International Classroom

STORY BY

KIMMIE COLLINS

PHOTOS BY

PAUL SOFINETI

From where they stood on the edge of a hill, the Kenyan countryside sprawled around the gaggle of Rose-Hulman students and faculty. Before them, the lush green hills seemed to roll into the horizon, speckled only by the occasional rural community or a van puttering along a path.

As far as the countryside stretched before them, skyscrapers framing one of Kenya’s largest cities stretched into the clouds behind them.

The Rose-Hulman students paused, struck by the contrasts both within the Kenyan culture and compared to their own. As part of their Global Engineering and the Social Context courses (MDS 201 and 202), the students had the opportunity to travel to Kenya this past summer to extend their learning FAR beyond campus. In the spring quarter, students completed an on-campus course created to introduce them to concepts of engineering design on an international scale. Though the course is taught by mechanical engineering faculty, the experience is open to students from any academic major. Students applied what they had learned to a project in Kenya, working with the nonprofit Bridging the Gap Africa to create better access to footbridges for rural Kenyan communities. The project gave the students the opportunity to experience the engineering design process from start to finish. “The course really put an emphasis on the idea that engineering is a process of problem solving more than it is anything else,” says Paul Sofineti, a mechanical engineering student. “Throughout the course, as well as our time in Kenya, 80% of the time I found myself solving problems. Only 20% of the time did I find myself brainstorming or designing new things, which is what I thought engineering originally was.”

In rural Kenya, residents often have to wade through waist-deep water on their way to school, work, or a hospital. Bridging the Gap Africa builds footbridges to decrease these barriers. The nonprofit team installed steel micropiles to form the bridges’ foundations, a process that took two to three hours. The students were tasked with designing and producing a faster process to increase the efficiency and longevity of the bridges.

Last summer’s global engineering adventure allowed students to become immersed in Kenyan culture while developing a human-powered device that laid the foundation for a project that will resolve a longstanding community problem.

Because of the remote location of the bridge sites, students were limited in the wattage they could generate for their solution. In addition, although there were roads to the area, any equipment needed for the project had to be carried the last few miles between the road and the construction. The students’ solution needed to fit the constraints of the local context.

“When approaching the project, we had to work backwards. We had to take what we had and make it into what we wanted. One of the biggest challenges we had while designing our project was what materials you could get and what materials we had,” remarks Braden Blackburn, a mechanical engineering major. The students were responsible for coordinating material acquisition with local vendors and for working with local engineers to prototype, test, and fabricate their solution.

The students nicknamed their human-powered solution “The Clever Lever.” The Clever Lever’s four telescoping arms, propelled by the students at a walking pace, provided enough torque to drive the micropile into the ground in a mere 15-20 minutes.

In addition to the real-world experience, the travel course provided students the opportunity to be immersed in Kenyan culture. Students spent several days traveling across the country, touching all aspects of the culture, including Maa language lessons and visits to Kenyan shops and markets. Local residents welcomed the students into their homes to show them how to make traditional Kenyan culinary staples. The students also toured a Limuru tea farm and participated in safari game drives, where they saw wildlife in their natural habitats.

“One of the things that surprised me the most was the sheer friendliness of everyone. It was incredible how comfortable they (Kenyan residents) could make you feel and how accommodating they could be,” says mechanical engineering major Sam Betts.

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(CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE) The Rose students also had the unique opportunity to visit Kenyan high schools, universities, and workspaces to compare engineering contexts across cultures.

The course helped build bridges that impacted the daily lives of Kenyan citizens, but also allowed members of the Rose-Hulman family to cross into a new area of personal reflection. “International travel is often transformative,” remarks Rebecca Bercich, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “More than one student has reported that they got their first internship because of MDS 202 and the unique value that that added to their application.” Blackburn adds, “At my (summer 2022) internship, they said, ‘Evaluate a problem. That’s going to be the project you fix.’ The first thing I did was go out and see where the bottlenecks are in this company, which is something I learned to do in Kenya.” “I hope everyone has the experience I did in that they find people they want to be when they grow up. We saw people with the biggest hearts and the most interesting stories to tell,” says Betts. Mechanical Engineering Department Head Richard Onyancha, PhD, states, “Having grown up in Kenya and now being at Rose-Hulman, I consider those to be my two very important worlds. Being able to bring those two worlds together in a way that is meaningful and adds value to both is something that makes my life complete.” n

It’s no longer enough for engineers, scientists and mathematicians to know their career fields, they need to have a global perspective. The institute’s Center for Global Engagement and other offices provide programs and events to help students learn more about other cultures. An International Buddy Program allows Rose-Hulman students, faculty and staff members and a team of international and American students to be mentors and ambassadors to new international students. These students arrive a couple of days before New Student Orientation to get acclimated to the campus and community, and get help from their buddies with things like opening local bank accounts, purchasing cell phones, and other services necessary for a successful transition. An Introduction to Chinese Pronunciation program, organized by the Center for Global Engagement, allows Chinese students to introduce Chinese language concepts and to tutor faculty and staff members on how to pronounce their names. The sessions are led by Margaret Hurdlik, director of the English as a Second Language program.

Former Director of International Student Services Karen DeGrange is continuing to impact international students after establishing an endowed scholarship fund to provide extra scholarship resources for students attending Rose-Hulman from across the globe. DeGrange learned to appreciate international experiences after service in the Peace Corps.

International experiences were transformative for the students traveling to Kenya this past summer. Another course experience in Kenya is being planned May 28-June 13, 2023. For more information, contact professor Rebecca Bercich at bercich@rose-hulman.edu.

Learn more about this past summer’s course experiences at rose-hulman.edu/Kenya2022.

Students and professors talk about the experiences at rose-hulman.edu/KenyaVideo.

Student interns improved the design of water pumps that were frequently failing. When it comes to supporting life and health, few things are more important than water. That’s why a nonprofit known as Water for South Sudan uses such terms as “transformative” and “life-changing” to describe its programs and the work done by Rose-Hulman Ventures project managers and student interns.

“Clean water improves everyone’s health, especially vulnerable people,” says Lynn Malooly, executive director of Water for South Sudan, a nongovernmental organization providing the people of South Sudan with access to clean, safe water, along with improved hygiene and sanitation practices. “We install wells and we turn them over to the community. Markets, schools and clinics often follow.”

Water for South Sudan has drilled nearly 600 new wells and rehabbed more than 300. Every well can provide safe water for 500 to 1,000 people. These wells require functional pumps, and the organization was having frequent trouble with pump failure. Solutions were found once Rose-Hulman Ventures project managers and student interns started examining pumps. “They found out there were predictable parts that broke—and pretty amazingly, they were not too expensive,” remarks Malooly. Rose-Hulman Ventures, she says, “proposed a solution to manufacture that we could then ship to South Sudan, so that a mechanic could put it on the pump before it is installed.” The goal is to greatly extend the time the well pump functions properly without failing. n

Learn more about other Rose-Hulman Ventures project solutions at rhventures.org.

STORY BY

STEVE KAELBLE

Members of the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders have reached out to provide helping hands to communities throughout the world. These projects have included examining how to bring clean drinking water to Chaguarloma, Ecuador, and bringing improvements to communities in the Dominican Republic and Ghana. Meanwhile, international design projects have had senior civil engineering students helping a growing community in Ghana. The Engineers for a Sustainable World organization and Global Engineering for Health course have examined international-themed projects in recent years. Students can earn two degrees in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering’s international computer science major—one from Rose-Hulman and the other from Germany’s Ulm University of Applied Sciences. Students spend their first two years on campus before spending their third year at Ulm. The fourth year has students from Rose-Hulman and Ulm studying together in Terre Haute. Kathy Hammett, senior director of the Center for Global Engagement, has been recognized by NAFSA: Association of International Educators with the prestigious International Education Award for distinguished service to the organization and its membership. The award honors a current NAFSA member who has shown leadership in association activities or sustained stewardship of international education.