EPICS in IEEE Marked Anniversary with Report Achievements

EPICS in IEEE, an Instructional Actions program, celebrated its fifteenth anniversary final 12 months. The Engineering Tasks in Group Service initiative offers nonprofit organizations with expertise to enhance and ship companies to their group 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 mission assist members.

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 College of New Haven engineering faculty, in Connecticut. Beneath her management, the EPICS program streamlined processes for amassing information and boosted storytelling efforts as an example the influence of its actions. Proposal functions practically doubled, and authorised tasks elevated by 44 %.

“Throughout my three years as committee chair, I’ve liked seeing so many college students worldwide have the chance to have interaction with their group and actually think about the wants of their mission stakeholders,” Gillespie says. “There are such a lot of methods through which these constructive experiences can trickle by way of their skilled and private lives.

“New management will convey new concepts, and I’m excited for the way forward for EPICS in IEEE and the continued progress 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 college on the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá. Wightman, who has been an lively committee member, helped lead an EPICS mission himself.

“EPICS in IEEE represents a bridge between engineering concept and group wants,” Wightman says. “It brings these two realities collectively for humanitarian functions and helps polish an engineering pupil’s tutorial expertise in order that they’re not solely expertise specialists 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 prepared to place their vitality and information towards enhancing the well-being of individuals.”

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

An absence of entry to educated academics and high quality academic applications threatens college students’ improvement, particularly in rural areas with poor infrastructure and restricted sources. A workforce from the Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how (MUET) in Jamshoro, Pakistan, addressed such challenges with its Augmented Actuality 3D System for Interactive Studying in Rural Elementary Faculties mission. 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 workforce obtained a$4,115 grant to design and deploy their prototype.

“Many rural areas lack entry to certified educators and trendy instructing sources,” says Sameer Qazi, an IEEE pupil member and a MUET senior. “Our mission seeks to bridge that hole by offering an interactive and immersive studying system that delivers an modern academic expertise with a deal with science, artwork, and historical past.”

The workforce from Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how, in Jamshoro, Pakistan, assembles its augmented-reality prototype of its distance studying system. Mehran College of Engineering and Know-how EPICS in IEEE mission workforce

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

The workforce partnered with the Quick Rural Improvement Program, a corporation devoted to remodeling underprivileged areas and driving sustainable improvement in rural components of Pakistan’s Sindh province. The partnership helped make sure the workforce’s answer was aligned with group wants and could possibly be extra seamlessly built-in into the goal faculties’ 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 prepared to place their vitality and information towards enhancing the well-being of individuals.” —Pedro Wightman

“From funding to mentorship, EPICS in IEEE offered us with important assist that allowed us to convey this mission from idea to actuality,” Qazi says. “I encourage anybody contemplating an EPICS mission to grab the chance. It’s an opportunity to make a tangible influence on society whereas rising as an engineer and chief.”

Photo voltaic-powered greenhouse

A artistic workforce of scholars from BridgeValley Group and Technical School in South Charleston, W.Va., used its $3,200 grant to determine their Photo voltaic PV–Powered Good Sustainable Greenhouse mission. It’s designed to optimize plant progress by sustaining superb circumstances and conserving vitality by way of distant monitoring. The workforce 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 information monitoring. Different parts included monitoring cost controllers, soil-moisture sensors, solenoid valves, move meters, temperature and humidity sensors, a 356-millimeter fan, and a Wi-Fi module with information logging capabilities.

“We selected to work with Café Appalachia as a result of that they had an curiosity in sustainable greenhouse practices and provided house for the system,” says workforce lead Joshua “Youngil” Kim, an IEEE member. “Their dedication to giving again to their group and addressing local weather change aligned with our objectives.” Kim, a former BridgeValley educator, now’s an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Charleston Southern College, in South Carolina.

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

“EPICS’ assist of this greenhouse mission has been instrumental in permitting us to contribute to our group and supply academic alternatives to our college students,” Kim says. “Because of EPICS in IEEE’s generosity and dedication to fostering academic progress, it’s been a helpful expertise for everybody concerned.”

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