EPICS in IEEE, an Instructional Actions program, celebrated its fifteenth anniversary final yr. The Engineering Tasks in Neighborhood Service initiative supplies nonprofit organizations with know-how 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 yr 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 help individuals.
The standout yr 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 gathering knowledge and boosted storytelling efforts as an instance the impression of its actions. Proposal functions almost doubled, and authorised initiatives elevated by 44 %.
“Throughout my three years as committee chair, I’ve beloved 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 their skilled and private lives.
“New management will deliver 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 yr’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 lively 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 tutorial expertise in order that they’re not solely know-how 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 additionally so many younger engineers all over the world prepared to place their power and information towards bettering the well-being of individuals.”
The next initiatives, all funded final yr, showcase the passion and dedication of scholars to create and deploy options to assist folks.
An absence of entry to skilled academics and high quality instructional packages threatens college students’ growth, particularly in rural areas with poor infrastructure and restricted assets. A group 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 a whole lot of pupils in underserved areas with a digital, sustainable, and hands-on studying platform that engages college students and academics alike. The group acquired a$4,115 grant to design and deploy their prototype.
“Many rural areas lack entry to certified educators and fashionable instructing assets,” 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 modern instructional expertise with a deal with 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 challenge group
The challenge concerned 9 college students and two college supervisors from the college’s digital engineering division. Every member contributed to one of many three challenge modules: content material growth, energy administration, and the show system. Qazi was challenge lead for the show system module.
The group partnered with the Quick Rural Growth Program, a company devoted to remodeling underprivileged areas and driving sustainable growth in rural elements of Pakistan’s Sindh province. The partnership helped make sure the group’s resolution was aligned with group wants and could possibly 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 additionally so many younger engineers all over the world prepared to place their power and information towards bettering the well-being of individuals.” —Pedro Wightman
“From funding to mentorship, EPICS in IEEE supplied us with important help that allowed us to deliver 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 impression on society whereas rising as an engineer and chief.”
Photo voltaic-powered greenhouse
A artistic group of scholars from BridgeValley Neighborhood and Technical School in South Charleston, W.Va., used its $3,200 grant to ascertain their Photo voltaic PV–Powered Sensible Sustainable Greenhouse challenge. It’s designed to optimize plant development by sustaining superb circumstances and conserving power by distant 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, sensible irrigation, fan management, and IoT integration for real-time knowledge monitoring. Different elements included monitoring cost controllers, soil-moisture sensors, solenoid valves, circulate 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 supplied area for the system,” says group lead Joshua “Youngil” Kim, an IEEE member. “Their dedication to giving again to their group and addressing local weather change aligned with our objectives.” Kim, a former BridgeValley educator, now could be an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Charleston Southern College, in South Carolina.
The group expressed gratitude for the funding from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, an EPICS in IEEE companion.
“EPICS’ help 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. “Because of EPICS in IEEE’s generosity and dedication to fostering instructional development, it’s been a helpful expertise for everybody concerned.”
To study extra about EPICS initiatives or to submit a challenge proposal, be part of the mailing record and obtain month-to-month updates.
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