Graduate Research and Education for Appropriate Technology (GREAT):
Inspiring Direct Engagement and Agency (IDEA)
This project seeks to develop new courses and seminars to engender interest and train graduate students to pursue research and careers that relate to development and implementation of appropriate technology. The principal objectives of this project are as follow:
Assess the current research environment to determine attention and interest in applying graduate and professional academic research to problems of appropriate technology and humanitarian causes;
Develop participatory educational opportunities that will provide graduate students and faculty (a) with knowledge and of basic principles, best practices, and career opportunities regarding research for community development and appropriate technology; and (b) direct experience in evaluating and implementing the use of the best practices.
Encourage graduate students and faculty to choose to pursue research and other professional career opportunities that directly relate to appropriate technology and advancing humanitarian causes.
Despite a long tradition of engineers and scientists volunteering their skills to develop appropriate technology to address humanitarian concerns (e.g., needs of developing societies or poor communities), relatively few have oriented their primary professional or academic activities to such work. This project, Graduate Research and Education for Appropriate Technology: Inspiring Direct Engagement and Agency (GREAT IDEA), will conduct research to determine attitudes and circumstances that might explain this phenomenon. GREAT IDEA will also develop new educational components to inspire and train graduate students to pursue research and careers in the analysis, development, and implementation of appropriate technology.
To research attitudes of graduate students and faculty, a detailed survey will be developed that will be widely circulated at institutions in the US, Puerto Rico, and Spain. The survey will ask respondents to identify and comment on how they perceive the purpose of their work, the degree to which they act as agents to direct their work to causes of their choosing, and their inclinations or dissuasions to apply their work directly in appropriate technology. The survey will complement and extend prior research in this area.
Educationally, new courses and seminars will be developed and delivered at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (UPRM). These courses and seminars will aimed at graduate students and advanced undergraduates, and will provide exposure to issues, best practices, and career opportunities related to appropriate technology. Students will conduct service learning and participatory action research, including theses, that will serve communities in Puerto Rico and neighboring countries in the Caribbean. Partner organizations include the Centro Universitario para elAcceso/University Center for Increased Access (CUA), which organizes outreach activities from UPRM to local schools that serve economically disadvantaged students; the Instituto Universitario para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades/University Institute for Community Development (IUDC), which organizes service learning projects; and Youthaiti, which assists sustainable development in Haiti.
GREAT IDEA will foster self-reflection among graduate students and faculty, and new career pathways for engineers and scientists who wish to devote their professional and academic services toward humanitarian causes and appropriate technology. A project website will be developed to serve as a gateway to all project outcomes and activities.
Weblink to NSF Award - http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1033028
PUBLICATIONS
Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel J., Mandoye Ndoye; “On The Links Between Sustainable Wellbeing And Electric Energy Consumption”, African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (AJSTID), Taylor & Francis, 2013, weblink.
Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel J., Gerson Beauchamp-Báez, Luis Jiménez-Rodríguez; "Solar Microgrids and Energy Poverty: Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Wellbeing and Technology Justice Assessment". Proceedings of the 12th World Wind Energy Conference & Renewable Energy Exhibition (WWEC), La Habana, Cuba, June 2013.
Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel J., Mandoye Ndoye; “Subjective Wellbeing and Sustainability: A Data Driven Look at Global Electric Energy Consumption”, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of Appropriate Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, pages 141-148, November 2012. PDF
Maldonado, R.; Gomez, C.; Castro-Sitiriche, M.J.; "Simulation, design, hardware implementation, and control of a 9-level Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter with Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm," 2012 IEEE 13th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 10-13 June 2012. PDF
Frey, William; Papadopoulos, Christopher; Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel; Zevallos, Fátima; Echevaría, Denisse; “On Integrating Appropriate Technology Responsive to Community Capabilities: A Case Study from Haiti”, Proceedings of the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, San Antonio, TX, June 2012. PDF
Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel; Papadopoulos, Christopher; Frey, William; Huyke, Hector; , "Sustainable Wellbeing Education in Engineering," 2012 IEEE International Symposium onSustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST), 16-18 May 2012. PDF
Verharen, C., J. Tharakan, G. Middendorf, M. Castro-Sitiriche, and G. Kadoda; "Introducing Survival Ethics into Engineering Education and Practice", Science and Engineering Ethics, Springer, Online First™, 8 December 2011 PDF, html
Papadopoulos, Christopher and Andrew T. Hable. "Engineering as an Enterprise of War and Peace". Chapter 21 in Engineering in Context, S.H. Christensen, B. Delahousse, and M. Meganack (Eds.), Academica, Copenhagen, 2009, pp. 383-395.
Related NEH Funded Project: "The Convergence of Culture and Science: Expanding the Humanities Curriculum"
https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx?f=1&gn=AC-50156-12
"The Convergence of Culture and Science: Expanding the Humanities Curriculum" is a three-year project at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, consisting of a series of faculty development seminars and related follow-up activities on artificial intelligence; the confluence of philosophy, engineering, and technological choice; and theism, cosmology, and evolution. The project explores the intersection of the humanities and the growing density and depth of scientific discoveries and bourgeoning changes in technologies. Over the three years, faculty from the humanities, engineering, and the social, natural, and agricultural sciences read and discuss key texts with invited scholars in preparation for developing three interdisciplinary courses on artificial intelligence; appropriate technology: engineering, philosophy, and technology choice; and theism, cosmology, and evolution. In year one, participants read Descartes' Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Pamela McCorduck's Machines Who Think, and Tim Crane's The Mechanical Mind: A Philosophical Introduction to Minds, Machines and Mental Representation, among other works, to consider the social, philosophical, psychological, and technical aspects of the creation and use of artificial intelligence. In year two, guest scholars Carl Mitcham (Colorado School of Mines) and Indira Nair (Carnegie Mellon University) lead faculty in explorations of the philosophical and social aspects of engineering design and technological innovation, related questions of policy, and the "idea of 'progress,'" using such works as Mitcham's Thinking Through Technology: The Path Between Engineering and Philosophy and D. Riley's Engineering and Social Justice. Year three features scholars Jorge Ferrer-Negron (UPRM), Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Donald Pfister (Harvard University) in discussions of the history of theism, the philosophy of religion, the Big Bang and String theories of the origins of the universe, and Darwin's On the Origin of Species and its impact in the world. Teleconferences extend the academic exchanges with scholars.
POSTER
NSF Ethics Education in Science and Engineering (EESE) PI Meeting Poster, Arlington, VA, February 26, 2011.
OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
- Radio and TV interviews in Foro Colegial about the project and the initial trip to Duchity, Haiti.
July 1, 2011: Radio Interview - http://www.uprm.edu/prensa/forocolegial.php
feed://www.uprm.edu/prensa/feed/forocolegial.php?id=676&f=podcast
http://trinity.uprm.edu/forocolegial/20110701.m4a
August, 2011: TV Interview Foro Colegial TV –
Part 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWsiZTFyLqA&feature=BFa&list=PL9E37D6F667A6E17B&index=1
- Brief Report from Duchity, Haiti and Follow-up Collaborations: Monday, May 2, 2011, 7PM at Stefani Building Auditorium, room 113, UPRM, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
On May 2, the GREAT IDEA project hosted a forum Developing Haiti: Reflection and Action. The presentation is available here. Please consider contacting us if you have any expertise, experience, or interest in a project related to development in Haiti.
- Ingenio y Diversión: Ejemplo de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Deportes - Outreach Activity in collaboration with the Center for University Access, April 2, 2011, Parque del Litoral, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Investigators:
Christopher Papadopoulos
christopher.papadopoulos@upr.edu
Marcel J. Castro-Sitiriche
marcel.castro@upr.edu
William J. Frey
williamjoseph.frey@upr.edu
University of Puerto Rico
Recinto Universitario de Mayaguez
Department of Engineering Science and Materials
Call Box 9000
Mayaguez, PR
E-mail: greatidea@uprm.edu