Category: Fall 2015

By Caldwell C.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’ve spent three straight years taking traditional engineering classes. You learn the material, they give you problems, and you pick out the information and the formulas to solve it. I was a little tired of that sort of black and white, cut and paste style, so when I saw a class called Engineering for Social Change, I jumped on the opportunity. I hadn’t seen the word “change” in a context other than phase change for a while and I hadn’t seen the word “social” in a class for even longer. To be totally honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I walked into Engineering for social change for the first time, but I at least had hope that it would be different. I was not disappointed.

During the semester, we heard from a variety of speakers on a variety of topics. Our second class, Dr. Grimm gave us his “Philanthropy for Engineers” lecture, which involved us reviewing famous philanthropists and Dr. Grimm pretending to be a homeless man sitting in the middle of the room. I was totally confused, but I was enjoying myself. As the semester progressed, we heard from a student who had started a company that designed cheap lighting for third world countries, a civil engineer working on managing fresh water, and a Microsoft exec that left her high paying job to work on protecting women in India. We heard so many stories and were given a huge amount of information on a huge number subjects, and while I found most of it incredibly interesting, I had no idea why we were hearing all of it. At the same time, we worked on two projects: a $10,000 grant for a non-profit and a design solution for a large problem like food or water accessibility. Again, the projects were interesting, but I didn’t really get why we were doing all these different things and learning all these different things.

It wasn’t until Professor Jungho Kim came in at the end of the semester to give his talk that I finally realized what was going on. He talked to us about the responsibility we had as engineers to be cognizant of unintended effects as technology progressed, and as he cautioned us about our potential, I finally understood the message behind the lectures and the projects. The message was this: that engineering is not just plugging in formulas or building things. It is about thoughtful decision-making. That was it. As engineers our decisions have the potential to have huge effects on how the general public lives and interacts. This means that the decisions we make every day can create social change, and it is our responsibility to ensure that this change is the change we want to see in the world. In essence, responsible engineering is unintentional philanthropy.

By Jack C.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’m sitting in class during a lecture. We are talking about the end of the world. “Scientists say that we can only raise the earth’s temperature by 3 degrees before catastrophic change.” Says the lecturer, Professor Barton Foreman. “Burning all the fossil fuels will get us to 13 degrees.” The message is clear – our actions have consequences, and continuing to ignore those consequences can be catastrophic. This is Engineering for Social Change class, and its just an ordinary Tuesday lecture where we talk about how engineers can create social change in their communities. I learned from this class that our actions have consequences and we need to be mindful on what those effects are.

Engineering is all about solving problems, but most engineers don’t think about what problem that they’re trying to solve. Classes such as heat transfer, vibrations and electronics teach us how to solve math problems. In the real world, we’re going to need to solve real problems in the world. This class taught me a great deal about the negative impacts of of ignoring our impact on society.

Engineers will have an impact whether they are aware of it or not. For example, we have progressed with the technology of electronics to the point that we are approaching the very real problem of artificial intelligence getting out of hand. If we only concern ourselves with the problem of making artificial intelligence happen and not with the possible implication that it could have on our society, the results could be disastrous. Both Admiral Millard Firebrand and Professor Jungho Kim lectured on the dangers of artificial intelligence. Telsa Motors founder Elon Musk called Artificial Intelligence “our biggest existential threat”.

I soon realized after a few weeks of the class that there are many other problems that we could be unconsciously “engineering”. Professor Michael Pecht lectured on how technology can be used to increase the divide between human beings, how technology can be used to manipulate the truth. Professor Kim lectured on the wealth gap and how technology will only increase the gap unless we do something to change things.

Perhaps even more importantly, the class showed me problems that engineers can solve. Andrew Miller lectured on how digital currency such as Bitcoin can solve the problem of a central agency for currency for a more fair and transparent form of currency. Professor Mark Fuge talked about how technology can be used to crowd source ideas.

Even more empowering was the group virtual non-profit challenge and the $10,000 grant. Both processed were less focused with the math and engineering aspect of the problem but more with how to use engineering to solve real problems in the world. For the virtual non-profit I learned how to use engineered food solutions such as aquaponics and hydroponics systems to tackle food accessibility. Our $10,000 grant selection process opened my eyes to the ways in which engineering could be used to solve issues with clean water, storm water treatment and littering.

Perhaps the way I see the value of this class as a kind of general call to action and reexamination of our profession. Not everyone goes into mechanical engineering to change the world, but mechanical engineers change the world whether we like it or not. Just like the effects of climate change, our decision s as engineers can make either a positive or a negative effect on our world. This class taught me that.

By Nathanael C.

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]uring this semester in Engineering for social change I learned a lot about myself and the different skills that I have to offer in regards to changing the world around me. Engineers can make the world a better place but the impact that they have depends not just on the solution to a problem but the way in which it is pursued and the community involved. I learned about how important it is to listen to others with regards to betterment of a community. Just because in a developed world we may think that we have the solution to others happiness often we do not. Truly understanding the community helps to make a more positive difference in the long run. It is important to listen to the concerns of the community and to take advantage of the co-design process. When this is done effectively the community is more receptive to taking up the torch or responsibility for a new endeavor. Also another important factor that was renewed in its important was as the old saying goes, “If you give a man to fish he will eat for a day but if you teach a man to fish he will eat for a lifetime.” Just giving communities solutions to problems isn’t enough. The community cares to better understand the technology because when they cannot it gets left on the wayside or can go left unused or abused to its breaking point which I can assure is not the intent of the engineer that initially implement the solutions. To shorten this notion the people who will be using the tools are just as important as the tools themselves and just as an engineering must design a tool for a user so to should it spend the time to get to know the user to better design a solution for its user.

Philanthropy was a subject that I had a hard time appreciating before taking this course. In the past I had considered Philanthropy as an altruistic envisioning that could really only be taken advantage of by the truly rich or those who had chosen to given their lives to others. These people I thought of either in the sense of total commitment as in the case of a priest or monk or left to academic scholars who choose to research and expand them for their own enrichment. From this class I found that there can be a middle ground. You can encompass many philanthropic visions and missions without the complete immersion into a single scope or direction. You can use philanthropy in order to create better solutions and as I found when we looked at the X prize foundation incentivized models actually can also be a form of very effective philanthropic work.

Creating social change is a much more of a difficult concept than I had initially envisioned when we began this class. I thought that as engineers it would be pretty easy to come to a solution that was logical and the most effective. I also thought that it would be simple to supersede the government which many times creates barriers to social change and that that it would have been better to get involved with grass roots movements. As sometimes creating the change you wish to see happens first at a grass roots level before the government catches on. However, after hearing from many of the speakers and looking at many organizations with regards to funding a specific non-profit we found out that grass roots movements are good in theory but that it can be very difficult to continue funding a movement and many times you need the support of the local government and community to have the impact and the difference you desire to. All in all I would say that I really enjoyed my experience in engineering for social change. At times it felt a bit unbalanced but I know that in the future this course will only get better and help to bring more socially concisions engineers into the world who care about the impacts their projects have and who can create better solutions using engineering with regards to social problems.

By Brian A.

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ir Isaac Newton said “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” This is what came to mind as I sat and attempted to distill ENME-467 into a sentence or theme. Philanthropy and engineering have evolved over time, with each field contributing individuals and thinkers to build on the foundation left behind by the others. I particularly enjoyed the discussions about the early American philanthropists and their different approaches to solving the problems at hand. These people were the giants of this modern world, and understanding their initial motivations put my current environment into perspective.

As an engineering student, the majority of my time senior year was spent quantifying my technical and team oriented abilities, applying to jobs, and trying to maintain the last of my classes work load. ENME 467 became a fantastic change in motives. The goal wasn’t to score the highest on a test or to get perfects on all of the homeworks, it became discussion and debate. This class was the only introspective engineering class I have taken in the whole curriculum and I think that is a shame! I think that the role of engineering philanthropy is getting larger because philanthropists are solving todays problems while shaping the future. Currently engineers are building and creating things faster than ever before, and this is precisely why a class like this is so crucial for us. We need to help shape in a socially responsible way; it is this future because we are being held responsible for designing it right now.

This class spent the majority of it’s time breaking down the fourth wall and attempting to reinstate peoples individual values back into their engineering toolbox.   Every lecture required the engineer to look back and asses a current or past issue in light of their own experiences and opinions. The most important part about this in my opinion is that it was re conditioning engineers to speak up and have their own insights. What’s more, these discussions were put into context with the work of great thinkers that have come before us, and that helped to formulate our discussions and sharpen our reasoning. We stood on the shoulders of giants!

I liked that we attempted to apply these ideals and processes to a real world issue, but the timing and external constraints that were on me as a part of my final semester were a real limiting factor. I spent a lot of time attending interviews and career fairs which took away from time that would have otherwise been invested in this class. It is for this reason that part of me wishes that this class could be taken by students that are earlier on in their engineering course work. I recognize that unfortunately seniors may have the lightest coursework besides freshmen and it would be a risky endeavor to open this class up to students in lower years. On one hand I believe I personally would have benefited from being exposed to these concepts earlier on. It may not be prudent to allow a class full of college freshmen to give away $10,000 but then again, was it prudent to let college seniors do it? Either way I really appreciated this course and I intend to keep these readings and pass them along wherever possible. I’ve actually already passed the snow sister story on a few times!

By Jenna S.

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ervice has always been a large part of my life, but I had never before approached social change from an engineering perspective. I had always hoped that my future career would be able to marry both engineering and social change, and this course has shown me just how possible that can be. I think one of the greatest take aways that I drew from this course was that, while it is possible to engineer directly for social change, we also must consider the social justice implications of the items that we engineer solely for society. I enjoyed the discussion that we had during our guest lecture with Admiral Firebaugh. The topic of autonomous vehicles is especially applicable to this aspect of social change. With the rapid growth of technology, inventors do not always consider what the impact of that technology will be on society. However, as engineers, we have a social responsibility to create technology that is safe and ethical. There is a delicate balance between technological advancement and ethics, which I had never considered before taking this class.

Originally, when I thought about engineering for social change, my thought was that it was only really applicable to civil engineering in developing communities. However, the ISCC project was an enlightening experience in designing and engineering for social change. I was not originally as excited about the topic that my group wanted (food accessibility) when compared to the other options that were available. But after I spent some time researching, I realized that it was actually a significant problem in our local community and then I became more excited about our project. After having a couple of group meetings, the discussion of topics and engineering ideas took off and everyone in our group became increasingly more excited about the possibilities. I think everyone was proud of the final solution that we proposed dealing with urban community garden aquaponics. I also realized that engineering for social change didn’t just have to be about infrastructure. This project was a great example of how engineering ideation can help alleviate diverse social issues in communities. I think that it is essential that engineers be taught the importance of social change because technology is a large contributing factor to many of the designs and implementations that can help struggling communities.

When I was in high school I did a project where I had to research different non-profits in depth and then decide which organization most deserved donations. This reminds me a lot of the grant-making process we participated in this semester. However, in my high school project there was no money involved. Adding in the financial component increases the gravity and responsibility of this process. It is interested to understand the philanthropic side of social change. This is an entirely different perspective that I have never experienced before. Having been very involved in hands-on service in my life, I used to have a certain disdain for philanthropy, thinking that it was a cop-out to actually physically helping with social issues. But this class has entirely changed my viewpoint on philanthropy. There is an abundance of research, consideration, and effort that fuel the grant-making process. I have realized that philanthropy is just as essential to social change as hands-on service and engineering design.

By Kelly R.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hrough this fall semester I have learned a great deal about how nonprofits are a part of their community and just how long and difficult the process of grant giving can be. I also had a chance to find out a little bit more about myself and how I work in such a large, opinionated group of engineers. At the beginning of this fall I had little background knowledge of what nonprofits did and what qualified them as such. Through volunteering and community service I had a small grasp of what these groups do, which is give back and make change in other people’s lives and the environment. I had so much to learn.

Through the grant making process I learned that there exists just about any type of nonprofit imaginable. There are nonprofits that work to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, which is something I focused on during research, to nonprofits that are dedicated to education and health in foreign countries. I found that nonprofits rely on their connections and the communities around them to help make change and inspire others to do so too. I have not seen one nonprofit in these past few months that do not have at least one or two organizations in which they pair up with or depend on. During our grant making process we asked applicants their connections and all of them had resources both helping fund them and to also help implement their projects and that was incredible to discover. This point of helping the world was also driven home by each of the lecturers who had such big impacts on their lives by nonprofit work. Bringing engineering to the nonprofit world through this class was eye opening because as an engineer I am most likely focused on making a better, more efficient product or process. The project may relate to making the world a better place but it has never been made the main focus of a class and therefore was never brought to my attention. I believe this should be available to as many engineers as possible because we can bring such big innovative changes to the world for the better.

Not only did I learn about nonprofits and their connections, but I also learned about myself in the process of grantmaking. At this point in my engineering career I am used to working in group projects. This class had not one, but two group projects with a twist. The small group projects were familiar to me and worked like most of the other classes I have been in before. The full class group project, deciding which nonprofit would receive $10,000, was a challenging one. As a person more on the shy side of the social spectrum when it comes to voicing my opinion in front of a large group of unfamiliar people, I had a hard time expressing my thoughts and views at first. I typically do not have this problem in small group settings so when it came to this class project I found myself a little flustered. I found that as points were being repeated over and over again by the same couple of people I would get frustrated. Once I got frustrated enough I would finally raise my hand and voice my opinion, usually stating that I think we need to come to a conclusion or move on to a new topic. I learned that such large group settings are not comfortable for me when I have an opinion that I want to express and even bringing down the groups to a third of the class helped me express my opinions more easily. This may have affected the way some of the discussions in class went and I wish that sometimes we had the chance to break away in smaller groups so that even the littler voices can be heard. This class is definitely run by those with louder voices and stronger opinions and class dynamic will change with every new group of students.

I feel lucky to have been able to participate in such an innovative class project and I have been bragging to friends and family on the experiences I will not be able to receive anywhere else. I am fortunate to have been a part of the Neilom Foundation’s grantmaking process and I get to help impact a community in a big way this semester. No other engineers get to say that this semester but us.

By Aakash P.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his semester in Engineering for Social Change is the first instance that the definition and role of an engineer was challenged in an unconventional way. This course enlightened me to the fact that an engineer is not just a memory bank of formulas, algorithms and derivations but a well-rounded intuitive thinker who should not just create a solution for a profit, but to make a positive impact on society. And engineering solutions do not have to be a design or invention, but can be public policy as well. Our decisions as engineers affect the people around us, and they need to be made carefully to benefit the environment, people, and the economy. The skills learned in ENME467 have never been touched upon in previous mechanical engineering courses.

One thing that stands out from this class from all other engineering courses is the art of debate. Having a semester long grant awarding process led to passionate debated from choosing an issue to focus on to choosing which non-profit organization to give the grant to. Debates in sensitive areas such as poverty, malnutrition, climate change and more, lead to self-reflection. This class taught me that at some point, one needs to look beyond the cost, revenue, risk, opportunities and think about the ideals one holds dear to themselves. These ideals, values are what drives decisions that impact many others. There were many opportunities in class where self-reflection was needed. On the first day we were asked, “Why are you here?” That along with assignments such as a statement of interest and theme papers helped me realize that as an engineer, I want more than just a lucrative job; I now want to seek a career where my decisions benefit someone other than myself. The lecture by Mrs. Hirani on how one should measure success talked about balancing money vs. meaning which stuck with me when it comes to choosing a career path.

This class is relevant to engineering students today because of its emphasis on sustainability. Our world has limited natural resources with a growing population. Professor Kim’s lecture on the future of engineering was very sobering. Engineers are trained to progress technology, but to what extent? To the point where everything is automated and humans are unemployed? Engineers should not aim to replace people, but to empower people. The importance of people in the world is overlooked in a technology-advancing world. As today’s engineering students we need to encompass sustainability in all of our practices. Reducing waste, saving energy, creating jobs, decreasing economic class gaps, access to clean water: all responsibilities of an engineer even if they are not obvious.

Aside from the lessons of learning about yourself, designing for sustainability and the future, Engineering for Social Change provides real world experience. Dealing with actual grant money, proposals, the Ideas for Social Change Challenge and interacting with non-profit organizations prove that philanthropy is a desirable act, but a difficult one. There’s an abundance of social issues that need attention, help and money. This means being culturally sensitive and carefully considering every aspect when providing a grant. It means as an engineer to think technically, socially, globally, sustainably, economically and humanly.

By Mark M.

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ngineering for Social Change is a class that deviates from any other engineering class that you will ever take. Instead of crunching numbers and memorizing formulas, we learned about the responsibilities that each engineer has when working in the real world as well as the importance of philanthropy. I think the most difficult part of this class was the semester-long grant making process where we had to decide which organization got to receive our $10,000 grant. When given a list of non-profit organizations that all make amazing impacts, it is really challenging to choose which organization is most deserving of our class’ donation.

From the start, we discussed as a class what aspects we valued the most through our theme papers and student-lead debates. Being able to have so much freedom and the ability to be creative in an engineering class is very rare given the rigidity of the curriculum. Giving the students the responsibility of collaborating with each other and debating to figure out which values should influence our final decision is something that will better prepare us for the real engineering world.

My biggest takeaway from this class is how strong of an impact we have as engineers to help people who are less fortunate. From the presentations from Dr. Kapilashrami funding a private school in India to Ms. Estrada creating sustainable lights for 3rd world countries, we got to hear firsthand the social impact that we can make through philanthropy. We were even given the ability to see what type of impact we could have through the ISCC project in which we research and suggest in a formal report and project pitch, why a sustainable solution would be most beneficial to an area in need. Although we do not actually go through with the solution, it is still evident what type of impact we could have.

By Kevin L.

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ngineering for Social Change has been unlike any engineering course that I have ever taken in my years at the University of Maryland, and I mean that in the most positive sense possible. Over the years, I have grown accustom to performing calculations to find velocities, heat transfer rates, or other numerical solutions. Engineering for Social Change took a different approach to engineering where we discussed and analyzed our responsibility as engineers which is why I believe every senior mechanical engineer should take it. This class has taught me about social impact and how an engineer holds significant power to make social change in today’s world.

As opposed to past courses, this course has showed me the importance of becoming an ethical engineer. The decisions that we make can have a direct impact on solving many issues going on in the world. Through the various guest speakers that came in to speak with the class, it was great to see and hear about all the things that we can do as mechanical engineers. It was interesting to really think about how today’s evolving technology is going to play a substantial role in our daily lives. Before taking this course, I was solely focused on simply graduating and finding a good paying job. Though I did accomplish that, the course has made me want to leave more of an impact through what I do because I now realize that I have that unique opportunity to as a mechanical engineer. After graduation, I will be working in an industry job that may not give me a wide range of opportunity to make a social impact, so I would like to do more in terms of philanthropy.

Through my ISCC project and my experiences with the nonprofit organizations, I realize that there is a lot of areas where an engineer can help. My ISCC project concerns providing potable water to a select region in Ethiopia. There is so much that needs to be done here, but many other people do not have the education and knowledge to implement sustainable solutions. Previously, I have taken my knowledge for granted, but I now understand that I can help make a significant difference in people’s lives. In terms of the nonprofit organizations, there are so many nonprofits out there that need help from engineers like myself. Although we are only picking one of them for the $10,000 grant, many of them are doing great things that I can see myself being a part of. Overall, I am very happy with my decision to enroll in Engineering for Social Change because it opened my eyes to the potential impact that an ethical engineer can have in society and the responsibilities that engineers have. It has been a great change-of-pace in comparison to previous engineering classes that I have taken, and I strongly recommend all senior mechanical engineers to take this course before they graduate.

By Jessica H.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]aking the Engineering for Social Change course has really reminded me why I chose to be an engineering student in the first place. It is easy to get overwhelmed when you are taking five technical courses every semester, and it is easy to lose track of the big picture. Engineers have the power to use their skills to change the world and make it a better place.

Engineers, whether they know it or not, have a huge impact on social change. From the first automobile to the first cellphone, technology changes the way humans interact within society. After taking this course, I have become more aware of the impacts my engineering decisions could make and the responsibility I have to make sure those impacts are positive.

The guest lecturers were a great part of this course. It was nice to see both professors and practicing engineers dedicate their time to issues regarding social change. I plan on working full-time at a for-profit organization, so it was nice to see that there are other ways to get involved with philanthropy than working full-time at a non-profit. Giving back has always been a part of my life, and it was nice to see how it can tie in with my degree and my career choice.

The ISCC project was a really neat assignment. I had no idea how bad the issue of food security really was, so it was an eye-opening experience to analyze the issue in a city so close to home (Baltimore). I had no prior knowledge of food accessibility and food deserts, and this project helped me learn a lot about the issues in a short amount of time. It was also exciting to work with my peers to come up with an innovative solution using what we have learned as engineering students. It was very similar to a lot of other engineering projects, but it felt more meaningful because we were doing it to solve a real problem for people in need.

The student-driven decision-making and grant-making process was unlike anything else I had ever experienced in my coursework here at the university. Although some topics were highly debatable, the decision-making went smoothly for the most part. It was a very intellectual environment where everyone was truly engaged and wanted to hear what other students had to say. I learned a lot from these conversations: not only about different non-profits, but also how to communicate my opinions in a logical way and listen to the opinions of others with an open mind.

I would recommend this class to all engineering students. This course provides something so necessary to human life that is absent in all the other engineering courses I have taken. This course reminded me of the human aspect of my career, and how I should constantly be thinking about the social impact of my decisions as well as my actions.