Engineering students at colleges across the U.S. are getting valuable experience in both hands-on engineering and communications while helping others as they carry out humanitarian/engineering projects. Students at Michigan State University, for example, will be helping folks in Kenya by developing a filter that converts greywater into safe irrigation water. Meanwhile, some of their classmates will be giving villagers in Guatemala a helping hand by building a thresher for harvesting green pigeon peas.
At Ohio State University, engineering undergrads are staying closer to home and building wheelchair ramps. The ramps are being constructed for people with disabilities who live in communities surrounding the Columbus, Ohio campus, but lack the funds to get one built themselves.
We’d like to hear about more of these humanitarian engineering projects. So if you know of one or two, please leave a comment with a brief description of the project and the name of the school. If you prefer, you can write me directly at [email protected]. Put Human Engineering in the subject line. We will then try to shine a light on these worthy efforts.