of Honduras, clean water is not a commodity to be wasted.
Nearly four years ago, two students from the Northeastern University chapter of Engineers Without Borders responded to a request on the national organization’s website for engineers to help design and build a means for the villagers of El Tecuan in the Central American country to have adequate access to clean water.
In 2005, students Jessica Fosbrook and Lisa Pezzino arrived to assess the problem before returning to Boston to design a solution. Eleven months later, five students and a mentor were in Honduras, instructing the villagers on how to dig a trench to make room for a newer, bigger distribution line. The technology was simple, but for the villagers, the effect was life-changing.
“It was our most simple trip,” said Lucas Johnson, Northeastern chapter’s president, “but it helped us get our bearings on the Honduras community.”
RSS Feeds
Comments
Please Login/Register to post comments.
No comments have been added or approved.