Humanitarian Projects in Multidisciplinary Senior Design

Catherine Skokan David Munoz Joan Gosink Colorado School of Mines

The Colorado School of Mines

► Founded in 1874 ► Engineering and Applied Science ► 3500 Students

Engineering Division

► Design oriented ► Interdisciplinary ► Accredited non traditional ► 1000 undergraduate and 100 graduate students ► Design throughout the curriculum

Multidisciplinary Senior Design

► Required of all Senior Students ► 2-semester sequence of 7 credit hours ► Open-ended projects ► Non-technical as well as technical constraints ► Industry, government, or non-profit sponsors

Grant from Hewlett Foundation

► 2002 – call for proposals to improve quality of engineering education in terms of recruitment and retention of under-represented groups, innovative teaching and learning strategies, advancement of student professionalism, development of academic and industrial partnerships, and extended impact.

► CSM proposed Humanitarian Engineering Program.

Engineering Schools of the West Initiative

► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► Boise State University Colorado School of Mines Idaho State University Montana State University Northern Arizona University Oregon State University University of Nevada/Reno University of Utah University of Wyoming

Goals of Humanitarian Engineering Program ► Create a culture of acceptance and value of community and international service activities at CSM.

► Increase the number of CSM engineering graduates that enter occupations that have a community or international service emphasis ► Increase the recruitment of women and minority students to the engineering program at CSM.

► Increase the number of internships in community or international service.

History of Humanitarian Senior Design Projects

Semester

Spring 2003 Fall 2003 Spring 2004 Fall 2004 Spring 2005 TOTAL

# of projects # of students

1 5 5 3 23 15 5 2 16 26 9 81

Senegal

► 2003-2004 Student Team: 2 civil, 1 mechanical, 1 electrical ► 2004-2005 Student Team: 1 environmental, 1 civil, 2 mechanical, 1 electrical ► Client: Rao Development Authority ► Design and construct an onion storage facility; design and construct a drip irrigation system, map groundwater

Nepal

► 2004-2005 Student Team: 1 environmental, 2 civil ► Client: Namlo Foundation ► Design a water filtration system (slow sand filter) to remove E coli

Romania

► 2004 Student Team: 1 electrical, 3 civil ► Client: Global Hope ► Design a group home for 8 children and 2 adults using local materials

Honduras

► 2004-2005 Student team: 2 civil, 1 civil/environmental, 2 environmental, 1 mechanical, 1 electrical ► Client: People of Colinas de Suiza and Mayor of Villanueva ► Design a municipal water system ► Winner of 2005 Mondialogo Engineering Award http//www.mondialogo.org/

Local K-12 Connections

► 2003-2004 Student Team: 1 environmental, 1 electrical, 2 mechanical ► 2004-2005 Student Team: 1 civil, 3 mechanical, 1 electrical ► Client: (2003-2004) Cedaredge Middle School, Delta School District ► (2004-2005) Centennial Elementary School, Harrison ► Design engineering curriculum to excite students in learning mathematics and science

Progress Towards Hewlett Goals

►

Minor program formally approved (15 hours liberal arts, 3 hours MEL, 3 hours engineering elective, 7 hours Multidisciplinary Senior Design)

►

Percentage of women in humanitarian projects double the percentage of women in standard projects

►

Assessment ongoing

Lessons Learned

► Multidisciplinary senior design projects included interdisciplinary elements both in engineering and in liberal arts ► Students learned about working in different cultures ► Students learned feasibility of doing engineering in communities with limited resources ► Students increased listening and communication skills

Future Directions

► Need to analyze impact on minority students ► Need to develop more engineering electives ► Need to insure future financial support ► Need to strengthen connections with other universities in ESWI