Many of today’s engineering students are seeking international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary educational opportunities that involve acquiring real-world project experiences while working toward making a difference in communities. Even as university teaching and learning is tied to terms and learning modules and therefore has certain constraints, educational programming should be balanced with lasting contributions to long-term goals of the partners and communities with which they interact. To achieve these goals, Oregon State University’s humanitarian engineering program offered a two-part faculty-led study abroad course focusing on technologies and policies to meet household energy needs in rural Guatemala. During a 1-credit background course, a triad of stakeholders worked together to identify and formulate research questions for student-led team projects. These projects supported current and long-term objectives of the partnering researchers, U.S.- and Guatemala-based NGOs, local entrepreneurs, and communities in Guatemala. The research questions were then investigated during a 3-credit summer field course that followed. For the NGO and OSU researchers, these goals included gathering systematic data regarding user perceptions and adoption of the technologies for donor reporting requirements, measuring performance, facilitating co-development of user-driven designs, evaluating new usability protocols, and developing new sensor-based monitoring tools to quantify impact of cooking technologies. For the local manufacturing partner EcoComal, the primary goals involved improving workflow processes, optimizing stove performance, and contributing to manufacturing cookstoves. Communities were also supported through income-generating opportunities and subsidized cookstove distribution. Results showed that through this model both praxis and knowledge were advanced, partner projects and missions were supported, new technologies were commercialized, and data collected contributed to support donor financing and publications. Lessons learned point to the value of long-term partnerships outside of the course itself, the need for attention to fair trade learning and communication, and preparing for flexibility in the field when executing the projects.

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Nordica MacCarty

Julie Walkin