Passport to learn and serve

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From Honduras to India—and many countries in between—Buckeye engineers and architects are making a difference abroad.

Lending a helping hand in Honduras

Buckeye engineers get a helping hand as they begin building the First Flush—a system designed to collect and filter rainwater.
Buckeye engineers get a helping hand as they begin building the First Flush—a system designed to collect and filter rainwater.
In the villages surrounding Choluteca, Honduras, necessities like clean water, sanitation, reliable electricity and adequate healthcare are far from guaranteed. 

Getting water for daily necessities in this rural part of southern Honduras can be a time-consuming task. Residents must walk to the well, pump the water, carry it home and then treat it—usually with chlorine bleach—so that it is safe to drink. During the dry season, there isn’t always enough water and the high concentration of E. coli found in the regions’ water supply has caused many cases of illness. Buckeye engineers knew there had to be a better way.

The issue of clean water is just one of the problems College of Engineering students and faculty have been working on in Honduras since the Service Learning in Choluteca program was founded in 2011. The program is one of 13 international service learning and study abroad programs offered by the College of Engineering. 

“Service learning is an effective educational tool,” explained Roger Dzwonczyk, lecturer and resident director of the program. “It takes the engineering skills students learn in the classroom and puts them to practical, meaningful use solving real-world problems.” 

Service learning programs also introduce students to the concept of humanitarian engineering. Many students become passionate about using their engineering skills to help people after experiencing it firsthand. 

“In group projects in other classes, people will sit in the background and let others do the work,” said environmental engineering major Katie Redtke. “But we were all so passionate about this project and making it the best that it could be, that it really helped drive us forward and get the best ideas from everyone.”

Students first completed a semester-long class where they worked in teams to assess needs, then design, develop, prototype, test and document various projects. Then in May, all 12 students made the more than 1,800 mile trek from Columbus to Choluteca for a two-week trip to implement their projects. 

Working in groups, each student-team chose a problem to solve from a list of needs identified by in-country partner World Gospel Mission. The clean water initiative group was tasked with several projects, the largest being to devise a method of collecting and filtering rainwater. The student-designed system—named the First Flush—collects rainwater from a roof, then directs it through a series of off-shoot valves to filter out dirt and sediment, producing an output of clean water at the other end. 

The second group designed and installed an off-grid solar system that cost less than $1,200 and could be replicated throughout the rural region, where on-grid energy systems are not always available. The small system powers lighting and four electric outlets for a Honduran family. 

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Students demonstrate their low-cost, human-powered nebulizer design made using a bike pump, a soccer ball and other readily available parts.
As a low-cost option for treating respiratory issues that are prevalent in the region, another group made a do-it-yourself, human-powered nebulizer using a bike pump, a soccer ball and other readily available parts. They provided local residents and clinics with instructions on how to make their own nebulizer for $17 or less, versus the $100 cost to purchase a commercial device.

“This is the first year that all of the projects were completed with locally available parts,” said Dzwonczyk. “That adds to the sustainability of these efforts and is a stimulus for the local economy.”

Students also learn firsthand about the history, culture, politics, socioeconomics, healthcare, educational system and specific needs of Honduras and its people in a way unlike any possible in a classroom. 

“Doing the project in a different culture, with a different language, was the big struggle,” said Matthew Uhlenhake, an electrical and computer engineering major. “We’re engineers, we can design whatever we want. But we had to bring that into a new culture, figure out what they want, and adapt it to make it meet their needs.”

The experience also taught the Buckeye engineers a lot about themselves. 

“We were told that we had a problem to solve, but, in reality, we probably learned more by being there, than through the things we were able to solve,” said Vandan Chokshi, a mechanical engineering major. “Not that our project didn’t work, but we got more out of it than we put in.”

Exchanging cultures in India

Halfway around the globe from Honduras, a second group of Ohio State engineering faculty and students were experiencing Indian culture firsthand.

Launched in 2013, the India Engineering and Education Service Learning Experience program introduces students to the history, culture and society of a growing business climate during a 15-week course and 10-day trip to India.

Based in the northern cities of Agra, Jaipur and Delhi, the trip includes visits to sites of historical and cultural importance, a volunteer opportunity with the Orphanage at the Delhi Council for Child Welfare and a tour of the hospital and fabrication facility of Jaipur Foot.

“Traveling is an amazing opportunity to grow as a person and step completely out of your comfort zone to be able to challenge your current perspective of the world,” said Rehgan Avon, an industrial and systems engineering major who went on the 2014 trip.

At the hospital and fabrication facility of Jaipur Foot, Buckeye engineering students learn about the different design and production constraints for creating prosthetic devices for the developing world.
Students learn about the different design and production constraints for creating prosthetic devices for the developing world during a visit to the hospital and fabrication facility of Jaipur Foot. (Photo courtesy of Alex Broadstock, www.alexbroadstock.com)
At the hospital and fabrication facility of Jaipur Foot, students learn about the different design and production constraints for creating prosthetic devices for the developing world. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Lisa Abrams, co-director of the program, leads a National Science Foundation funded research project to study prosthetic devices pioneered at the hospital decades ago and improve them for wider distribution in India and other developing countries. Ohio State partnered with Colorado State and the Jaipur Engineering College and Research Centre on the project, which also seeks to study the impact of humanitarian engineering projects on the development of engineering students.

“I’ve come back with a changed perspective and new ideas on how we can use our resources to better others,” said Alex Broadstock, a mechanical engineering major. “Professionally, I was able to connect with the prosthetics manufacturing plant we visited and inspired to pursue international internships.”

Global options

More than 200 College of Engineering students venture abroad each year, visiting nearly 40 countries. Students are so passionate about global and humanitarian-based experiences—and have so much to contribute to solving real-world problems—that the college has introduced two new offerings to support their interest and the ever-growing need for global engineers.

The Global Option in Engineering program enables students to earn an engineering global option designation on their transcript by completing courses with global perspectives. Meanwhile, the new Humanitarian Engineering Center combines and aims to expand the college’s diverse humanitarian engineering programs both abroad and here at home.

Thanks to these new programs and the ongoing drive of the college’s students, faculty and alumni, there’s no doubt that Buckeye engineers and architects will continue to make a difference abroad as well as at home.

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