Since its founding in 1995 at Purdue University, the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) in IEEE program has been offering nonprofit organizations with expertise to enhance and ship providers to their group whereas broadening undergraduate EE college students’ hands-on experiences.
In 2009 the EPICS program was dropped at IEEE by Moshe Kam, an IEEE Fellow and the 2005–2007 vice chairman of IEEE Educational Activities; Senior Member Kapil Dandekar; and Fellow Saurabh Sinha. Together they based EPICS in IEEE as an IEEE Educational Activities program. Funding for this system got here from a seed grant by the IEEE New Initiatives Committee.
This yr this system marks its fifteenth anniversary.
“When we created EPICS in IEEE,” Dandekar says, “we were very eager to align the perspective of service-learning from the EPICS program at Purdue with IEEE’s mission to foster technological innovation for the benefit of humanity.
“I am particularly proud of the continuing stakeholder engagement by engineers with humanitarian organizations in shaping projects. I firmly believe that this leads to a better learning experience for the engineering students and a more useful outcome for the humanitarian partner organization.”
During the previous 15 years, greater than 219 initiatives in 34 nations have been accomplished, involving greater than 11,000 college students in service-learning initiatives. Of these college students, 47 % recognized as feminine.
“EPICS in IEEE has played a key role in expanding the global reach of projects in which engineering students bring their learning and skills to bear in addressing challenges faced by their local communities,” says Leah Jamieson, 2007 IEEE president and a cofounder of EPICS at Purdue, which is in West Lafayette, Ind. “By tackling community needs in the areas of access and abilities, education and outreach, human services, and the environment, students participating in EPICS in IEEE are gaining firsthand experience in marrying engineering and community. Project by project, they are contributing to IEEE’s goal of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.”
A deal with studying outcomes
The program differs from different humanitarian efforts inside IEEE due to its deal with engineering-student studying outcomes in addition to the advantages to the native communities.
“EPICS in IEEE is a perfect way to merge engineering education and engagement,” Sinha says. “It provides an opportunity for universities to connect their students’ educational experiences to support the U.N. sustainable development goals.
“I’ve had the privilege of seeing EPICS in IEEE in many countries,” he provides, “and enjoyed the globalizing benefit that the program brought to all parties involved.”
The initiatives embody a recycling middle to scale back plastic waste at Ankole Institute, in southwestern Uganda. The middle was constructed by college students from Kyambogo University of Kampala, Uganda.
A staff of scholars from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, designed a laptop mouse for these whose palms or arms have an abnormality, so they might extra simply play video games.
Arizona State University college students created a solar-powered air filtration system for nomadic individuals in Mongolia.
“By tackling community needs in the areas of access and abilities, education and outreach, human services, and the environment, students participating in EPICS in IEEE are gaining firsthand experience in marrying engineering and community.” —Leah Jamieson, 2007 IEEE president and cofounder of EPICS at Purdue.
In Panama, engineering college students from Universidad Tecnológica de Panama’s electrical engineering and laptop science departments used their tech know-how to make the college’s campus extra accessible for individuals with disabilities. They employed a 3D printer to make indicators in braille, they constructed a wheelchair, and so they automated the varsity’s doorways to enhance entry.
In follow-up surveys about their EPICS in IEEE participation, college students have shared that it was not like something they did within the classroom.
“This experience has been a profound learning opportunity,” says Leonardo Vergara, a techniques engineering scholar at Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, in Colombia.
“My collaboration and communication skills have also been greatly enhanced,” Vergara provides. “It has reaffirmed my belief in technology’s power to create positive social impact and ignited a sense of social responsibility.”
Continued development
To take this system to the subsequent degree, EPICS in IEEE in 2014 created a fund by the IEEE Foundation to assist donors help this system. The Foundation is IEEE’s philanthropic accomplice.
EPICS in IEEE continues to accomplice with EPICS Purdue and participates in its University Consortium, a community of establishments that strives to share concepts and help improvement for service-learning packages.
“Over the past 15 years, the term service learning has been evolving and is often now referred to as community-engaged learning,” says IEEE Member Stephanie Gillespie, chair of EPICS in IEEE. “This updated terminology better reflects the significant role the community has in the learning process. EPICS in IEEE requires significant community-partner engagement alongside the IEEE and student involvement because this partnership with a community organization is more likely to lead to long-term project support and maintenance once deployed into a community.
“As the field of service learning and community-engaged learning evolves, so does EPICS in IEEE. We are excited to celebrate how far EPICS in IEEE has come in 15 years.”
In the previous two years, the committee has observed elevated curiosity in service studying, reviewing 190 proposals in 2023, in contrast with 77 the yr earlier than. The committee authorised 39 initiatives final yr, up from 23 in 2022.
The program has streamlined its processes and elevated its advertising efforts. It now offers extra sources to assist make sure the success of the initiatives. In addition, EPICS volunteers have strengthened partnerships with IEEE affinity teams, technical societies, and areas and sections to boost consciousness of this system amongst scholar and IEEE members.
Celebratory occasions
EPICS in IEEE is commemorating its fifteenth anniversary with various occasions. The celebration kicked off through the IEEE Rising Stars convention, held from 5 to 7 January in Las Vegas. At the convention, program volunteers and workers members gave displays about its progress, and scholar groups showcased their prototypes.
Virtual occasions are deliberate for this yr, in addition to tales posted on the EPICS in IEEE web site, highlighting previous and present initiatives.