Engineering Courses with International Focus - Kenya
Projects
Students will be working on various aspects of the design, testing and commercialization of these projects in the Spring 2010 semester with travel to Kenya for testing and implementation for three weeks in the Summer (Travel is optional). Faculty and students from numerous disciplines across ten colleges participated in these projects in the Spring/Summer 2009. Students represented Penn State at various conferences and competitions and won a number of awards. We hope to continue this tradition of excellence.
Mashavu: Networked Health Solutions for the Developing World
Mashavu Website
watch the video (12 min)
Wishvast: Building Trust and Social Capital using Cellphones
EssentialDesign: Design of Intfrastructure and Appropriate Technologies
Courses
This is a three-credit effort with cross-functional teams (from various colleges/disciplines working together on the project) and housed in two Engineering Design courses: EDSGN 452 (2 credits: Projects in Community Service Engineering) and EDSGN 497C (1 credit: Design for Developing Communities Seminar)
There will be other specific classes also participating in these projects. E.g. a BIOE class designing the biomedical devices for Mashavu, Business Admin class working on various business plans, etc. Few students from these classes (one per team) will be attending the EDSGN 497C seminar as well to make sure everyone has a good grounding in the basic concepts and is working in sync with the core teams.
EDSGN 497C: Design for Developing Communities - 1 credit seminar
Lectures & discussions on context specific design, cultural issues, appropriate design, business planning and social sustainability issues. (we have a systems approach and all topics are relevant to all students!)
How much work is it?
1 hour lecture / discussion
30-45 minutes project management meeting
30 minutes / week writing the personal reflection / blog
EDSGN 452: Projects in Community Service Engineering - 2 credits
Weekly meeting time set by appointment.
There will be three separate sections for the class:
EDSGN 452 Section 1: EssentialDesign: Students on working on various appropriate infrastructure projects
EDSGN 452 Section 2: Mashavu: Students working on various aspects of the Mashavu project
EDSGN 452 Section 3: Wishvast: Students working on various aspects of the WishVast project
How much work is it?
60 - 90 minute weekly meeting
1-3 hours outside class working on the project in teams
Contacts:
For more information on Mashavu and WishVast, Contact Khanjan Mehta and for EssentialDesign, Contact Tom Colledge.