NSBE - Convention 2014 - (Page 27)

INTERNATIONALNEWS with the EPICS effort," Womack says. "The goal was to get more underrepresented minorities involved with engineering project design and implementation on a global scale." Womack thought a partnership between EPICS and NSBE would be the perfect way to achieve that goal and several others: It would help prepare NSBE collegiate members in the U.S. and abroad for global engineering challenges, by giving them cross-cultural experience. It would give NSBE opportunities to positively impact communities in Africa that need better infrastructure, and it would invigorate NSBE's international membership. So Womack traveled to Ghana in August 2011 seeking a university that would be a good fit for a pilot program. She decided on Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. Later, a senior professor of civil engineering at KNUST, S. Oduro Kwarteng, Ph.D., identified villages that met the EPICS team's criteria for engagement: no electrical power and problems with water supply. Those villages would benefit most from the NSBE/EPICS work. Last year, a team of NSBE student officers and staff made an exploratory visit to the villages that were selected: Nerebihi and Weosi. During the most recent trip, which was funded 50/50 by NSBE and EPICS, infrastructure improvements were begun. "We were able to complete two pump repairs" that are providing the villages with running water, reports Phillip Reid. Reid was NSBE chapter president at Purdue and the leader of the EPICS team. He recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. "The next step is going to be water filtration, making sure that the water is totally clean and free of all impurities." Baldwin was the other EPICS member on the trip. His work in the villages, part of his senior project, is centered on the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) system. "(PICS) is a tri-layered bag that is sealed shut to prevent the crops from rotting (or) obtaining any insect infestation and is pretty much (designed to maintain) the crop for a long period of time," he explains. "Without the bag, or with competitor bags, they would only last a month or two. However, with the PICS bags, they can last upwards of a year, which is very important in these villages that we visited." "I think the biggest obstacle at this point is to make sure that these PICS bags are known about and commercially available," Baldwin adds. Like the other students in the visiting group, Baldwin says the Ghanaian village project must be made sustainable and that the participation of the KNUST students is vital to making that happen. "(The Ghanaian students) had so much more insight about CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 (at left) Markell Baldwin takes notes from Nii Ayi Kwei Martey, president of NSBE-KNUST, regarding local farmers' crop storage capabilities. (below left) Broken pumps in Weosi and Nerebihi were repaired, providing clean water to more than 2,000 residents. (below right) PICS bags provide vital protection of crops. www.nsbe.org NSBE MAGAZINE * C ONVENTION 2014 * 27 http://www.nsbe.org

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NSBE - Convention 2014