epics engineering projects in community service students faculty & staff community partners...

EPICSEPICSEngineering Projects in Community ServiceEngineering Projects in Community Service

Students Faculty & Staff Community partners

EPICS - What is it?

Working together to make a difference


GoalsGoals

Design and implement engineering solutions to real problems

Develop teamwork & communication skills Gain project planning & leadership experience Develop customer-awareness Gain awareness of ethical, economic,

& legal issues Foster community involvement


OrganizationOrganization

Large-team experience:teams of 10-15 students

Vertically-integrated teams:freshmen+sophomores+juniors+seniors+graduate students

Long-term design experience:academic credit throughout the student’s career


Organization (cont.)Organization (cont.)

Partnerships with local community organizations: together, the students and community partner identify engineering problems faced by the agency

Multidisciplinary projects:BME, ME, IE, ECE, ChE, MS&E, Business, EMA, Art, CS, and others

Realistic Experience define-design-build-test-deploy-support


Course StructureCourse Structure

Common meeting time for all teams

(Wed. 4:30-7:30 p.m.) Faculty advisor for each team 1-3 credits/semester May register for up to 7 semesters May fulfill technical elective or senior design

requirements


Current ProjectsCurrent Projects


Movement DisabilitiesMovement Disabilities

Students are working with the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine to improve page turners for quadriplegic patients

Advisor :

Prof. Frank Fronczak, ME


Voice ImprovementVoice Improvement

Students are working with the Department of Communicative Disorders to design a portable device that monitors the voice loudness of speech impaired patients by using a throat microphone

Advisor:

Prof. Willis Tompkins,

BME


Biofeedback / Stress Biofeedback / Stress ManagementManagement

Students are working with the Department of Medicine to design a device for measuring brain waves and providing feedback during meditation

Advisor:Prof. John Webster,BME


Shared Volunteer SystemShared Volunteer System

Students are designing an information management system for the Morgridge Center, RSVP and United Way’s Volunteer System

Advisors:

Prof. Fred Bradley, MS&E

Leah Newman, IE


Coordinating Leadership Coordinating Leadership OpportunitiesOpportunities

Students are collaborating with the Student Organization Office to develop a web-based information management system

Advisors:


Leah Newman, IE


Campus SustainabilityCampus Sustainability

Students are working with the Sustainability Forum and Center for Sustainability to design systems to educate the public about material flows and human activity to contribute to the quality of life

Advisors:


Leah Newman, IE


Homelessness Prevention Homelessness Prevention NetworkNetwork

Students are working with the Madison Homelessness Prevention Network to create an information management system for the Madison community service organizations

Advisors:


Leah Newman, IE


Project PartnersProject Partners

Community organizations: Madison Community Development Block Grant Office, Morgridge Center for Public Service, Retired Senior and Volunteer Program, United Way’s Volunteer Center

Departments: Rehabilitation Medicine, Communicative Disorders, Medicine


Project Partners Project Partners

UW service and outreach:Sustainability Forum Environmental Management Center Center for Sustainability and Global

Environment Student Organization Office Leadership Institute and Office for Human

Resource Development


Role of Role of Project PartnersProject Partners

Provide challenging, real projects Be involved throughout the project Evaluate prototypes; suggest improvements Use the final project Suggest further projects Demonstrate their mission to students Provide better service to the community


Benefits to Benefits to students students

Real-world problem solving

Design Teamwork Communication skills Multidisciplinary

experience Project management

Leadership Professional

responsibility Web site

development Community

involvement Information systems Creativity


Improve current services and realize opportunities for new services via access to technology and expertise that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive

Benefits to Benefits to Community PartnersCommunity Partners


StatusStatus

Started at Purdue in 1995 Started in Wisconsin in Fall 2000 7 teams - 70 students, 5 faculty advisors, 1 staff Support from NSF, Corporation for National

Service


Close partnerships Long-term commitment Institutional support The idea: making a difference The people: students, community partners, faculty, staff

What makes EPICS work?


Student viewStudent view

Benefits of EPICS from a student’s point of view: “The issues worked on have real importance” “Real world customers/clients” “Cross functional: work with business, marketing, other

engineering majors, design majors” “Project management: we don’t just answer to a professor,

real people are counting on us” “Build relationships and learn from other students and

clients”


CONTACT INFORMATION

John Webster, Director

Phone: 608-263-1574

e-mail: [email protected]

Web Site URL

http://epics.engr.wisc.edu

epics engineering projects in community service students faculty & staff community partners...

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