Download the PDF - School of Engineering Design, Technology ...

Engineering DesignMy perspective:Reflections on HumanitarianEngineering and SocialEntrepreneurshipBy Thomas Colledge, P.E.Many engineering students of this generation seekopportunities to apply their academic training andengage the world by “doing”—not merely studyingin a classroom, attending seminars, or even simply traveling towitness conditions in other countries. They seek to apply theiracademic training to make a difference.According to the recent College Board and Art & ScienceGroup Student Poll survey, most students recognize that theiruniversity education can—and should—prepare them to makea difference in the world. Eighty-three percent of universitystudents felt that a college education should “prepare themfor a career or profession.” But nearly as many students feltthat a college education should also enable them to a) acquirevalues, habits, and skills that prepare them for many differentopportunities (70 percent), and b) be exposed to new ideas,knowledge, and intellectual challenges (74 percent). However,few engineering students recognize the enormous challengesand responsibilities they will inherit, given that nearly halfof the world currently earns less than $2 per day— and thatin 30 years that estimate jumps to two-thirds of the world’spopulation. Most also do not recognize the tremendous needaround the world for sustainable infrastructure development(energy, water, wastewater, housing, agriculture) and jobcreation through innovative product design—and thepolitical, social, and economic ramifications of such. Theseresults bring into contrast the twin goals of higher education:a training ground to prepare students to enter a competitiveworkforce, and a place and time and freedom to exploreoneself and the world of ideas.From a professional development standpoint, the NationalAcademy of Engineering suggests that engineering educationshould emphasize the development of students as emergingprofessionals and educated citizens, “equally at home withsocietal concerns as they are with technical issues.” Suchan approach is also reflected in the Accreditation Board forEngineering and Technology (ABET)’s Engineering CriteriaOutcomes as well as Penn State’s World-Class Engineercriteria. Thus, it is suggested that students be immersedin engineering design and practice, incorporating societal,economic, and cultural concerns in the design process,as early and as pervasively as possible. The major tool forimplementing this educational vision is the curriculum.The question becomes how to incorporate new, effectivepedagogical models into an already crowded curriculum inorder to achieve these educational goals.One opportunity for students who seek rigorous, technicaltraining while concurrently broadening their education toinclude cultural, political, and economic concepts relevant toengineering design is through participation in HumanitarianEngineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) projectsand efforts.Humanitarian engineering may be defined as “designunder constraints to directly improve the well-being ofunderserved—or marginalized—communities.” What ismost distinctive about this type of engineering is its targetedaudiences. Humanitarian engineering places strong emphasison the cultural and economic contexts of engineeringsolutions that impact the poor, the marginalized, thedisenfranchised, and those who lack the means to addresspressing problems. As such, training for one who participatesin Humanitarian engineering seeks to emphasize history,politics, economics, sociology, and language as well as rigorousengineering basics and entrepreneurship. Humanitarianengineering addresses many of the needs expressed by theNational Academy of Engineering, ABET, Penn State’s World-Class Engineer, and industry.Social entrepreneurs pioneer innovative and systemicapproaches for meeting the needs of the marginalized, thedisadvantaged, and the disenfranchised—populations that lackthe financial means or political clout to achieve lasting benefiton their own. Distinct from a business entrepreneur who seesvalue in the creation of new markets, the social entrepreneuraims for value in the form of transformational change that willbenefit disadvantaged communities and ultimately society atlarge.HESE at Penn State allows students opportunities to make adifference in the lives of others while concurrently preparingthemselves to be better engineers. HESE provides studentsopportunities to engage and assess communities; defineproblems; and design, construct, and implement sustainablesolutions—all while collaborating with their host partner(s).A well-designed initiative in HESE permits a culturally basedapproach to design followed by the actual implementation ofdesign solutions.The enthusiasm and drive of engineering students toparticipate in HESE projects has resulted not only in abetter trained engineering student, but also has improvedlives of people in numerous communities around the world.Participation in such projects, including associated travel,has been consistent over the past eleven years with hundredsStudents wrap up anaerobic digester project in JamaicaIn 2004, Assistant Professor of Engineering Design ThomasColledge received a grant from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture to embark on a five-year project to reduce energycosts for poultry farmers in Jamaica. Poultry farming is an importantbusiness in Jamaica, but it requires a lot of energy to keep poultrycoops cool on hot days, and electricity is expensive.In order to tackle this problem, Colledge teamed up with theUniversity of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica, to design and buildanaerobic digesters to break down poultry manure and convert itinto methane, which the farmers use to power air conditioners andfans for the coops.During the course of the project, more than 50 Penn State andUniversity of Technology students traveled to each other’s countryto work on the project. The results of the five-year collaborativedesign project were the construction of benchtop-scale andpilot-scale anaerobic digestion systems at both universities.of students traveling to project sites located in El Salvador,Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Nicaragua, Belize, andEcuador. It is the application of academic training andthe development of leadership and project managementskills on such projects—along with the benefit to thehost communities—that motivates and energizes studentparticipation. Whether it is designing and building a bridgefor double amputees in El Salvador, providing a water sourcefor agricultural production in Kenya, or developing a businessusing cell phones to monitor the health of people in Tanzaniawho have never seen a doctor, it all makes one proud toproclaim, “We are PENN STATE!”For more information about HESE, please visit www.engr.psu.edu/hese or contact Thomas Colledge at thc100@psu.edu.These prototypes were then used to determine the optimalperformance of a digester using poultry manure as a feedstock toproduce methane, which was fuel for an engine generator for theproduction of thermal and electrical energy.The project, which concluded in November 2009, resulted innumerous published articles and awards and, most importantly,has resulted in the construction of a full-scale system operating ata farm in Jamaica. The system utilizes the energy produced by afive-kilowatt diesel generator to lower operating costs for the farmowner, thus making the farm more competitive—all while reducingpollutant loading on nearby water bodies.For more information about the conclusions of this project andfor details about current Humanitarian Engineering and SocialEntrepreneurship projects, contact Thomas Colledge at thc100@psu.edu.6 | SEDTAPP NEwS | SPriNg 2010 SPriNg 2010 | SEDTAPP NEwS | 7