EPICS in IEEE Marked 15th Anniversary with Record Achievements

EPICS in IEEE, an Educational Activities program, celebrated its 15th anniversary final 12 months. The Engineering Projects in Community Service initiative gives nonprofit organizations with expertise to enhance and ship providers to their neighborhood whereas broadening undergraduate EE college students’ hands-on expertise with engineering-related matters.

This system reached new heights final 12 months by distributing greater than US $226,000 to 39 tasks, participating greater than 900 college students and 1,400 volunteers and IEEE members together with proposal reviewers, mentors, and venture help contributors.

The standout 12 months 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 University of New Haven engineering college, in Connecticut. Below her management, the EPICS program streamlined processes for gathering knowledge and boosted storytelling efforts for instance the affect of its actions. Proposal functions almost doubled, and accredited tasks elevated by 44 p.c.

“Throughout my three years as committee chair, I’ve liked seeing so many college students worldwide have the chance to have interaction with their neighborhood and really contemplate the wants of their venture stakeholders,” Gillespie says. “There are such a lot of methods through which these constructive 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 12 months’s committee chair. He’s an IEEE senior member and an affiliate professor within the engineering school on the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá. Wightman, who has been an lively committee member, helped lead an EPICS venture himself.

“EPICS in IEEE represents a bridge between engineering concept and neighborhood wants,” Wightman says. “It brings these two realities collectively for humanitarian functions and helps polish an engineering scholar’s educational expertise in order that they’re not solely expertise consultants 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 around the globe keen to place their power and data towards bettering the well-being of individuals.”

The next tasks, all funded final 12 months, showcase the keenness and dedication of scholars to create and deploy options to assist individuals.

Augmented actuality system for distance studying

A scarcity of entry to skilled academics and high quality instructional packages threatens college students’ growth, particularly in rural areas with poor infrastructure and restricted sources. A crew from the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) in Jamshoro, Pakistan, addressed such challenges with its Augmented Reality 3D System for Interactive Learning in Rural Elementary Schools venture. 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 crew obtained a$4,115 grant to design and deploy their prototype.

“Many rural areas lack entry to certified educators and trendy educating sources,” says Sameer Qazi, an IEEE scholar member and a MUET senior. “Our venture seeks to bridge that hole by offering an interactive and immersive studying system that delivers an modern instructional expertise with a concentrate on science, artwork, and historical past.”

The crew from Mehran College of Engineering and Expertise, in Jamshoro, Pakistan, assembles its augmented-reality prototype of its distance studying system. Mehran College of Engineering and Expertise EPICS in IEEE venture crew

The venture concerned 9 college students and two school supervisors from the college’s digital engineering division. Every member contributed to one of many three venture modules: content material growth, power administration, and the show system. Qazi was venture lead for the show system module.

The crew partnered with the Fast Rural Development 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 crew’s resolution was aligned with neighborhood wants and may very well 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 around the globe keen to place their power and data 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 venture from idea to actuality,” Qazi says. “I encourage anybody contemplating an EPICS venture to grab the chance. It’s an opportunity to make a tangible affect on society whereas rising as an engineer and chief.”

Photo voltaic-powered greenhouse

A inventive crew of scholars from BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston, W.Va., used its $3,200 grant to ascertain their Solar PV–Powered Smart Sustainable Greenhouse venture. It’s designed to optimize plant development by sustaining best situations and conserving power by distant monitoring. The crew 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, good irrigation, fan management, and IoT integration for real-time knowledge monitoring. Different parts included monitoring cost controllers, soil-moisture sensors, solenoid valves, circulation 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 they’d an curiosity in sustainable greenhouse practices and supplied house for the system,” says crew lead Joshua “Youngil” Kim, an IEEE member. “Their dedication to giving again to their neighborhood and addressing local weather change aligned with our targets.” Kim, a former BridgeValley educator, now could be an assistant professor {of electrical} engineering at Charleston Southern University, in South Carolina.

The crew expressed gratitude for the funding from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, an EPICS in IEEE associate.

“EPICS’ help of this greenhouse venture has been instrumental in permitting us to contribute to our neighborhood and supply instructional alternatives to our college students,” Kim says. “Due to EPICS in IEEE’s generosity and dedication to fostering instructional development, it’s been a useful expertise for everybody concerned.”

To study extra about EPICS tasks or to submit a venture proposal, be a part of the mailing list and obtain month-to-month updates.