Global Engineering Education Initiative through Student
Organization
Ann M. Sagstetter, Lucas K. Vitzthum, Jonathan R. Meyer, Amit J. Nimunkar, John G. Webster
Abstract—Engineering is becoming a more globally aware
discipline that is revolutionizing the way individuals interact
internationally. Engineering World Health (EWH) – Madison
Chapter is a student-initiated organization that has developed
opportunities to facilitate both local and global engineering
education. Through EWH – Madison Chapter student-initiated
activities, this organization has developed an interface between
Traditional, Technical, and Translational education mediums.
This study attests to the development of global engineering
programs in the context of biomedical applications.
I. INTRODUCTION
E
NGINEERING is a field of study that must find balance
between a local and global markets. Intrinsically
engineering is most successful in a localized
community, where the design constraints are specific to the
environment being assessed. However, with increasing
forms of communication and international relations,
globalization is becoming more commonplace, even in
technical, region –specific disciplines [1]. As a result,
globalization is being incorporated into the educational
sector to help students develop an ‘international
perspective,’ before they leave the confines of their
academic institution [2].
In this paper, we propose a means of delivering global
engineering education to the local and international
community through a student-initiated organization at the
University
of
Wisconsin-Madison
(UW-Madison)
Engineering World Health (EWH) – Madison Chapter.
EWH – Madison Chapter is a student-initiated organization
that is comprised of engineering students with a united
vision to deliver medical expertise and equipment to
underserved nations and develop medical instrumentation
for the international community. In addition to
bioinstrumentation, EWH – Madison Chapter students also
engage community members into biomedical engineering
dynamics during workshops and seminars on locally and
globally related topics. It is by education – through –
application that the true meaning of engineering
globalization can be practiced.
Manuscript received April 7, 2009.
A. M. Sagstetter, L. K. Vitzthum, J. R. Meyer, A. J. Nimunkar, J. G.
Webster are with the Biomedical Engineering Department, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA (corresponding author phone: 608263-1574; fax: 608-265-9239; e-mail: webster@engr.wisc.edu ,
sagstetter@wisc.edu,
lvitzthum@wisc.edu,
jrmeyer3@wisc.edu,
ajnimunkar@wisc.edu).
II. EWH AND THE EDUCATIONAL AXES
EWH – Madison Chapter acts as an interface through
which global engineering interactions can take place. The
global interactions are characterized by three education
systems: Traditional education, Technical education, and
Translation education. Traditional education uses the
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
discipline integration techniques to teach the upcoming K-12
generations relevant technology and engineering concepts.
Technical education utilizes education forums to teach
current engineering students and the general adult population
complex engineering concepts. Translational education is the
education of the international community to locally
developed engineering technologies. These ‘three T’s’ of
education are a means to integrate the locally focused
engineering concepts into the international community as
depicted in figure 1.
III. EWH TRI-AXIAL STUDENT-INITIATED ACTIVITIES
EWH – Madison Chapter students interact with peers
and community members (both locally and globally) to
communicate technical engineering knowledge in an
approachable manner. All programs listed below are
conducted by students in the organization and have a
common goal to universally improve the quality of life by
making healthcare affordable and perform education
outreach to enhance student learning. Such programs include
the following:
1) Supplemental Training sessions [3 – 5]
2) Seminars [3,5]
3) Competitions for student learning and acquiring funding
4) Outreach to K-12 students and parents
5) Home schooling curriculum supplemental workshops
[7]
6) Publications [3 – 4,7 – 11]
7) Medical repair workshops and manuals for repaired
equipment
8) Novel medical devices development projects [8]
9) Medical missions [6, 12]
Figure 2 illustrates how these activities utilize Traditional,
Technical and Translational education techniques to enhance
engineering globalization.
Through these programs, EWH – Madison Chapter not
only offers educational forums for local community
members to learn about current medically – related topics,
such as health care infrastructure within the country, but also
enables participants to interact with the global community
by developing projects for students to consider in an
international environment, which is often vastly different
than local environment. EWH – Madison Chapter’s student
– initiated programs provide an interface for community
members to interact with the international community as
shown in figure 3.
IV. DISCUSSION
Fig. 1. The three axes of global engineering education translate local
focuses into global applications.
A. Community engagement
EWH – Madison Chapter is also focused on stimulating
the interaction of local and international community
members, through engineering education. Education has
often been used as a tool to stimulate discussion and
innovation.
For example, teams from EWH – Madison Chapter
frequently facilitate educational outreach events for students
in grade school through high school (K – 12). These events
typically consist of presentations on different aspects of
engineering, followed by a hands-on workshop to give
students experience on applying engineering concepts.
Sagstetter et al describes one such curriculum developed for
home – schooled students [7]. EWH – Madison Chapter
tailors its events to a wide variety of audiences, including
homeschoolers, public and private schools, and students with
disabilities.
B. Training events and seminars
Furthermore, through EWH – Madison Chapter there are
opportunities for peer – peer learning experiences, as the
members of the organization are facilitators of workshops,
seminars, and laboratories. For example, EWH – Madison
organizes technical training and equipment repair sessions
throughout the semester. These opportunities give students
hands – on technical experience, as well as an appreciation
for the struggles that hospitals in developing countries have
as they use donated medical equipment. A large portion of
the repair sessions involve testing equipment, to ensure
functionality, and writing repair manuals, to assist the
recipient in its proper usage. In the repair of these devices
and their manuals, EWH-Madison Chapter students must
consider problems that follow the use of modern equipment
in a developing world hospital setting such as language
barriers, power outages, proficiency of users, and lack of
disposable parts. The infrastructure of developing world
hospitals are further depicted to EWH-Madison Chapter
students through guest speakers who have traveled to
underprivileged hospitals in countries such as Honduras,
Tanzania, India, and others.
C. Design projects
EWH – Madison Chapter also gives students the
opportunity to apply their knowledge of global engineering
through team – based design challenges. In conjunction with
the University of Madison – Wisconsin Biomedical
Engineering Department, EWH – Madison Chapter
facilitates a variety of semester long design projects. These
projects are designed to teach teams of students about the
challenges of engineering in a global context, while
designing devices to improve healthcare in the developing
world. For example, in the spring semester of 2009, three
devices were identified as most needed by hospitals in India:
spirometer, pulse oximeter, and digital thermometer. Three
teams comprised of four undergraduate students each were
given the task of developing these medical devices.
Simultaneously, a team of seven graduates and senior
undergraduates were given the task of developing an
inexpensive, intuitive central processing unit to interpret,
record, and display data from the above three medical
devices [8]. An additional group of undergraduate students
analyzed the feasibility of electrically charging these
medical devices in developing countries using lead – acid
batteries [9]. Another group of students simultaneously
reviewed the implementation of electronic medical record
keeping systems in developing countries and the design of
portable low – cost ultrasound systems [10 – 11]. Through
the integration of these design projects, students learned first
– hand the challenges of designing products for the
developing world, requiring accuracy, reliability, cost,
durability, and the need for an intuitive interface.
Fig. 2. 3D coordinate system explanation of the tri-axial education for
engineering globalization. Numbers correspond to the activities in
section III. Tx = Traditional Education, Ty = Technical Education, Tz =
Translational Education
D. International experiences
Finally, the most direct exposure EWH – Madison
Chapters offers students to global engineering is through
international medical trips and internships. EWH – Madison
Chapters members have traveled to hospitals Costa Rica,
Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Guatemala and Mongolia to repair
medical equipments [6, 12]. Experiencing first – hand the
challenges in developing world hospitals and working with
the local staff has proven to be the most effective way for
students to understand the design constraints inherent in
engineering equipment for these settings. Because not all
members are able to participate in the medical mission
programs, traveling students come back to share their
Fig. 3. EWH – Madison Chapter is an interface between the local
community and the global population.
experiences with classmates and the community through
presentations, videos, and reports.
V. CONCLUSION
Through EWH’s three T’s of education, we have
developed an interface to incorporate local engineering
concepts into a globalizing world. We have developed
activities which allow members to actively participate in
Traditional, Technical, and Translational education
opportunities. Such activities include supplemental training
sessions, seminars, competitions for student learning and
organization funding, outreach to K – 12 students and
parents, home schooling curriculum supplemental
workshops, publications, medical repair workshops and
manuals for repaired equipment, novel development
projects, and medical missions. These activities not only
benefit the local and international community through
education, but also enable event facilitators and participants
to obtain a more diverse set of engineering skills than
previously taught in the instructional setting of a classroom
alone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank all of the workshop instructors and
participants, active members of EWH – Madison Chapter,
and also the UW – Madison BME department for their
support of this research.
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